AGM LICE Broadband Module

Chapter-7
Introduction to Internet Protocol version 6

Course Contents

 Introduction to IPv6
 What is IPv6?
 Why is IPv6 Needed Now?
 IPv6 Addressing & its representation
 Advantages of IPv6
 Features of IPv6
 Types of IPv6 Addresses
 Address Scope
 Transition from IPv4 to IPv6

Objectives
After completion of this module the trainee will be able to
understand
 Drawbacks of IPv4 addressing.
 IPv6 notation and representation in hexadecimal.
 Advantages of IPv6 and features of IPv6
 IPv6 prefixes and types of IPv6 addresses.
 Address scope of IPv6 addresses.
 Technologies for transition from IPv4 to IPv6

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7.1 Introduction to IPv6

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is the organization that is responsible for
defining the Internet Protocol standards. When the IETF developed IPv4, the global
expansion of the Internet and the current Internet security issues were not anticipated. In
IPv4's original design, network security was only given minor consideration. In the 1980s,
when IPv4 was developing, the "Internet" was constructed by a set of cooperative
organizations. As IPv4 was developed and the Internet explosion took place in the 1990s,
Internet threats became prolific.
7.2 What is IPv6?
IPv6 is the replacement Internet protocol for IPv4. It corrects some of the
deficiencies of IPv4 and simplifies the way that addresses are configured and how they are
handled by Internet hosts.
IPv4 has proven to be robust, easily implemented, and interoperable, and has stood
the test of scaling an internetwork to a global utility the size of the Internet. However, the
initial design did not anticipate the following conditions:
•Recent exponential growth of the Internet and the impending exhaustion of the IPv4
address space
•The ability of Internet backbone routers to maintain large routing tables
•Need for simpler autoconfiguration and renumbering
•Requirement for security at the IP level (IPSec)
•Need for better support for real-time delivery of data, known as quality of service
(QoS).
7.3 Why is IPv6 Needed Now?
With its 32-bit address format, IPv4 can handle a maximum 4.3 billion unique IP
addresses. While this number may seem very large, it is not enough to sustain and scale the
rapidly rising growth of the Internet. Although improvements to IPv4, including the use of
NAT, have allowed the extended use of the protocol, address exhaustion is inevitable.
With its 128-bit address format, IPv6 can support 3.4 x 10^38 or
340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 unique IP addresses. This number
of addresses is large enough to configure a unique address on every node in the Internet
and still have plenty of addresses left over. It is also large enough to eliminate the need for
NAT, which has its own inherent problems.
In the early 1990s, the IETF realized that a new version of IP would be needed, and
the Task Force started by drafting the new protocol's requirements. IP Next Generation
(IPng) was created, which then became IPv6 (RFC 1883). IPv6 is the second network layer
standard protocol that follows IPv4 for computer communications across the Internet and

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other computer networks. IPv6 offers several compelling functions and is really the next
step in the evolution of the Internet Protocol. These improvements came in the form of
increased address size, a streamlined header format, extensible headers, and the ability to
preserve the confidentiality and integrity of communications. The IPv6 protocol was then
fully standardized at the end of 1998 in RFC 2460, which defines the header structure. IPv6
is now ready to overcome many of the deficiencies in the current IPv4 protocol and to
create new ways of communicating that IPv4 cannot support.
IPv6 provides several improvements over its predecessor. The advantages and
characteristics of IPv6 are
 Larger address space: Increased address size from 32 bits to 128 bits
 Streamlined protocol header: Improves packet-forwarding efficiency
 Stateless autoconfiguration: The ability for nodes to determine their own
address
 Multicast: Increased use of efficient one-to-many communications
 Jumbograms: The ability to have very large packet payloads for greater
efficiency
 Network layer security: Encryption and authentication of communications
 Quality of service (QoS) capabilities: QoS markings of packets and flow labels
that help identify priority traffic
 Anycast: Redundant services using nonunique addresses
 Mobility: Simpler handling of mobile or roaming nodes

7.4 IPv6 Addressing

IPv6 has a capacity of 340 trillion, trillion, trillion individual IP addresses. This vast
amount has been made possible by increasing the length, in bits, of each address.
IPv6 addresses are 128 bits long. They are logically divided into a network prefix and
a host identifier. The number of bits in the network prefix is represented by a prefix length
(for example, /64). The remaining bits are used for the host identifier. If you do not specify a
prefix length for an IPv6 address, the default prefix length is /64.

