Title: View the IPv6 FAQ
Course: CIS 208: Linux/UNIX III: Intermediate System Administration, Networking, and Security ~ For IGNITE Review > Section: Learning Modules

View the IPv6 FAQ

What is IPv6?

IPv6 is the new version of the Internet address protocol that has been developed to supplement (and eventually replace) IPv4, the version that underpins the Internet today.

Who created IPv6 and how long has IPv6 been available? Is it new?

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), an international group concerned with developing technical standards that make the Internet work better first published the basic IPv6 protocol in 1998. It has since seen a number of enhancements, such as the addition of mobile IPv6 specifications (in 2004).

How does IPv6 solve the problem of IPv4 address exhaustion?

Simply by having a lot more address space to uniquely identify devices that are connected to the Internet. IPv4 has a theoretical maximum of about 4 billion addresses whereas IPv6 has an unthinkable theoretical maximum: about 340 trillion, trillion, trillion addresses. In actual use, IPv6 addresses are structured for routing and other purposes and as a result the number of addresses available is effectively less, but still extremely large.

For the end user, the large amount of IPv6 address space means:

  - Home users will generally be given blocks of addresses sufficient to number multiple networks and thousands of devices. (In contrast, under IPv4, home users today typically get a single address.)
  - Enterprises and small businesses will generally be given enough to number a substantial number of networks and tens of thousands of devices; while larger sites will get significantly more.

What happens when IPv4 address pool is finally depleted?

Existing devices and networks connected to the Internet through IPv4 addresses will continue to work as they do now. In fact, IPv4-based networks are expected to co-exist with IPv6-based networks at the same time.

However, for network operators and other entities that rely on Internet numbering allocations, it will become increasingly difficult and expensive (and eventually prohibitively so) to obtain new IPv4 address space to grow their networks. The cost and complexity associated with keeping track of and managing remaining IPv4 address space efficiently will also increase.

Therefore, network operators and enterprises will need to implement IPv6 in order to ensure long-term network growth and global connectivity.

When will IPv4 addresses actually run out?

The final allocations to the Regional Internet Registries (RIR) will soon be allocated. At current rates of consumption, the RIRs IPv4 address pools are likely to be depleted in approximately one year. The U.S. likely has less than a year left before *all* new networks will have to use IPv6 address space. Ahead of that date, the Internet Society and many global IT organizations are encouraging adoption of.

What’s the difference between IPv4 and IPv6? Will users be able to tell the difference?

The key difference between the versions of the protocol is that IPv6 has significantly more address space. Users should not be aware of any difference.

The addresses do look different however. A typical IPv6 address has 8 groups of four letters and numbers separated by colons so it looks like this: 2001:db8:1f70:999:de8:7648:6e8

The expanded addressing capacity of IPv6 will enable the trillions of new Internet addresses needed to support connectivity for a huge range of smart devices such as phones, household appliances and vehicles.

IPv6 also brings enhanced quality of service that is required for several new applications such as IP telephony, video/audio, interactive games or ecommerce.

Are there other advantages to IPv6 besides increased address space?

The main advantage of IPv6 is that it provides much more address space. Being a more recent protocol, IPv6 does have a few design improvements over IPv4, particularly in the areas of autoconfiguration, mobility, and extensibility. However, increased address space is the main benefit of IPv6.

Is IPv6 ready for deployment now?

There are three basic aspects involved in the deployment of IPv6: the protocol, the products, and the operational practices.

  - The IPv6 Protocol
    - IPv6 has benefited from over 10 years of development within the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The core standards have been stable for many years and deployed in both research and operational contexts. In addition to the core specifications, IPv6 includes a large number of individual standards that have a more limited applicability and are only needed in specialised environments. Additional development work will continue in these areas as new issues are discovered in response to deployment-specific scenarios. Like the continuing evolution of IPv4, there will always be updates and additions to IPv6 in response to deployment experience. Thus, even though the core IPv6 specifications are stable, there will continue to be ongoing work on IPv6-related specifications.
  - IPv6 Products
    - The core IPv6 specifications are becoming increasingly available as a standard part of products and service offerings. However, not all products are fully IPv6 capable at this time and some significant upgrade gaps remain, especially in low-end consumer equipment. Similarly, while many software applications and operating systems (especially in open source code) have already been updated for IPv6, not all products (including some from major vendors) are fully IPv6 ready. It is best to check with specific vendors on the IPv6 readiness of their individual products and services. In addition, in-house application software or custom code that interfaces with the network will likely need updating for IPv6.
  - IPv6 Operational Practices
    - Operational practices built up over many years for IPv4 networks will have to be adapted for IPv6. There is growing experience in the deployment of IPv6 in research networks and R&D projects, while some production networks (primarily in Japan and Korea) have been running IPv6 for a number of years. IPv6 traffic today, however, remains small in comparison to IPv4. As more network operators deploy IPv6 and continue to exchange information about experience and best practices through established operators groups, the IETF, and other forums, the community knowledge level will grow.

In summary, IPv6 is ready for deployment, but additional effort is needed to make its use pervasive. The IETF, equipment vendors, application developers, network operators and end users all have roles to play in ensuring the successful wide-spread deployment of IPv6.

Has IPv6 been added to the root servers yet?

On 4 February 2008, ICANN announced that it had added IPv6 to six of the 13 root servers, namely A, F, H, J, K, M, thus allowing for a fuller IPv6 usage of the Domain Name System (DNS). Since then, the L root has also been added to the list.

I've been using NAT on my home network for years and it doesn't give me any problems. What's different this time?

The big difference is that sharing is now across multiple subscribers, as opposed to across multiple devices belonging to a single subscriber. This has implications for advertisers, content providers, law enforcement and end-users themselves. NAT in residential cable modems and the like is often configurable by the subscriber. Service-provider NAT will offer less possibility for end-user configuration. This means the subscriber's ability to enable incoming connections for applications like VoIP or gaming may be curtailed.

Without NAT, won't my network be less secure?

Translating addresses does not provide any security benefits. In many cases NATs require an outgoing connection to be present before they will allow an incoming connection to succeed. This 'stateful packet filtering' can be enabled for IPv6 in the absence of any address translation. The security properties of IPv6 are no different than those of IPv4.

Source: This material came from the Internet Society at this link: http://www.isoc.org/internet/issues/ipv6_faq.shtml.