IPV6

The network layer protocol in the TCP/IP protocol suite is currently IPv4 (Internetworking
Protocol, version 4). IPv4 provides the host-to-host communication between systems in the
Internet.
Although IPv4 is well designed, IPv4 has some deficiencies (listed below) that make it
unsuitable for the fast-growing Internet.
1. Despite all short-term solutions, such as subnetting, classless addressing, and NAT,
address depletion is still a long-term problem in the Internet.
2. The Internet must accommodate real-time audio and video transmission. This type of
transmission requires minimum delay strategies and reservation of resources not
provided in the IPv4 design.
3. The Internet must accommodate encryption and authentication of data for some
applications. No encryption or authentication is provided by IPv4.
To overcome these deficiencies, IPv6 (Internetworking Protocol, version 6), was proposed
and is now a standard.
In IPv6, the Internet protocol was extensively modified to accommodate the unforeseen
growth of the Internet. The format and the length of the IP address were changed along with
the packet format.

Advantages of IPV6:
The next-generation IP, or IPv6, has some advantages over IPv4 that can be summarized as
follows:
Larger address space. An IPv6 address is 128 bits long, Compared with the 32-bit address
of IPv4, this is a huge increase in the address space.
Better header format. IPv6 uses a new header format in which options are separated from
the base header and inserted, when needed, between the base header and the upper-layer data.
This simplifies and speeds up the routing process because most of the options do not need to
be checked by routers.
New options. IPv6 has new options to allow for additional functionalities.
Allowance for extension. IPv6 is designed to allow the extension of the protocol if required
by new technologies or applications.
Support for resource allocation. In IPv6, the type-of-service field has been removed, but a
mechanism (called Flow label) has been added to enable the source to request special
handling of the packet. This mechanism can be used to support traffic such as real-time audio
and video.
Support for more security. The encryption and authentication options in IPv6 provide
confidentiality and integrity of the packet.

Packet Format
Each IPV6 packet/datagram is composed of a mandatory base header followed by the
payload.
The payload consists of two parts: optional extension headers and data from an upper layer.
The base header occupies 40 bytes, whereas the extension headers and data from the upper
layer contain up to 65,535 bytes of information.

Base Header
Base header contains eight fields.

These fields are as follows:

1. Version. This 4-bit field defines the version number of the IP. For IPv6, the value is
6.
2. Priority. The 4-bit priority field defines the priority of the packet with respect to
other packets from the same source during traffic congestion. the datagram with the
lower packet priority will be discarded,
3. Flow label. The flow label is a 3-byte (24-bit) field that is designed to provide special
handling for a particular flow of data.
4. Payload length. The 2-byte payload length field defines the length of the IP datagram
excluding the base header.
 5. Next header. The next header is an 8-bit field defining the header that follows the
base header in the datagram. The next header is either one of the optional extension
headers used by IP or the header of an encapsulated packet such as UDP or TCP.
Each extension header also contains this field. Table 20.6 shows the values of next
headers. Note that this field in version 4 is called the protocol.

1. Hop limit. This 8-bit hop limit field serves the same purpose as the TIL field in IPv4.
1. Source address. The source address field is a 16-byte (128-bit) Internet address that
identifies the original source of the datagram.
1. Destination address. The destination address field is a 16-byte (128-bit) Internet
address that usually identifies the final destination of the datagram. However, if source
routing is used, this field contains the address of the next router.

Extension Headers
The length of the base header is fixed at 40 bytes. However, to give greater functionality to
the IP datagram, the base header can be followed by up to six extension headers. Many of
these headers are options in IPv4. Six types of extension headers have been defined, as shown
in Figure 20.17.

1. Hop-by-Hop Option The hop-by-hop option is used when the source needs to pass
information to all routers visited by the datagram. So far, only three options have been
defined: Pad1, PadN, and jumbo payload. The Pad1 option is 1 byte long and is
 designed for alignment purposes. PadN is similar in concept to Pad1. The difference
is that PadN is used when 2 or more bytes is needed for alignment. The jumbo
payload option is used to define a payload longer than 65,535 bytes.
2. Source Routing The source routing extension header combines the concepts of the
strict source route and the loose source route options of IPv4.
3. Fragmentation The concept of fragmentation is the same as that in IPv4. However,
the place where fragmentation occurs differs. In IPv4, the source or a router is
required to fragment if the size of the datagram is larger than the MTU of the network
over which the datagram travels. In IPv6, only the original source can fragment. A
source must use a path MTU discovery technique to find the smallest MTU supported
by any network on the path. The source then fragments using this knowledge.
4. Authentication The authentication extension header has a dual purpose: it validates
the message sender and ensures the integrity of data.
5. Encrypted Security Payload The encrypted security payload (ESP) is an extension
that provides confidentiality and guards against eavesdropping.
6. Destination Option The destination option is used when the source needs to pass
information to the destination only. Intermediate routers are not permitted access to
this information.