IPv6 Addresses 12✔️
The IPv4 address space provides approximately 4.3 billion addresses. Of that address space, approximately 3.7 billion addresses are actually assignable; the other addresses are reserved for special purposes, such as multicasting, private address space, loopback testing, and research.
The IPv4 public address space has now been exhausted. Many enterprises have sufficient address space (public or private) to manage their intranet needs for the next few years. However, the length of time that is needed to transition to IPv6 demands that administrators and managers consider the issue well in advance. The largest enterprises may need to act sooner rather than later to ensure sufficient enterprise connectivity.
A simplified IPv6 header architecture and protocol operation translates into reduced operational expenses. Built-in security features mean easier security practices that are sorely lacking in many current networks. However, perhaps the most significant IPv6 improvement is the address autoconfiguration features.
The Internet is rapidly evolving from a collection of stationary devices to a fluid network of mobile devices. IPv6 allows mobile devices to quickly acquire and transition between addresses as they move among foreign networks, with no need for a foreign agent. A foreign agent is a router that can function as the point of attachment for a mobile device when it roams from its home network to a foreign network.
IPv6 address autoconfiguration also means more robust plug-and-play network connectivity. Autoconfiguration supports consumers who can have any combination of computers, printers, digital cameras, digital radios, IP phones, Internet-enabled household appliances, and robotic toys that are connected to their home networks. Many manufacturers already integrate IPv6 into their products.Version (4-bit): Contains the value 6 rather than the value 4 contained in an IPv4 packet
Traffic class (8 bits): This field and its functions are similar to the ToS field in IPv4.
Flow label (20 bits): Used to tag a flow for IPv6 packets, which is new in the IPv6 protocol. The current IETF standard does not specify the details about how to manage and process the flow label.
Payload length (16 bits): The size of the payload in octets, including any extension headers.
Next header (8 bits): Specifies the type of the next header. This field usually specifies the transport layer protocol that is used by a packet’s payload. When extension headers are present in the packet, this field indicates which extension header follows. IPv6 extension headers are optional headers that may follow the basic IPv6 header. Several types of extension headers are defined in the RFC 2460, Internet Protocol, Version 6 (IPv6) Specification.
Hop limit (8 bits): Replaces the time to live field of IPv4. This value is decremented by one at each intermediate node visited by the packet. When the counter reaches 0, the packet is discarded.
Source address (128 bits): The IPv6 address of the sending node.
Destination address (128 bits): The IPv6 address of the destination node or nodes.
Extension headers, if any, follow these eight fields. The number of extension headers is not fixed, so the total length of the extension header chain is variable.
An IPv6 address is a 128-bit binary value, which can be displayed as 32 hexadecimal characters. IPv6 offers a virtually unlimited supply of IP addresses, due to its generous 128-bit address space. With IPv6, there are enough addresses to allocate more than the entire IPv4 Internet address space to everyone on the planet.
IPv6 address format:
x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x, where x is a 16-bit hexadecimal field (case-insensitive for hexadecimal A, B, C, D, E, and F)
Leading zeros in a field are optional
Successive fields of zeros can be represented as :: only once per address
ipv6
