Internet Protocol Version4 (IPV4)

An IPv4 address is a 32-bit address that is usually represented in dotted decimal notation, with a decimal value
representing each of the four octets (bytes) that make up the address [8]. For example:

00001001 01000011 01100001 00000010 32-bit address

00001001 01000011 01100001 00000010 4 octets

9 67 97 2 dotted decimal
notation (9.67.97.2)

The IPv4 address consists of a network address and a host address. Within the Internet, the network addresses
are assigned by a central authority, the Network Information Center (NIC). The portion of the IPv4 address
that is used for each of these addresses is determined by the class of address. There are three commonly used
classes of IPv4 addresses (see Figure 1) [9].

Figure 1. Classes of IPv4 addresses

 The class of the address is determined by the first octet of the IPv4 address. Figure 2 shows how the class of
address is determined. The figure also shows Class D addresses. Class D addresses represent multicast groups,
not network IP addresses. Multicast group addresses consist of the high-order, four bits of 1110 and the
remaining 28 bits, which form a multicast group ID[9] and [10].

Figure 2. Determining the class of an IPv4

address

As shown in Figure 2, the value of the bits in the first octet determine the class of address, and the class of
address determines the range of values for the network and host segment of the IPv4 address. For example,
the IPv4 address 9.67.97.2 would be a class A address, since the first two bits in the first octet contain B'00'.
The network part of the IPv4 address is 9 and the host part of the IPv4 address is 67.97.2. But despite these
measures the IPV4 addresses are being consumed at an alarming rate Primary reason is huge growth in
number of internet users,mobile devices using Internet connection and always on devices such as ADSL
modems and cable modems. This brings us to the development and adoption of IPV6 as an alternate solution
[4] and [11].

Byte 1 Byte 2 Byte 3 Byte4

Ver. IHL Service Type Packet Length

Identification Flag Flag. Offset

Time To Live Protocol Header Checkaum

Source Address

Destination Address

Option Padding

Figure 3 IPv4 Header

Internet Protocol Version6 (IPV6)

Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is a version of the Internet Protocol (IP) intended to succeed IPv4, which is
the protocol currently used to direct almost all Internet traffic. Like IPv4, IPv6 is an internet-layer protocol for
packet switched internetworking and provides end-to-end datagram transmission across multiple IP networks.
While IPv4 allows 32 bits for an IP address, and therefore has 2 32 (4 294 967 296) possible addresses, IPv6
uses 128-bit addresses, for an address space of 2128 (approximately3.4 × 1038) addresses. This expansion
allowm
For many more devices and users on the internet as well as extra flexibility in allocating addresses and efficiency
for routing traffic. It also eliminates the primary need for network address translation (NAT), which gained
widespread deployment as an effort to alleviate IPv4 address exhaustion [12].

One of the goals of IPv6′s address space expansion is to make NAT unnecessary, improving total
connectivity, reliability, and flexibility. IPv6 will reestablish transparency and end-to-end traffic across the
Internet. The new IPv6 addresses are large and cumber some to deal with, so IPv6 reduces the number of
people who have to read and write those [13]. A second major goal of IPv6 is to reduce the total time which
people have to spend configuring and managing systems. An IPv6 system can participate in “stateless” auto
configuration, where it creates a guaranteed-unique IP address by combining its LAN MAC address with a
prefix provided by the network router – DHCP is not needed [14].

Figure 4 IPv6 Header

Advantages of IPV6

The main advantage of IPv6 is that this system creates a sufficient number of numbers not only to address the
crisis of deferred IPv4 addresses, but also to prevent any future crisis. In the computer industry, In addition,
IPv6 addresses will basically be an additional measure, not a revolutionary change in the existing IPv4 system
[15]. Nevertheless, for network technicians and other professionals, a number of other features do provide:

 More efficient routing without packet fragmentation;

 Built-in Quality of Service (QoS) technology, which detects delay-sensitive packets;
 Eliminating NAT to expand the address space from 32 to 128 bits;
 Built-in IPsec support (use of IPsec is optional);
 Auto configure addresses to simplify network administration;
 Improved header structure with less processing costs.

