Ipv 6

Introduction
to
IP v6
email: [email protected] 1
Features and Benefits of IP v6
 Larger address space for global reachability and scalability
 Simplified header format for efficient packet handling
 Hierarchical network architecture for routing efficiency
 Support for widely deployed routing protocols
 Autoconfiguration and plug-and-play support
 Elimination of need for network address translation (NAT) and

application’s layered gateway (ALG)
 Embedded security with mandatory IPSec implementation
 Enhanced support for Mobile IP and Mobile Computing Devices
 Increased number of multicast addresses
Larger Address Space for Global Reachability and Scalability
 Enough to allocate about 1030 addresses per person on this Planet.
Simplified Header for Efficient Packet Handling
The IPv6 header format is simpler compared to the IPv4 header.
The basic IPv4 header size is only 20 octets, but the variable length of the
Options field adds to the total size of the IPv4 packet.
The IPv6 header has a fixed size of 40 octets.
Although 6 of the 12 IPv4 header fields have been removed in IPv6, some
IPv4 fields have been carried over with modified names, and some new fields
have been added to improve efficiency and introduce new features.
As shown in the next Figure, the Header Length (IHL), Identification, Flags,
Fragment Offset, Header Checksum, and Padding fields have been removed
from the IPv6 header.
This removal results in faster processing of the basic IPv6 header, but routing
efficiency and overall performance are dependent on the option headers
treatment and lookup algorithms a given device must run.
All fields in the IPv6 header are 64 bits, taking advantage of the current
generation of 64-bit processors.
Comparison between IP Header Formats
IP v6 Header Format
Description of IPv6 Header Fields
Version Number: The version is a 4-bit field as in IPv4. The field contains
the number 6 for IPv6, instead of the number 4 for IPv4.
Traffic Class: The Traffic Class field is an 8-bit field similar to the type of
service (ToS) field in IPv4. The Traffic Class field tags the packet with a
traffic class that can be used in Differentiated Services. The functionalities
Are the same in IPv4 and IPv6.
Flow Label: The 20-bit Flow Label field is a new field in IPv6. The Flow
Label field can be used to tag packets of a specific flow to differentiate the
packets at the network layer. Hence, the Flow Label field enables
Identification of a flow and per-flow processing by the routers in the path.
With this label, a router need not check deep into the packet to identify the
flow, because this information is available in the IP packet header. The
Flow Label allows applications on the end system to easily differentiate
the traffic at the IP layer making it easier to provide QoS for packets that
have been encrypted by IPSec. email: [email protected] 7
Payload Length: Similar to the Total Length field in IPv4, the Payload
Length field indicates the total length of the data portion of the packet.
Next Header: Similar to the Protocol field in the IPv4 packet header,
the value of the Next Header field in IPv6 determines the type of
information following the basic IPv6 header. The type of information
following the basic IPv6 header can be a transport layer packet, such
as a TCP or UDP packet, or an Extension Header.
IPv6 uses a different approach to manage optional information in the
header. It defines extension headers that form a chain of headers
linked together by the Next Header field, contained in each extension
header. This mechanism provides more efficiency in the processing of
extension headers, enables a faster forwarding rate, and leaves the
router with less processing work for each packet. All extension headers
are daisy-chained, each one pointing to the next one, until they reach
the transport layer data.
Hop Limit: Similar to the Time to Live field in the IPv4 packet header,
the value of the Hop Limit field specifies the maximum number of
routers (hops) that an IPv6 packet can pass through before the packet
is considered invalid. Each router decrements the value by one.
Because there is no checksum in the IPv6 header, the router can
decrement the value without needing to recalculate the checksum,
which saves processing resources.
Source Address: The IPv6 source address field is similar to the Source
Address field in the IPv4 packet header, except that the field contains
a 128-bit source address for IPv6 instead of a 32-bit source address for
IPv4.
Destination Address: The IPv6 destination address field is similar to

the Destination Address field in the IPv4 packet header, except that
the field contains a 128-bit destination address for IPv6 instead of a
32-bit destination address for IPv4.
IPv6 Extension Header
Order of Extension Headers
There are many types of extension headers. When multiple extension

