IPv6 was developed to address the limited address space of IPv4 and enable new Internet applications. Some key points:
- IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses compared to 32-bit in IPv4, providing vastly more unique addresses.
- IPv6 addresses are allocated from registries to regional registries and then to ISPs based on a hierarchical addressing model and prefix lengths.
- IPv6 introduces new concepts like anycast addressing and eliminates broadcast addressing. It also includes improvements like neighbor discovery, auto-renumbering, and compatibility with IPv4.
- The IPv6 header format was modified compared to IPv4 but still uses the basic Internet layer functions of IPv4 like ICMPv6 for network
3. What ever happened to ipv5? 0 IP March 1977 version (deprecated) 1 IP January 1978 version (deprecated) 2 IP February 1978 version A (deprecated) 3 IP February 1978 version B (deprecated) 4 IPv4 September 1981 version (current widespread) 5 ST Stream Transport (not a new IP, little use) 6 IPv6 December 1998 version (formerly SIP, SIPP) 7 CATNIP IPng evaluation (formerly TP/IX; deprecated) 8 Pip IPng evaluation (deprecated) 9 TUBA IPng evaluation (deprecated) 10-15 unassigned
8. Address Allocation The allocation process was recently updated by the registries : IANA allocates from 2001::/16 to regional registries Each regional registry allocation is a ::/23 ISP allocations from the regional registry is a ::/3 6 (immediate allocation) or ::/32 (initial allocation) or shorter with justification Policy expectation that an ISP allocates a ::/48 prefix to each customer 2001 0410 ISP prefix Site prefix Subnet prefix /32 /48 /64 Registry /23 Interface ID 1234:5678:9ACB:DEF0:1234:5678:9ABC:DEF0
10. Some Terminology node a protocol module that implements IPv6 router a node that forwards IPv6 packets not explicitly addressed to itself host any node that is not a router link a communication facility or medium over which nodes can communicate at the link layer, i.e., the layer immediately below IPv6 neighbors nodes attached to the same link interface a nodes attachment to a link address an IPv6-layer identifier for an interface or a set of interfaces
11. Types of IPv6 Addresses Unicast One address on a single interface Delivery to single interface Multicast Address of a set of interfaces Delivery to all interfaces in the set Anycast Address of a set of interfaces Delivery to a single interface in the set No broadcast addresses
Ericsson ID 2009 The generic allocation process is: IANA allocates 2001::/16 to registries from the full address space Slow-start allocation process: Each registry gets a /23 prefix from IANA, within the 2001::/16 space Registry allocates an initial /35 prefix to a new IPv6 ISP ISP allocates a /48 prefix (out of the /35) to each customer The slow-start allocation process is there to minimize the initial space given to an ISP. This enforces the conservation of addresses. Cisco managed to receive a /35 prefix: 2001:0420::/35.