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Figure 7.1
An IPv6 address consists of 8 sets of 16-bit hexadecimal values separated by colons
(:), totaling 128 bits in length.
For example: 2001:0db8:1234:5678:9abc:def0:1234:5678
7.4.1 Representing IPv6 in binary format.
2001 : 0db8 : ac10 : fe01 : 0000 : 0000 : 0000 : 0000
0010 0000 0000 0001 0000 1101 1011 1000 1010 1100 0001 0000 1111 1110 0000 0001
0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
0010000000000001000011011011100010101100000100001111111000000001000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

7.4.2 How to convert 128 bit binary in to IPv6?

1. Break the 128 bit binary into 8 blocks each of 16 bits.
2. Split each block into 4 segments of 4 bits.
3. Convert each segment into hexadecimal notation.
0010000000000001000011011011100010101100000100001111111000000001000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Firstly, break the binary into 8 blocks of 16 bits (8 x 16 bit = 128 bits).
0010000000000001 0000110110111000 1010110000010000 1111111000000001
0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000
Then split each block into 4 segments. You'll be left with 32 segments each
containing 4 bits (32 x 4 bits = 128 bits).
0010 0000 0000 0001 0000 1101 1011 1000 1010 1100 0001 0000 1111 1110 0000 0001

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0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
Then, Convert each segment into hexadecimal notation.
2001 : 0db8 : ac10 : fe01 : 0000 : 0000 : 0000 : 0000

There are 2 methods we can use to reduce the size of the notation making it even
easier to read.
These methods are called 'Zero Compression', and 'Zero Suppression'.
Some addresses contain long sequences of zeros:
2001:0db8:ac10:0000:0000:8a2e:0000:0a52
We can use 'zero compression' to reduce them. If there is more than one
consecutive block where the characters are all zeros you can compress them to :: (a double
colon).
In the address above there are 3 blocks containing all zeros. However only the first
and second segments of zeros can be compressed. This is because they are consecutive
(they are next to each other in the address). The third block of zeros cannot be compressed
but can be supressed.
2001:0db8:ac10::8a2e:0000:0a52
2001:db8:ac10::8a2e:0:a52
Zero Compression and Zero Suppression conceptis used to reduce the size of the
IPv6 notation.
Leading zeros can be omitted, and consecutive zeros in contiguous blocks can be
represented by a double colon (::). Double colons can appear only once in the address.
For example:
1. 2001:0db8:0000:130f:0000:0000:087c:140b can be abbreviated as
2001:0db8:0:130f::o87c:140b --- Zero Compression
2001:db8:0:130f::87c:140b -- Zero Compression and Zero Supression
2. fe80 : 0000 : 0000 : 0000 : 0202 : b3ff : fe1e : 8329
fe80::0202:b3ff:fe1e:8329
3 2001 : 0000 : ac10 : 0000 : 0000 : fe01 : 0db8 : 0000
2001:0000:ac10::fe01:0db8:0000
2001:0:ac10::fe01:0db8:0
4 2001:0db8:0000:0000:c5ef:0000:0000:0001 Can be represented as

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2001:0db8::c5ef:0:0:1
2001:db8:0:0:c5ef::1
2001:db8::c5ef:0:0:1
7.4.3 IPv6 Prefixes
As with the IPv4 Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) network prefix
representation (such as 10.1.1.0/24), an IPv6 address network prefix is represented the
same way: 2001:db8:12::/64
IPv6 addressing has a hierarchical structure similar to that of IPv4. This means that
IPv6 addresses can be subnetted for performance and security reasons in the same way as
IPv4.
The bits on the left of an IPv6 address (high-order bits) specify the network, the
other bits specify particular addresses in that network.
2001:0db8:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001 /64

Figure 7.2

7.5 Advantages of IPv6

Besides providing an almost limitless number of unique IP addresses for global end-
to-end reachability and scalability, IPv6 has the following additional advantages:
• Simplified header format for efficient packet handling
• Larger payload for increased throughput and transport efficiency
• Hierarchical network architecture for routing efficiency
• Support for widely deployed routing protocols (OSPF, BGP, etc.)
• Autoconfiguration and plug-and-play support
• Elimination of need for network address translation (NAT) and application layered
gateway (ALG)

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• Increased number of multicast addresses. IPv6 unicast addresses generally use 64

bits for the network ID and 64 bits for the host ID.The network ID is administratively
assigned, and the host ID can be configured manually or auto-configured by any of
the following methods:
• Using a randomly generated number
• Using DHCPv6
• Using the Extended Unique Identifier (EUI-64) format. This format expands the
device interface.
7.6 Features of IPv6
 Larger Address Space -- IPv6 uses 4 times more bits to address a device on
the Internet. According to an estimate, 1564 addresses can be allocated to
every square meter of this earth.
 Faster Forwarding/Routing -- Simplified header puts all unnecessary
information at the end of the header. The information contained in the first
part of the header is adequate for a Router to take routing decisions, thus
making routing decision as quickly as looking at the mandatory header.
 Simplified Header -- IPv6 header is only twice as bigger than IPv4 provided
the fact that IPv6 address is four times longer.

