IPv6

What is IPv4?
Version 4 of the Internet Protocol
Web, ftp,
30+ Years Old application telnet, etc.
presentation

Incredibly successful session

Todays Internet runs over IPv4 transport TCP, UDP

network IPv4
IPv4 address is 32 bits link Ethernet

Many add-ons
physical

Showing its age

What is IPv6?
Version 6 of the Internet Protocol Web, ftp,
application telnet, etc.
Version 5 was allocated to the
presentation
experimental Internet Stream Protocol
(RFC 1190) session

transport TCP, UDP

5+ years old
network IPv6

Poised for the continued growth link Ethernet

and success of the Internet physical

IPv6 address is 128 bits

IPv4: A Victim of Its Own Success
1990 - IPv4 addresses being consumed at an
alarming rate, projections show:
Class B address space exhausted by 1994
All IPv4 address space exhausted between 2005 - 2011
Internet routing tables suffering explosive growth
Internet routing today is inefficient

Running out of Internet addresses

Stops Internet growth for existing users
Prevents use of the Internet for new users
Forces users to use Private Addresses
Interim Measures
CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing)
Eased routing table growth
Private addresses
Reduced pressure on address space, but
Necessitated Network Address Translation, but
Single point of failure
Network performance penalty
Breaks applications that rely on end-to-end IP addressing
(FTP, DNS, others)
Use ALGs
More User Problems with IP today

System administration
Labor intensive, complex, slow, and error prone
Subscriber networks cannot be dynamically
renumbered or configured
Security is optional; no single standard
No support for new protocols
Difficult to add to the base IPv4 technology
Interim Measures Helped, But
Address space consumption slowed, but
Internet growth accelerated
Everything to the Internet
1B mobile users by 2005
1B Internet users by 2005
90% of all new mobile phones will have internet
access by 2003 (Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, May 2000)
Projections of address space exhaustion by 2010
Pain Sooner (Europe and Asia)
7
 a longer term solution
IP next generation (IPng)
1991: Work starts on next generation Internet protocols
More than 6 different proposals were developed
1993: IETF forms IPng Directorate
To select the new protocol by consensus
1995: IPv6 selected
Evolutionary (not revolutionary) step from IPv4
1996: 6Bone started
1998: IPv6 standardized
Today: Initial products and deployments
IPv6 Base Technology
Wins
Design Philosophy
Recognizable yet simplified header format
Reduce common-case processing cost of packet
handling
Keep bandwidth overhead low in spite of
increased size of the address
Flexible and extensible support for option
headers
Design optimised for 64-bit architecture
Headers are 64-bit aligned
IPv6 Header Comparison with IPv4
bit bit
0 8 16 24 31 0 4 12 16 24 31

Version IHL Service Type Total Length Version Class Flow Label

Identifier Flags Fragment Offset Payload Length Next Header Hop Limit

Time to Live Protocol Header Checksum

32 bit Source Address

128 bit Source Address
32 bit Destination Address

Options and Padding

IPv4 Header 128 bit Destination Address

20 octets, 12 fields, including 3 flag bits
+ fixed max number of options

Changed Removed

IPv6 Header
40 octets, 8 fields
+ Unlimited Chained Extension (options) Header
IPv6 Extension Headers
IP options have been moved to a set of optional Extension
Headers
Extension Headers are chained together

IPv6 Header TCP Header Application Data

Next = TCP

IPv6 Header Fragment Hdr Security Hdr TCP Header Data

Next = Frag Next = Security Next = TCP Frag

13
IPv6 Header
Performance Wins Layout
Fixed Size IPv6 Header
Unlike IPv4 - Options not limited at 40 bytes
Fewer fields in basic header
faster processing of basic packets
64 Bit Alignment Header/Options
Efficient option processing
Option fields processed only when present
Processing of most options limited performed only
at destination
IPv6 Header
Performance Wins Processing
Remove checksum from Network Layer
Datalinks are more reliable these days
Upper Layer checksums are now mandatory (for example,
TCP, UDP, ICMPv6)
No fragmentation in the network
Reduce load on routers
Easier to implement in hardware
Easy for Layer 3 switching of IP
Minimum link MTU is 1280 bytes
From 68 in IPv4
The power of IPv6
Addressing
Management
Security
Addressing Model (RFC 2373)
Addresses assigned to interfaces
No change from IPv4 model

Interfaces typically have multiple addresses

Subnets associated with single link
A link is a link-layer (layer 2) domain e.g. LAN
No change from IPv4 model
Multiple subnets on same link

IPv6 addresses have scope and lifetime

Global Site-Local Link-Local

IPv6 Unicast Address
Address = prefix of n bits + interface ID of 128-n bits
Separate who you are from where you are connected to

n bits 128-n bits

prefix Interface ID

Aggregatable Global Unicast Address format

Prefix Representation <prefix>::/<n-bits>
3FFE:0301:DEC1:: 0A00:2BFF:FE36:701E
The power of IPv6
Addressing
Management
Security
Other IPv6 goodies
Network Management
Address Autoconfiguration
Designed for hosts
It is assumed that routers are configured by some other means
Provides Plug-and-Play capability
Defines methods for obtaining routable address(es):
Link Local Address (No router or server required)
Stateless mechanism (Router advertisements provide prefix)
Stateful mechanism (Server provides address ( DHCP)
Network Management
Renumbering IPv6 hosts is easy
Add a new prefix to the router
Reduce the lifetime of the old prefix
As nodes deprecate the old prefix, they begin using the
new prefix for new connections
No network downtime
Renumbering IPv6 routers
New protocol: Router Renumbering (RFC 2894)
An end of ISP lock in!
Improved competition
Mobile IPv6
IPv6 Mobility is based on core features of IPv6
The base IPv6 was designed to support Mobility
Mobility is not an Add-on features
IPv6 Neighbor Discovery and Address Autoconfiguration
allow hosts to operate in any location without any special
support

No single point of failure (Home Agent)

More Scalable : Better Performance
Less traffic through Home Link
Less redirection / re-routing (Traffic Optimisation)
The power of IPv6
Addressing
Management
Security
IPv6 Mandates IP Security
Security features are standardized and mandated
All implementations must offer them
Extensions to the IP protocol suite (RFC 2401)
Authentication (Packet signing)
Encryption (Data Confidentiality)
Operates at the IP layer
Invisible to applications
Protects all upper layer protocols
Protects both end-to-end and router-to-router
(secure gateway)
A decade of design and testing
Core IETF specs have reached Draft Standard status

No No

RFC RFC RFC

Internet Yes Yes Yes
Proposed Draft Internet
Draft Standard Standard Standard
Technically Multiple Significant
complete Interoperable Operational
Implementations Experience

6bone test bed Today

1991 1996 1998

timeline
 Available TODAY in commercial products
IPv6 key features and Advantages
Increased Address Space
Efficient and extensible IP datagram
Improved host and router discovery
Plug and Play
Enhancements for Quality of Service (QoS)
Improved Mobile IP support
IPsec mandated
Coexistence with IPv4
Extensibility of the Architecture
Conclusion
IPv6 Solves many of the problems caused by the
IPv4 success and more...

The technology youve been waiting for is here

Start deploying today!

Imagine what IPv6 can do for you!