Cloud computing is now fundamental to most enterprises, providing cheap, powerful resources such as
databases, applications, security and system administration that cannot be afforded individually [16]. IP
addresses are critical for orchestrating cloud processes. To commission or decommission cloud virtual
machines, multiple IP addresses need to be reserved or freed up with blinding speed. The IPv4-based Internet,
increasingly hamstrung by NATs, cannot provide such functionality, and the required numbers of addresses
simply do not exist in IPv4.The Internet of Things, the concept of communicating networks of independent
devices, is estimated to reach twenty to thirty billion devices by 2020. Every networked device needs
an
address, and IPv4 has a hard limit of 4.3 billion. IPv6 has 340,282,366,920,938,000,000,000,000,000 billion
addresses.

IPv6 is the only technology that can scale to deal with massively distributed cloud infrastructure and the
Internet of Things[8] and [17].

Almost all current device operating systems have working IPv6, many with IPv6 enabled by default. See
Wikipedia‟s comparison of IPv6 support in operating systems, and the IPv6 for Microsoft Windows FAQ.
There is far more IPv6 traffic on most networks than commonly recognised. If enterprise firewalls have not
been expressly configured to handle IPv6, then the enterprise is vulnerable to malicious traffic, no
matter how sturdy the old IPv4 defaces are. IPv6 is on by default, and can be accidentally or deliberately used
to bypass usage and security policies [18].

Comparison between IPV4 AND IPV6

IPv6 was designed not to deviate from the existing internet protocol, it was designed to enhance and
resolve the problem of the widely deployed protocol, like address space depletion, security. IPV6 also
eliminate some feature in IPv4 which is not necessary as an enhancement like NAT technology which violate
end to end connection on the internet. Below are some of the performance differences of the two version of
protocol difference between IPv6 and IPv4. You can use this table (1)to quickly view summary information,
IP functions and how to use IP addresses in Internet IPv4 and IPv6 protocols [19].

Key changes

IPv4 IPv6

Invented 1981 Invented 1997

Has 32-bite (4-bytes) address space Has 128-bite (16-bytes) address space
 IPv4 IPv6

IPsec is not necessary IPsec necessary

NAT is used NAT is not used

Has a variable length20-60 byte Has a fixed length 40 byte

Has 12 field inside the header Has 8 field inside the header

Use Time to Live as field name Use Hop Limit as field name

Use dotted decimal notation as address format: Use string notation as address format: 1:A:2:4:E:1:3:7
1.0.3.0.6.0.3.0

Use 0.0.0.0.0.0 as unknown address Used :: unknown address

It use 127.0.0.1 as loopback address It use ::1 as loopback address

It uses224.0.0.0/4 as Multicast address space It uses FF00::/8 as Multicast address space

Must support DHCP or be configured manually Does not require DHCP or manual configuration, it is
auto configuration plug-and-play

Has broadcast for all the host on the network There is no broadcast instead it used group of
multicast

It does not give data priority It prioritize data

Transition mechanisms of IPV4 AND IPV6

IPv4 and IPv6 networks are not directly interoperable, which means that a transition mechanism is
needed in order to permit hosts on an IPv4 network to communicate with hosts on an IPv6 network, and
 vice versa. The videos below will help you understand some of these techniques.

That‟s why some mechanisms where designed:

1- 6in4:

6in4 is a tunneling technique. You can manually set up a 6in4 tunnel. Figure 5:
Tunneling mechanism

Figure 5: Tunneling mechanism

 2-NAT64

NAT64 is a transition mechanism based on Network Address Translation (NAT) that makes it possible for
IPv6- only hosts to talk to IPv4-only servers. NAT64 can be useful for mobile providers.Figure 6:transition
mechanism

Figure 6:transition mechanism

3- DS-Lite

DS-Lite allows an ISP to give access to IPv4-only services for customers that have only

native IPv6. This mechanism could be useful for DSL or cable providers .Figure 7: Dual stack mechanism

Figure 7:Dual stack mechanism

References :
-TechTarget, 2010. IPv4 or IPv6 - Myths and Realities. URL:
http://media.techtarget.com/searchNetworking/downloads/IPv4_or_IPv6.pdf 18.10.2015.

[1] Measuring IPv6 adoption rate and performance in the Internet. Ali EmreYildirim. Oslo University 24.05.2011

[2]Migration from Internet Protocol Version 4 To Internet Protocol Version 6. AmjadMithani. Linneæus
University. 2014-11- 24