Friday, May 1, 2009
Description Of IPV6
What is IPv6?
IPv6 is short for "Internet Protocol Version 6". IPv6 is the "next generation" protocol designed by the IETF to replace the current version Internet Protocol, IP Version 4 ("IPv4").
Most of today's internet uses IPv4, which is now nearly twenty years old. IPv4 has been remarkably resilient in spite of its age, but it is beginning to have problems. Most importantly, there is a growing shortage of IPv4 addresses, which are needed by all new machines added to the Internet.
IPv6 fixes a number of problems in IPv4, such as the limited number of available IPv4 addresses. It also adds many improvements to IPv4 in areas such as routing and network autoconfiguration. IPv6 is expected to gradually replace IPv4, with the two coexisting for a number of years during a transition period.
IPv4, the actual Internet protocol, will meet its own limitations soon. Indeed, specialists predict an address space crunch with the growing popularity of the Internet around the world. One of the most promising protocols that could replace IPv4 is the IPv6 protocol. Not only IPv6 will allow a much bigger number of address, but it will also give some better security, mobility and quality of service (QoS) to the Internet. Moreover, this protocol will allow multicasting, autoconfiguration, multihoming and many other specifications not found on IPv4.
IPv6 is a network layer protocol for packet-switched internetworks. It is designated as the successor of IPv4, the current version of the Internet Protocol, for general use on the Internet.
The main improvement brought by IPv6 is a much larger address space that allows greater flexibility in assigning addresses. IPv6 is able to support 2128 (about 3.4×1038) addresses, or approximately 5×1028 addresses for each of the roughly 6.5 billion people[1] alive today. It was not the intention of IPv6 designers, however, to give permanent unique addresses to every individual and every computer. Rather, the extended address length eliminates the need to use network address translation to avoid address exhaustion, and also simplifies aspects of address assignment and renumbering when changing providers.
Applications of ipv6
What applications run over IPv6 today?
Many common Internet applications already work with IPv6, and more are being ported. See our list of IPv6 enabled applications.
Implementation of ipv6
Where can I get an IPv6 implementation for my system?
There is software available for most operating systems in common use today. Find your favorite OS on our list of IPv6 implementations. We also have a collection of "how to install" documents for various systems.
