International Journal of Computer Trends and Technology (IJCTT) – volume 13 number 1 – Jul 2014

A Comparative Review Of Internet Protocol Version

4 (IPv4) and Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6)
Olabenjo Babatunde1, Omar Al-Debagy2
1, 2
Department of Information Systems Engineering
Cyprus International University
Nicosia, Cyprus

Abstract— Many computers and devices are becoming more be; the discussion was whether they should use a 32-bit
connected to the internet in recent years; the use of the Internet address or a 128-bit address length. In 1977, a decision was
Protocol (IP) has made the connectivity and identification of made that a 32-bit length address should be used for IPv4 by
these devices possible in large scale. In this paper, we will discuss Vint Cerf [3]. This was a total of about 4.3 billion addresses
the evolution of Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4), its features,
issues and limitations and how Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6)
and at that time they never foresaw the need for more than that
tends to solve some of these issues including the differences and number and this was the beginning of the internet at the time.
transition between these two protocols. IPv4 consists of five classes, A, B, C, D, E. Classes A, B and
C have a different bit length for addressing a network host.
Keywords— IPv4, IPv6, Networking, Internet. Class D addresses are reserved for multicasting, while class E
addresses are reserved for future use. IPv4 uses a 32 bit
I. INTRODUCTION addressing which amounts to 4,294,967,296 unique addresses
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in 1991 [1]. An example of an IPv4 address is “158.80.164.3”, it
decided to create a new version of the Internet Protocol (IP) involves four octets of 8 bits each all resulting to a 32-bit
called Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) to replace the old address [5]. In binary form, it would look like
Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4). This eventually started in 10011110.01010000.10100100.00000011 for the four octets.
1994[1]. Due to the fact that more and more devices are being The table below shows how the classes of IPv4 addresses are
connected to the internet, the eventual exhaustion of IPv4 assigned including the number of hosts each class has.
addresses is one of the major reasons why IPv6 was developed.
Currently, the great number of IPv4 users and the huge size TABLE I
of the internet makes an instant migration to IPv6 impossible
[1]. Also, because these two protocols can co-exist together Networks and Hosts per Class
due to the auto configuration feature of IPv6, users can enjoy Network Class Number of Networks Number of Hosts
the features of IPv6 and still communicate with IPv4 devices
without any problem. We will discuss one of the techniques A 126 16,777,214
used by IPv4 to extend the time it will take to exhaust its B 16,382 65,534
addresses and also look at some of the techniques and issues
involved in migrating to IPv6. C 2,097,150 254
NETWORKS AND HOSTS PER CLASS
II. WHAT IS IPV4?
Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) has been existing since
the early 1980’s [3]. It is the forth version of the Internet The IP addressing system includes a subnet mask which
Protocol (IP) and has been widely used till now. The Internet allows us to distinguish between a network address and hosts
Protocol is one of the major protocols in TCP/IP. In the OSI for example, if we have an IP address of 192.168.0.2 and a
model, the protocol works on the Network layer and the major subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 the “192.168.0” identifies the
function of the protocol is to identify hosts based on their network which is a class C network address and the last octet
logical addresses in order to route data between them over the in decimal “2” identifies the host.
network. B. Why are we running out of IPv4 addresses?
The logical address of a host in a network is the IP address
In recent years, the use and production of more handheld
and the IPv4 addressing scheme is what has been used for a
devices such as mobile phones and tablet including the use of
while now in identifying hosts in a network. This system is
more computers all connecting to the internet have increased
based on a 32-bit logical address [1].
the demand for more IPv4 addresses. On the 3rd of February
A. Addressing System 2011, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Before the implementation of IPv4, engineers working on Numbers (ICANN) released the last block of the IPv4
ARPANET discussed what the length of an IP address should addresses [3]. This evidently shows that we are running out of
IPv4 addresses, which means it would be difficult to allocate