headers are used in the same packet, the order of the headers should be as
follows:
1. Hop-by-Hop Options header. Used for the Router Alert, this header
(value=0) is processed by all hops in the path of a packet. When present,
the hop-by-hop options header always follows immediately after the basic
IPv6 packet header.
2. Destination Options header. This header (value=60) can follow any
hop-by-hop options header, in that case the destination options header is
processed at the final destination and also at each visited address specified
by a routing header.
Alternatively, the destination options header can follow any
Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) header, in which case the
destination options header is processed only at the final destination. For
example, mobile IP uses thisemail:
header.
[email protected] 11
3. Routing header. This header (value=43) is used for source routing and
Mobile IPv6.
4. Fragment header. This header is used when a source must fragment a
packet that is larger than the maximum transmission unit (MTU) for the
path between itself and a destination device. The Fragment header is used
in each fragmented packet.
5. Authentication header and Encapsulating Security Payload header.
The Authentication header (value=51) and the ESP header (value=50) are
used within IPSec to provide authentication, integrity, and confidentiality
of a packet. These headers are identical for both IPv4 and IPv6. 6. Upper-
Layer header. The upper-layer (transport) headers are the typical headers
used inside a packet to transport the data. The two main transport
protocols are TCP (value=6) and UDP (value=17).
ICMPv6 Packet
Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) in IPv6 functions the

same as ICMP in IPv4.
ICMPv6 generates error messages, such as ICMP destination

unreachable messages and informational messages like ICMP echo
request and reply messages.
Additionally, ICMP packets in IPv6 are used in the IPv6 neighbor

discovery process, path MTU discovery, and the Multicast Listener
Discovery (MLD) protocol for IPv6. IPv6 routers use MLD to
discover multicast listeners on directly attached links.
Similar to ICMPv4, ICMPv6 is often blocked by security policies

implemented in corporate firewalls because of attacks based on
ICMP. However, ICMPv6 has the capability to use IPSec
authentication and encryption.
IPv6 Address Format
IPv6 uses 16-bit hexadecimal number fields separated by colons (:) to

represent the 128-bit addressing format.
The hexadecimal numbers are not case-sensitive.
Here is an example of a valid IPv6 address:
2031:0000:130F:0000:0000:09C0:876A:130B.
Additionally, in order to shorten the IPv6 address and make the address
easier to represent, IPv6 uses the following conventions:
Leading zeros in the address field are optional and can be compressed. For
example, the following hexadecimal numbers can be represented as shown
in a compressed format:
Example 1: 2031:0000:130F:0000:0000:09C0:876A:130B =
2031:0:130F:0:0:9C0:876A:130B (compressed form)
Example 2: 0000 = 0 (compressed form)
A pair of colons (::) represents successive fields of 0. However, the pair of
colons is allowed only once in a valid IPv6 address.
Example 1: 2031:0:130F:0:0:9C0:876A:130B =
2031:0:130F::9C0:876A:130B (compressed form)
Example 2: FF01:0:0:0:0:0:1 = FF01::1 (compressed form)
An address parser could easily identify the number of missing zeros in an

IPv6 address by placing the two parts of the address apart and filling with
0s until the 128-bit address is complete. However, if two ::s are placed in
the same address, then there is no way to identify the size of each block of
zeros. The use of the :: makes many IPv6 addresses very small.
IPv6 Address Prefix
The IPv6 prefix is part of the address that represents the left-most bits
that have a fixed value and represent the network identifier.
IPv6 prefix is represented using the
IPv6-prefix/prefix-length
format just like an IPv4 address represented in the classless interdomain
routing (CIDR) notation.
The /prefix-length variable is a decimal value that indicates the number
of high-order contiguous bits of the address comprising the prefix, which
is the network portion of the address. For example,
1080:6809:8086:6502::/64
is an acceptable IPv6 prefix.
If the address ends in a double colon, the trailing double colon can be
omitted.
So, the same address can be written as
1080:6809:8086:6502/64
In either case, the prefix length is written as a decimal number 64 and
represents the left-most bits of the IPv6 address.
IPv6 Address Types
There is a major difference in the IP address requirements between

an IPv4 node and an IPv6 node.
An IPv4 node typically uses one IP address; but an IPv6 node
requires more than one IP address.
There are three major types of IPv6 addresses as follows:
Unicast—An address for a single interface. A packet that is sent to
a unicast address is delivered to the interface identified by that
address.
Anycast—An address for a set of interfaces that typically belong to
different nodes. A packet sent to an anycast address is delivered to
the closest interface—as defined by the routing protocols in use—
identified by the anycast address.
Multicast—An address for a set of interfaces (in a given scope) that
typically belong to different nodes.
A packet sent to a multicast address is delivered to all interfaces

