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IPv6 Introduction

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Introduction to IPv6 IPv4 has stood the test of time – a tribute to its initial

design Proven to be robust Easily implemented Interoperable

The initial design did not anticipate today’s Internet scale and size

Exhausting IPv4 address space Large routing tables Simpler management of IPv4 addresses Security at IP level QoS requirements

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Introduction…

To address this and other concerns IETF developed a suite of protocols and standards Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6)

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Introduction…

Design of IPv6 is intentionally targeted for minimal impact on upper and lower layer protocols

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb726993.aspx

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IPv6 Packets and Data Link Layer

A link layer frame containing an IPv6 packet consists of the following structure: Link Layer Header and Trailer – The

encapsulation placed on the IPv6 packet at the link layer.

IPv6 Header – The IPv6 header. Payload –The payload of the IPv6 packet.

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IPv6 Features New header format Large address space Efficient and hierarchical addressing and

routing infrastructure Stateless and stateful address configuration Built-in security Better support for prioritized delivery New protocol for neighboring node interaction Extensibility

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New Header Format The IPv6 header keeps header overhead to a

minimum. Moves both non-essential fields and optional fields

to extension headers that are placed after the IPv6 header.

The streamlined IPv6 header is more efficiently processed at intermediate routers.

IPv4 headers and IPv6 headers are not interoperable.

The new IPv6 header is only twice as large as the IPv4 header even though the number of bits in IPv6 addresses is four times larger than IPv4 addresses.

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Large Address Space

128 bit address space Sufficient for growth in the

foreseeable future Techniques such as NAT/PAT for

address preservation is not needed

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Efficient and hierarchical addressing and routing infrastructure

IPv6 global addresses used on the IPv6 portion of the Internet are designed to create an efficient, hierarchical, and summarizable routing infrastructure that is based on the common occurrence of multiple levels of Internet service providers.

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Stateless and stateful address configuration

IPv6 supports both stateful address configuration, such as address configuration in the presence of a DHCP server, and stateless address configuration (address configuration in the absence of a DHCP server).

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Built-in security

Support for IPsec is an IPv6 protocol suite requirement

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Better Support for Prioritized Delivery

New fields in the IPv6 header define how traffic is handled and identified.

Because the traffic is identified in the IPv6 header, support for prioritized delivery can be achieved even when the packet payload is encrypted with IPsec.

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New Protocol for Neighboring Node Interaction

The Neighbor Discovery protocol manage the interaction of neighboring nodes (nodes on the same link).

Neighbor Discovery replaces the broadcast-based Address Resolution Protocol (ARP), ICMPv4 Router Discovery, and ICMPv4 Redirect messages with efficient multicast and unicast Neighbor Discovery messages.

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Extensibility

IPv6 can easily be extended for new features by adding extension headers after the IPv6 header.

Unlike options in the IPv4 header, which can only support 40 bytes of options, the size of IPv6 extension headers is only constrained by the size of the IPv6 packet.

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IPv4 vs IPv6

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IPv4 vs IPv6

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References Windows Server 2008 White Paper –

Introduction to IPv6

Downloadable via - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb726944.aspx

http://download.microsoft.com/download/e/9/b/e9bd20d3-cc8d-4162-aa60-3aa3abc2b2e9/IPv6.doc

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References (contd.)

Understanding IPv6, 3rd Edition by Joseph Davies

Downloadable as a free e-book