Figure 7.3
 End-to-end Connectivity -- Every system now has unique IP address and can
traverse through the Internet without using NAT or other translating
components.
 Auto-configuration -- IPv6 supports both stateful and stateless auto
configuration mode of its host devices. This way, absence of a DHCP server
does not put a halt on inter segment communication.

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 IPSec -- IPsec security is mandated in the IPv6 protocol specification,

allowing IPv6 packet authentication and/or payload encryption via the
Extension Headers. However, IPsec is not automatically implemented, it must
be configured and used with a security key exchange.
 No Broadcast -- Though Ethernet/Token Ring are considered as broadcast
network because they support Broadcasting, IPv6 does not have any
broadcast support any more. It uses multicast to communicate with multiple
hosts.
 Anycast Support -- IPv6 has introduced Anycast mode of packet routing. In
this mode, multiple interfaces over the Internet are assigned same Anycast IP
address. Routers, while routing, send the packet to the nearest destination.
 Mobility -- This feature enables hosts (such as mobile phone) to roam
around in different geographical area and remain connected with the same
IP address. The mobility feature of IPv6 takes advantage of auto IP
configuration and Extension headers.
 Enhanced Priority Support -- Traffic class and Flow label are used to tell the
underlying routers how to efficiently process the packet and route it
 IPv4 used 6 bits DSCP (Differential Service Code Point) and 2 bits ECN
(Explicit Congestion Notification) to provide Quality of Service but it could
only be used if the end-to-end devices support it, that is, the source and
destination device and underlying network must support it.
 Smooth Transition -- Large IP address scheme in IPv6 enables to allocate
devices with globally unique IP addresses. This mechanism saves IP addresses
and NAT is not required. So devices can send/receive data among each other.
As the header is less loaded, routers can take forwarding decisions and forward
them as quickly as they arrive.
 Extensibility -- IPv6 header is extensible to add more information in the option
part. IPv4 provides only 40-bytes for options, whereas options in IPv6 can be as
much as the size of IPv6 packet itself.

7.7 Types of IPv6 Addresses

As with IPv4, IPv6 addresses are assigned to interfaces; however, unlike IPv4, an IPv6
interface is expected to have multiple addresses. The IPv6 addresses assigned to an
interface can be any of the following types:

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 Unicast address Identifies a single node or interface. Traffic destined for a

unicast address is forwarded to a single interface. An IPv6 unicast address
identifies a single interface. Packets sent to a unicast address are delivered to
that specific interface. So unicast is communication between a single sender and
a single receiver over a network.
Because of the abundance of addresses available with IPv6, it is very likely that
virtually every machine attached to your network has at least one global unicast address
assigned to each interface.
Global Unicast addresses begin with 2000::/3.

Figure 7.4
Example of a Unicast address: 2000::a12:34ff:fe56:7890
 Multicast address Identifies a group of nodes or interfaces. Traffic destined for a
multicast address is forwarded to all the nodes in the group. An IPv6 multicast
address identifies a group of interfaces, again typically belonging to different
nodes. Packets sent to a multicast address are delivered to all interfaces in the
group.
So multicast addresses facilitate communication between a single sender
and multiple receivers.

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Figure 7.5
Multicast addresses begin with the prefix - ff00::/8.
Example of a Mulicast address: ff01:0:0:0:0:0:0:2
With IPv6, broadcast addresses are no longer used. Broadcast addresses are
too resource intensive, therefore IPv6 uses multicast addresses instead.
 Anycast address Identifies a group of nodes or interfaces. Traffic destined to an
anycast address is forwarded to the nearest node in the group. An anycast
address is essentially a unicast address assigned to multiple devices with a host
ID = 0000:0000:0000:0000. (Anycast addresses are not widely used today.)

Figure 7.6

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7.8 Address Scopes

Each IPv6 address type has a scope that describes the part of the network where the
address is unique. Some IPv6 addresses are unique only in a subnet or a local network (link-
local scope), others are unique in private networks or between organizations (unique-local
scope), while still others are globally unique (global scope), that is, everywhere in the
Internet.
Note that there is no concept of broadcast addresses in IPv6. For one to many
addressing, use multicast addresses.

Figure 7.7

7.8.1 Interface ID
IPv6 has three different types of Unicast Address scheme. The second half of the
address (last 64 bits) is always used for Interface ID. The MAC address of a system is
composed of 48-bits and represented in Hexadecimal. MAC addresses are considered to be

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uniquely assigned worldwide. Interface ID takes advantage of this uniqueness of MAC

addresses. A host can auto-configure its Interface ID by using IEEE’s Extended Unique
Identifier (EUI-64) format. First, a host divides its own MAC address into two 24-bits halves.
Then 16-bit Hex value 0xFFFE is sandwiched into those two halves of MAC address, resulting
in EUI-64 ID.