identified by the multicast address (in a given scope).
IPv6 Unicast Address
A unicast address is an address for a single interface.
A packet that is sent to a unicast address is delivered to the interface
identified by that address.
The following IPv6 unicast address types:
 Global unicast address
 Site-local unicast address
 Link-local unicast address
 IPv4-mapped IPv6 address
 IPv4 compatible IPv6 address
Global Unicast Address
The IPv6 global unicast address is the equivalent of the IPv4 global
unicast address.
Global unicast addresses are defined by a global routing prefix, a
subnet ID, and an interface ID.
Except for addresses that start with binary 000, all global unicast
addresses have a 64-bit interface ID.
The current global unicast address allocation uses the range of
addresses that start with binary value 001 (2000::/3).
2000::/3 is the global unicast address range and uses one-eighth of the
total IPv6 address space. It is the largest block of assigned block
addresses.
A fixed prefix of 2000::/3 (001) indicates a global IPv6 address.
Addresses with a prefix of 2000::/3 (001) through E000::/3 (111),
Interface identifiers
used in global unicast and other IPv6 address types must be 64 bits long
and constructed in the EUI-64 format. The EUI-64 format interface ID is
derived from the 48-bit link-layer (MAC) address by inserting the hex
number FFFE between the upper three bytes (OUI field) and the lower 3
bytes (serial number) of the link layer address.
IPv6 Site-Local Unicast Address
Site-local unicast addresses are similar to the private addresses such as

10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, and 192.168.0.0/16 used in IPv4 networks.
an IPv6 unicast address that uses the prefix range FEC0::/10 (1111 1110 11)
and concatenates the subnet identifier (the16-bit Subnet ID field) with the
interface ID in the EUI-64 format.
IPv6 Link-Local Unicast Address
A link-local unicast address is an IPv6 unicast address that is
automatically configured on an IPv6 node interface by using the link-local
prefix FE80::/10 (1111 1110 11) and the interface ID in the EUI-64
format.
IPv4-Compatible IPv6 Address
The format of an IPv4-compatible IPv6 address is

0:0:0:0:0:0:A.B.C.D
or
::A.B.C.D
The entire 128-bit IPv4- compatible IPv6 address is used as the IPv6 address
of a node and the IPv4 address embedded in the low-order 32-bits is used as
the IPv4 address of the node.
IPv4-Mapped IPv6 Address
The IPv4-mapped IPv6 address is another type of IPv6 unicast address

that embeds an IPv4 address in the loworder 32 bits, zeros in the high-
order 80 bits, and ones in bits 81 through 96 of the IPv6 address.
Adding IPv6 Address
C:\> netsh interface ipv6 add address “local area connection” fe80::2
Note: You should have IPv6 protocol installed on your Windows

2000/2003 Computer.
Thank
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Introduction

 Simplified header format for efficient packet handling

 Hierarchical network architecture for routing efficiency

 Support for widely deployed routing protocols

 Autoconfiguration and plug-and-play support

 Elimination of need for network address translation (NAT) and

 Embedded security with mandatory IPSec implementation

 Enhanced support for Mobile IP and Mobile Computing Devices

 Increased number of multicast addresses

 Enough to allocate about 1030 addresses per person on this Planet.

Destination Address: The IPv6 destination address field is similar to

There are many types of extension headers. When multiple extension

Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) in IPv6 functions the

ICMPv6 generates error messages, such as ICMP destination

Additionally, ICMP packets in IPv6 are used in the IPv6 neighbor

Similar to ICMPv4, ICMPv6 is often blocked by security policies

IPv6 uses 16-bit hexadecimal number fields separated by colons (:) to

2031:0:130F::9C0:876A:130B (compressed form)

Example 2: FF01:0:0:0:0:0:1 = FF01::1 (compressed form)

An address parser could easily identify the number of missing zeros in an

There is a major difference in the IP address requirements between

A packet sent to a multicast address is delivered to all interfaces

Site-local unicast addresses are similar to the private addresses such as

The format of an IPv4-compatible IPv6 address is

The IPv4-mapped IPv6 address is another type of IPv6 unicast address

Note: You should have IPv6 protocol installed on your Windows

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