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 International Journal of Computer Trends and Technology (IJCTT) – volume 13 number 1 – Jul 2014
IP addresses to new or expanding companies in the future. receiving computer. This delay and multiple requests can
Just because we are running out of IPv4 addresses, several cause packets to be lost and this is not good for real-time data
methods have been employed to increase the time it would like VOIP or video streaming.
take before we completely run out of IPv4 addresses.
5) Data Priority: Due to the fact that IPv4 cannot recognize
C. IPv4 shortage workaround the kind of data being transmitted its difficult for the protocol
Although we are currently running out of IPv4 addresses, to prioritize transmission high priority data like video
some technologies have been employed to work around this streaming and others.
issue. The most common are Network Address Translation III. WHAT IS IPV6?
(NAT), Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR), and dynamic
IPv4 address assignment (DHCP) or Dynamic Host Internet Protocol (IPv6 or IPng) is the next generation of IP
Configuration Protocol [4]. Network Address Translation and it is the successor of IP version 4 which is widely used
(NAT) has been the most popular of these technologies and it nowadays. The development of IPv6 started in 1991 and was
has helped shift further the time it would take before IPv4 completed in 1997 by the Internet Engineering Task Force
addresses are exhausted [3]. (IETF), and was officially used in 2004 when ICANN added
IPv6 addresses to its DNS server [2].
D. Network Address Translation (NAT) Data transfers between hosts in packets across networks,
To reduce the number of addresses needed for an these packets require addressing schemes. Using IPv4 and
organization in order to save IP addresses, Service Providers IPv6 these packets can identify their sources and also find
(SP) try to reuse address blocks by using multiple layers of their destinations. Every device on the Internet needs an IP
Network Address Translation (NAT) [3]. Network Address address to communicate with other devices, and the growth of
Translation allows a single device, such as a router, to act as the Internet led to a need for a new alternative for IPv4,
an agent between the Internet "public network" and a local because IPv4 cannot provide the needed number of IP address
"private" network. This allows a single IP address to represent around the world [6].
an entire group of computers or devices. The address space in IPv6 is much larger than the address
NAT translates public IP addresses into private IP networks; space of IPv4, and it went from 32 bits to 128 bits; in other
private networks are networks that cannot access the internet words, it went from 4 billion addresses to 340 trillion trillion
[4]. They consists of the following IP addresses for each class trillion of unique address [2]. IPv6 is designed to provide
of network; For Class A, network 10 is used, for the Class B, unique addresses for everyone on earth. This expansion in
networks 172.16 to 172.31 is used and for Class C, networks address space will not just provide more unique address but it
192.168.0 to 192.168.255 is used in the private network [4]. will also make routing easier and cleaner because of its
With the use of NAT, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) do hierarchical addressing and simpler IP header [2].
not need to assign individual IP addresses to each customers The IPv6 addressing structure is designed to provide
device, they only need to assign a single IP address to the compatibility with existing IPv4 networks and allows the
customer and then this address can be used via NAT to existence of both networks. IPv6 does not only solve the
provide more private IP addresses to other devices the problem of shortage that IPv4 is causing, but it is also
customer may have thus enabling more IP addresses to be enhances and improves some of the features that IPv4 has [4].
available to more customers. IPv6 uses 128 bits addressing format that is represented by
16-bit hexadecimal number fields separated by colons “:”.
E. Shortcomings of IPv4 Using this format makes IPv6 less messy and error-free. Here
Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) has a few shortcomings is an example of an IPv6 address [2]:
stated below;
1) Address Space: Due to the number of increasing devices 2031:0000:130F:0000:0000:09C0:876A:130B
connected to the internet, the IPv4 addresses can only
Additionally, this address can be shortened using some
accommodate about 4 billion hosts. This is a significant
rules like compressing the block of zeros to a single zero like
limitation as more and more devices are getting online.
this [2]:
2) Security: IPv4 does not provide any security like 2031:0:130F:0:0:9C0:876A:130B or 0000=0
authenticating packets [5] when they are transmitted or
encryption of the data. Also, successive fields of zero can be represented by
double colons “::”, but it is only allowed once to use a double
3) Network Congestion: Due to the broadcast feature in IPv4
colon, so the above example will be shortened to this:[2].
network devices can become congested and overloaded since
packets are sent to all addresses in the network. 2031:0:130F::9C0:876A:130B

4) Packet Loss: IPv4 contains a Time to Live (TTL) [5] field A. Solving problems in IPv4
in the header of an IP and this set the expiry time for the The main reason behind adapting IPv6 is the exhaustion of
datagram. If the data was unable to get to the destination on available IPv4 address space. IPv6 has many new features and
time, it will expire and will be requested again from the

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 International Journal of Computer Trends and Technology (IJCTT) – volume 13 number 1 – Jul 2014
some critical improvements over IPv4. Due to the rapid enterprises and companies invest more money on the
growth of Internet users in the past ten years and the ongoing migration process [6].
growth, IPv4 is being exhausted and its address space will not
4) Security Issues: IPv6 have not been used widely and has
be able to satisfy the huge number of Internet users and does
not been tested properly. So, the security level of IPv6 is still
not provide the geographical needs for the expansion of the
vague [6].
Internet. Also, the emergence and the growth of mobile
devices like smart phones and tablets made the problem of There are many techniques and mechanisms that will make
IPv4 more urging than before. the transition from IPv4 to IPv6 an interoperable operation.
Some of these techniques are:
IPv6 will provide larger address space for more reach and 1) Dual Stack: IPv6 is an upgrade for IPv4, so IPv6 inherits
scalability and this will almost provide unlimited number of some features from IPv4; therefore it is relatively easy to
IP addresses and more efficient techniques for routing, so create a network stack that supports both IPv4 and IPv6. Such
these features will provide global addresses for each network an implementation is called a dual stack. Most of the new
device and will enable end-to-end reachability and better network devices and software which provide IPv6 have
network performance. implemented dual stack mechanisms [1].
In addition to solving the problems of IPv4, IPv6 will 2) Tunnelling: If we want an internet that is fully depended
provide networks and IT professionals with a list of benefits on IPv6, the implemented IPv6 networks and hosts must be
and features which are listed below [4]: able to transfer IPv6 packets through the existing IPv4
infrastructure. So this can be done using a technique called
 Larger address space. tunnelling, which consists of encapsulating IPv6 packets


within IPv4, which means using IPv4 as a link layer for IPv6
Hierarchical network architecture. [4].
 Simpler header format which will make packet 3) Addressing simplicity: Address simplicity allows a router
handling more efficient. or host being updated to IPv6 to continue to use IPv4 address
 There will be no need for network address translation more like automatic tunnelling which are simple mechanisms
(NAT) and application’s layered gateway (ALG). that provides IPv6 connectivity between separated dual-stack


hosts, routers, or both [1].
Built-in security with IPSec implementation.

