Internet Protocol version 6

Template:TOC-right Internet Protocol version 6 (or as it is more commonly known "IPv6") is a method of addressing hosts or nodes on a computer network, using 128 bit addresses. IPv6 was conceived as a "next generation" upgrade from the older Internet addressing scheme IPv4, which relied on a 32-bit address space and is quickly being exhausted by the continued growth of the Internet. The public address space of the Internet is becoming exhausted.

A quick note or two on the design intent(s) of IPv6, aspects that are recurring ideas that will be seen throughout the underlying protocol operation, and aren't bad things to keep in mind when trying to understand what IPv6 does, how it accomplished those things and why those things are done.

1. More addresses - obviously IPv6 gives us more addresses, 128bits vs 32bits.
2. Flexibility - The ability to readily add "stuff" (capabilities, functions, etc.) to the protocol without needing to rewrite the base protocol or necessarily re-architect our environments.
3. Scalability - Reduce overhead, distribute workload, smoother/easier processing.

One common topic of conversation is:

• Should IPv6 be viewed as an evolutionary next-stop from IPv4?

    or 

• Should IPv6 be viewed as a disruptive technology, a revolutionary change?

The answer is: It Depends.

In many regards IPv6 is, in fact, just a few tweaks different. This is the "96 More Bits, No Magic" view. From a purely technological perspective, this is (largely) true.

However, moving forward, the more bits may just enable radical changes. Changes in how we use our networks, what we expect (require) them to do, etc. From this "bigger picture" view we could be on the precipice of major change. (I did say "could" ... ) As the old saying goes, "May you live in interesting times".

IPv6 packet format

IPv6 is not only a matter of addressing. The packet is structured quite differently than an IPv4 packet; only the first four bits, designating the IP version number, have the same function.

Some of the goals of IPv6 included:

• Efficient hardware processing of packet headers: Some IPv4 header fields have been dropped or made optional (e.g., fragmenttion), to reduce the processing cost for the most common packets, and to reduce the bandwidth cost of the IPv6 header.
• Improved Support for Extensions and Options: The encoding of headers is more efficient for hardware processing and more flexible in adding new options
• Flow Labeling Capability: the ability to label a packet as belonging to a flow or forwarding equivalent class, such as non-default quality of service or "real-time" service.
• Authentication and Privacy Capabilities: built in authentication, data integrity, and optional content confidentiality are part of the base standard.

  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
  |Version| Traffic Class |           Flow Label                  |
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
  |         Payload Length        |  Next Header  |   Hop Limit   |
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
  |                                                               |
  +                                                               +
  |                                                               |
  +                         Source Address                        +
  |                                                               |
  +                                                               +
  |                                                               |
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
  |                                                               |
  +                                                               +
  |                                                               |
  +                      Destination Address                      +
  |                                                               |
  +                                                               +
  |                                                               |
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

There are fewer fields than in the IPv4 header. Some of the fields that are not part of the header either were not often used, were obsolete, or inefficiently implemented.

The Next Header field, for example, serves the function of the protocol identifier field and even uses the same values, in RFC1700 and later online IANA lists. In addition, however, this field more efficiently implements the Options mechanism from IPv4.

Hop limit is essentially the Time To Live field of IPv4.

Traffic class and flow label are largely new capabilities, which are discussed below.

IPv6 address types

IPv6 uses some familiar address types - Unicast, Multicast and Anycast.

1. Unicast: traditional one-to-one communication analogy, in which a standard phone call exists between two (unicast) telephone numbers
2. Multicast - one-to-many communication (used for efficient delivery of content) analogy - teacher in a class says something one time, everyone who is interested receives it
3. Anycast - one-to-one-of-many communication, where the one-of-many is the nearest instance analogy - a bit more complicated than unicast or multicast.

Note that IPv6 does not support "broadcast" addresses. Broadcast was really a special case of multicasting; the broadcast group was the group to which every host belonged. Think of broadcast is the kind of private club that Groucho Marx had in mind when he said "I wouldn't belong to any club that would have me as a member.

Everything IPv4 accomplished with broadcast, IPv6 has a form of multicast for. This includes a very much broadcast-like multicast, the "All Nodes" multicast address, <code.FF02::1

Addressing architecture

RFC 4291 defines the IPv6 addressing architecture.

# A sample (unicast) address:
  2001:0db8:0001:1001:0000:0000:0000:0001
  -- Note the use of Hexadecimal (hex; each character == 4 bits)
  ---- 4 character (16 bits) per "chunk", 8 chunks, colon separated

  We can compress this to make our lives easier:
  -- "Drop leading zeroes" (within each chunk)
  ---- 2001:db8:1:1001:0:0:0:1
  -- "Double-colon" (Replace any number of SEQUENTIAL, ALL ZERO chunks ... one time per address)
  ---- 2001:db8:1:1001::1
  (This double-colon technique is also frequently used when representing a Prefix.  
   For example the above address is taken from the 2001:db8::/32 space - the 2001:0db8 piece 
   (the first 32 bits) is fixed ... the rest (all zeroes) is subject to change)   )
 
  Note that something like this is valid as well:
  2001:0db8:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001 --> 2001:db8::1
  (This IS about making your life easier!)

Special IPv6 unicast addresses / ranges / address formats

Representative address	Function	Comments	IPv4 equivalent
::	Unspecified_Address		0.0.0.0
::1	Loopback localhost ipv6-localhost ipv6-loopback		127.0.0.1
::<v4 address>	IPv4-Compatible Addresses	Deprecated	<v4 address>
::ffff:<v4 address>	IPv4-Mapped Addresses		<v4 address> with a particular Route Distinguisher
2000::/3	(Currently active) Global Unicast Addresses		198.0.2.1
2001:0000::/32	Teredo service prefix
2002::/16	6to4 service prefix
fc00::/7	Teredo service prefix		Unique-Local Addresses
2001:0000::/32	Teredo service prefix
fe80::/10	Link-Local Unicast		prefix with all ones host field or packet with TTL=1
fec0::/10	Site-Local Unicast (DEPRECATED)		RFC 1918 private address space

special IPv6 multicast addresses / address formats

Address	Function	Comments
ff00::/8	ipv6-mcastprefix	Analogous to the "Class E" multicast address space
ff02::1	ipv6-allnodes	Much like the 255.255.255.255 broadcast
ff02::2	ipv6-allrouters
ff02::1:ffXX:XXXX	Solicited-Node-Multicast	used for Neighbor Discovery

Acquiring addresses

these might be separate articles