Course title : CSE3003

Course title : Computer Networks

Module :4
Topic :2

IPv6 Addressing

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Objectives

This session will give the knowledge about

• IPv6 Addressing

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Why we need IPv6 Addressing

• One of the main benefits of IPv6 over previously used IPv4 is the large
address-space that contains (addressing) information to route packets for
the next generation Internet.

• IPv6 supports 128-bit address space and can potentially support 2128.

• With this large address-space scheme, IPv6 has the capability to provide
unique addresses to each and every device or node.

• IPv6 addresses are assigned to interfaces, rather than to nodes, in

recognition that a node can have more than one interface. Moreover, you
can assign more than one IPv6 address to an interface.
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Parts of the IPv6 Address

• An IPv6 address is 128 bits in length and consists of eight, 16-bit fields,
with each field bounded by a colon. Each field must contain a hexadecimal
number, in contrast to the dotted-decimal notation of IPv4 addresses. In the
next figure, the x's represent hexadecimal numbers.

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Parts of the IPv6 Address

• The leftmost three fields (48 bits) contain the site prefix. The prefix
describes the public topology that is usually allocated to your site by an ISP
or Regional Internet Registry (RIR).

• The next field is the 16-bit subnet ID, which you (or another administrator)
allocate for your site. The subnet ID describes the private topology, also
known as the site topology, because it is internal to your site.

• The rightmost four fields (64 bits) contain the interface ID, also referred to
as a token. The interface ID is either automatically configured from the
interface's MAC address or manually configured in EUI-64 format.

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Parts of the IPv6 Address

• Consider again the address in Figure 3-2:

• 2001:0db8:3c4d:0015:0000:0000:1a2f:1a2b

• This example shows all 128 bits of an IPv6 address. The first 48 bits,
2001:0db8:3c4d, contain the site prefix, representing the public topology.

• The next 16 bits, 0015, contain the subnet ID, representing the private
topology for the site.

• The lower order, rightmost 64 bits, 0000:0000:1a2f:1a2b, contain the

interface ID.
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Abbreviating IPv6 Addresses

• The IPv6 addressing architecture allows you use the two-colon (::) notation
to represent contiguous 16-bit fields of zeros.

• For example, you might abbreviate the IPv6 address in Figure 3-2 by
replacing the two contiguous fields of zeros in the interface ID with two
colons.

• The resulting address is 2001:0db8:3c4d:0015::1a2f:1a2b. Other fields of

zeros can be represented as a single 0.

• You can also omit any leading zeros in a field, such as changing 0db8 to
db8.
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Abbreviating IPv6 Addresses

• So the address 2001:0db8:3c4d:0015:0000:0000:1a2f:1a2b can be

abbreviated as 2001:db8:3c4d:15::1a2f:1a2b.

• You can use the two colon notation to replace any contiguous fields of all
zeros in the IPv6 address.

• For example, the IPv6 address

2001:0db8:3c4d:0015:0000:d234::3eee:0000 can be collapsed into
2001:db8:3c4d:15:0:d234:3eee::

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Prefixes in IPv6

• The leftmost fields of the IPv6 address contain the prefix, which is used for
routing IPv6 packets. IPv6 prefixes have the following format:

• prefix/length in bits

• Prefix length is stated in classless inter-domain routing (CIDR) notation.

CIDR notation is a slash at the end of the address that is followed by the
prefix length in bits.

• The site prefix of an IPv6 address occupies up to 48 of the leftmost bits of

the IPv6 address.

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Prefixes in IPv6

• For example, the site prefix of the IPv6 address

2001:db8:3c4d:0015:0000:0000:1a2f:1a2b/48 is contained in the leftmost
48 bits, 2001:db8:3c4d.

• You use the following representation, with zeros compressed, to represent

this prefix:

• 2001:db8:3c4d::/48

• Note - The prefix 2001:db8::/32 is a special IPv6 prefix that is used

specifically for documentation examples.

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Prefixes in IPv6

• You can also specify a subnet prefix, which defines the internal topology of
the network to a router. The example IPv6 address has the following subnet
prefix.

• 2001:db8:3c4d:15::/64

• The subnet prefix always contains 64 bits. These bits include 48 bits for the
site prefix, in addition to 16 bits for the subnet ID.

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Prefixes in IPv6

• The following prefixes have been reserved for special use:

• 2002::/16 -> Indicates that a 6to4 routing prefix follows.

• fe80::/10 -> Indicates that a link-local address follows.

• ff00::/8 -> Indicates that a multicast address follows.

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IPv6 Addressing Methods

1. Unicast Address – Unicast Address identifies a single network interface. A

packet sent to a unicast address is delivered to the interface identified by
that address.

2. Multicast Address – Multicast Address is used by multiple hosts, called as

Group, acquires a multicast destination address.

These hosts need not be geographically together. If any packet is sent to

this multicast address, it will be distributed to all interfaces corresponding
to that multicast address.

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IPv6 Addressing Methods

3. Anycast Address – Anycast Address is assigned to a group of interfaces.

Any packet sent to an anycast address will be delivered to only one
member interface (mostly nearest host possible).

Note: Broadcast is not defined in IPv6.

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Types of IPv6 address
Prefix Allocation Fraction of Address Space
0000 0000 Reserved 1/256
0000 0001 Unassigned (UA) 1/256
0000 001 Reserved for NSAP 1/128
0000 01 UA 1/64
0000 1 UA 1/32
0001 UA 1/16
001 Global Unicast 1/8
010 UA 1/8
011 UA 1/8
100 UA 1/8

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Types of IPv6 address
Prefix Allocation Fraction of Address Space
101 UA 1/8
110 UA 1/8
1110 UA 1/16
1111 0 UA 1/32
1111 10 UA 1/64
1111 110 UA 1/128
1111 1110 0 UA 1/512
1111 1110 10 Link-Local Unicast Addresses 1/1024
1111 1110 11 Site-Local Unicast Addresses 1/1024
1111 1111 Multicast Address 1/256

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Summary
At the end of this session we have learned about
• IPv6 Addressing

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