4) Proxying and Translation: This technique is used when an
Auto-configuration and plug-and-play support. IPv6 device tries to access an IPv4 service like a web server,

so there should be some kind of translation between these two
Expanding the number of multicast addresses.

end-points in order to connect to each other. Therefore, the
Improved support for Mobile IP and Mobile most reliable way of translation is the use of dual-stack
Computing Devices. application-layer proxy, or in other words a web proxy [4].
B. IPv6 Migration Issues and Techniques IV. COMPARING IPV4 WITH IPV6
The migration from IPv4 to IPv6 has already started, but Although NAT in IPv4 helped reduce the number of public
before launching IPv6 the network infrastructure should be IP addresses needed in an organization, NAT still has some
upgraded in order to support services and software. But there security and performance issues. NAT being good for client
are some issues should be taken care of before migrating from server communication such as email and web has issues when
IPv4 to IPv6, and these issues are: it comes to peer-peer communication [4]. IPv6 provides an
1) Infrastructure Issues: Many of the protocols and end to end network connection which is a peer-peer system
technologies should be redesigned in order to support IPv6 used in applications like VOIP. It also has an auto
including DHCP, OSPF, and RIP, BGP, ARP, TCP/IP and configuration system that allows clients to communicate
others [6]. independently without any need for a manual setup and also
makes use of IPSec compulsorily in all its communication.
2) Tunnelling Issues: Without any change in applications, This make IPv6 more secure than IPv4 [5].
IPv6 can be used in an existing network by using IPv6 over
IPv4 tunnelling for connecting the IPv4 nodes to the backbone Also, because IPv4 has fewer addresses than IPv6, this will
network. But tunnelling has very less throughput and it needs require the use of proxies and other forms of network mapping,
network managers to configure the tunnel end points thereby increasing the risk in packet sniffing through proxies
information, which is a time consuming process [6]. but IPv6 contains more address space thereby reducing the use
3) Financial Issues: Migrating from IPv4 to IPv6 requires of proxies and ultimately increasing the level of security on
purchase of new network devices that support IPv6 like the network.
switches, routers, and others devices, which will make
The table below shows some of the key differences
between IPv4 and IPv6.

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 International Journal of Computer Trends and Technology (IJCTT) – volume 13 number 1 – Jul 2014
TABLE III REFERENCES
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN IP V4 AND IPV6
[1] Amer Nizar Abu Ali, “Comparison study between IPV4 & IPV6”,
Differences between IPv4 and IPv6 International Journal of Computer Science Issues, Vol. 9, Issue 3, No 1,
May 2012.
IPv4 IPv6 [2] CISCO IOS Learning Services, “The ABCs of IP Version 6”,
IPv4 uses a 32 bits address IPv6 uses a 128 bits address Understanding the Essentials Series, 2002.
[3] Jinesh Doshi, Rachid Chaoua, Saurabh Kumar, Sahana Mallya, “A
space space Comparative Study of IPv4/IPv6 Co-existence Technologies”,
Does not require DHCP or University of Colorado, Boulder, May 2012.
Must support DHCP or be manual configuration, it [4] Next Generation Internet, “IPv4 Address Exhaustion, Mitigation
configured manually supports stateless auto Strategies and Implications for the U.S.”, IEEE-USA White Paper,
2009.
configuration[1] [5] S.Clement Virgeniya and Dr.V.Palanisamy, “Attacks on Ipv4 and Ipv6
IPSec is not compulsory IPSec is compulsory Protocols and its Performance Parameters”, International Journal of
Computer Trends and Technology (IJCTT), Vol. 4, Issue. 8, August
There are no broadcasts 2013.
Broadcasts sends traffic to all instead multicasts is used [6] Saurabh Dey and Shilpa N., “Issues in IPv4 to IPv6 Migration”,
hosts on a subnet thereby reducing broadcast International Journal of Computer Applications in Engineering
floods found in IPv4 Sciences, Vol. 1, Issue1, pp. 9-13, March 2011
The IP header has a variable IP header has a fixed length
length of 20-60 bytes depending of 40 bytes and there are no
on the IP header options IP header options available

V. CONCLUSION
The future of the internet is IPv6 but migrating from IPv4
to IPv6 is a gradual process and may take several years before
we completely migrate. Several techniques being used to
maintain interconnectivity between the two protocols will
allow these protocols to coexist without issues as more
companies migrate to the new protocol.

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