.
Fig7.8: EUI-64 Interface ID
7.8.2 Conversion of EUI-64 ID into IPv6 Interface Identifier
To convert EUI-64 ID into IPv6 Interface Identifier, the most significant 7th bit of EUI-
64 ID is complemented. For example:

Fig7.9 : IPV6 Interface ID

7.8.3 Global Unicast Address

This address type is equivalent to IPv4’s public address. Global Unicast addresses in
IPv6 are globally identifiable and uniquely addressable.

Fig7.10 : Global Unicast Address

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IPv6 Global Unicast Address Format

Size
Field Name Description
(bits)

Global Routing Prefix: The network ID or prefix of the address,

4
Prefix used for routing. The first three bits are “001” to indicate a unicast
8
address.

1 Subnet Identifier: A number that identifies a subnet within the

Subnet ID
6 site.

Interface ID: The unique identifier for a particular interface

6
Interface ID (host or other device). It is unique within the specific prefix and
4
subnet.

7.8.4 IPv6 Global Unicast Address Format

Figure 7.11

Global Routing Prefix: The most significant 48-bits are designated as Global Routing
Prefix which is assigned to specific autonomous system. The three most significant bits of
Global Routing Prefix is always set to 001.

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Figure 7.12

7.8.5 Unique-Local Address

This type of IPv6 address is globally unique, but it should be used in local
communication. The second half of this address contain Interface ID and the first half is
divided among Prefix, Local Bit, Global ID and Subnet ID.

Figure 7.13 Image: Unique-Local Address

Prefix is always set to 1111 110. L bit, is set to 1 if the address is locally assigned. So
far, the meaning of L bit to 0 is not defined. Therefore, Unique Local IPv6 address always
starts with ‘FD’ instead of ‘FC’

7.8.6 Link-Local Address

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Auto-configured IPv6 address is known as Link-Local address. This address always

starts with FE80. The first 16 bits of link-local address is always set to 1111 1110 1000 0000
(FE80). The next 48-bits are set to 0, thus:

Figure 7.14 Image: Link-Local Address

Link-local addresses are used for communication among IPv6 hosts on a link
(broadcast segment) only. These addresses are not routable, so a Router never forwards
these addresses.
IPv6 link-local addresses are a special scope of address which can be used only
within the context of a single layer two domain. Packets sourced from or destined to a link-
local address are not forwarded out of the layer two domain by routers. These addresses
are useful for establishing communication across a link in the absence of a globally routable
prefix.
This means that computers on a link can always communicate through IPv6 using
link-local addresses as the network interface always has a link-local address even if you
assign another IPv6 address manually or if the NIC receives an IPv6 address from a DHCP
server.
7.8.7 Scope of IPv6 Addresses:

Figure 7.15

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Figure 7.16

An address scope defines the region where an address can be defined as a unique
identifier of an interface.
These scopes or regions are the link, the site network, and the global network,
corresponding to link-local, unique local unicast, and global addresses.

Figure 7.17

7.9 Transition From IPv4 to IPv6

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Complete transition from IPv4 to IPv6 might not be possible because IPv6 is not
backward compatible. This results in a situation where either a site is on IPv6 or it is not. It is
unlike implementation of other new technologies where the newer one is backward
compatible so the older system can still work with the newer version without any additional
changes.
To overcome this short-coming, we have a few technologies that can be used to
ensure slow and smooth transition from IPv4 to IPv6.

7.10 Dual Stack Routers

A router can be installed with both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses configured on its
interfaces pointing to the network of relevant IP scheme.

Figure 7.18

Since IPv6 is a conservative extension of IPv4, it is relatively easy to write a network

stack that supports both IPv4 and IPv6 while sharing most of the code. Such an
implementation is called a dual stack, and a host implementing a dual stack is called a dual-
stack host.
7.11 Tunneling
In order to reach the IPv6 Internet, an isolated host or network must be able to use
the existing IPv4 infrastructure to carry IPv6 packets. This is done using a technique known
as tunnelling which consists of encapsulating IPv6 packets within IPv4, in effect using IPv4 as
a link layer for IPv6.

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Figure 7.19

7.12 NAT Protocol Translation

This is another important method of transition to IPv6 by means of a NAT-PT
(Network Address Translation – Protocol Translation) enabled device. With the help of a
NAT-PT device, actual can take place happens between IPv4 and IPv6 packets and vice
versa.

Figure 7.20

A host with IPv4 address sends a request to an IPv6 enabled server on Internet that
does not understand IPv4 address. In this scenario, the NAT-PT device can help them
communicate. When the IPv4 host sends a request packet to the IPv6 server, the NAT-PT
device/router strips down the IPv4 packet, removes IPv4 header, and adds IPv6
header and passes it through the Internet. When a response from the IPv6 server comes for
the IPv4 host, the router does vice versa.
******************

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