IPv6FOR

DUMmIES INFOBLOX SPECIAL EDITION

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IPv6 For Dummies, Infoblox Special EditionPublished by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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Chapter 1

Routing around IPv6 BasicsIn This Chapter Getting the most out of this book Comparing IPv4 and IPv6 Understanding the need for IPv6

I Pv6 stands for Internet Protocol version 6, something that is about to impact everyone who uses the Internet. This book will help you understand what IPv6 is, why its neces-sary, what it does, and how it will impact you and your organization.

So, what is the Internet Protocol? Its a set of international communications rules that specifies the way small packets of data are routed across networks. Each data packet con-tains the two numeric addresses of its origin and destination devices.

IPv6, or Internet Protocol version 6, is the newest way that Internet devices talk to each other by specifying the two key addresses: where the data packet comes from and where is it going. IPv6 is the successor to Internet Protocol version 4 or IPv4. (Yeah, they skipped IPv5 for reasons that are unimport-ant, so just roll with it.)

Why IPv6? The main impetus behind the move to IPv6 is to remedy the IPv4 address exhaustion problem. The explosive growth of the Internet since 1981 has exceeded the address capacity available in IPv4.

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IPv6 For Dummies, Infoblox Special Edition 2Understanding IPv6 is important because migrating your organization to IPv6 is no trivial task. Aside from knowing whats going on under the hood, youre going to want insight on methodology, device selection, and testing. This book will help.

About This BookThis book is designed to assist network specialists with the processes involved in implementing IPv6 on their systems. Included are facts about the IPv6 addressing system, details about getting ready to make the change, and some sugges-tions for getting started. We assume you have some knowl-edge of contemporary networks and the Internet. This book was written with and for Infoblox.

Icons Used in This BookThis book contains four icons helpful in identifying informa-tion of special interest. To get the most out of this book, pay attention to the paragraphs with these icons.

Give particular attention to this material.

This icon indicates technical information that may or may not interest you, but its there if you want to learn it.

These paragraphs point out special tricks or techniques you can use to do something faster or with greater ease.

Watch out! When you see this icon, read the information sev-eral times to keep yourself out of trouble.

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Chapter 1: Routing around IPv6 Basics 3

Introducing IPv6 Internet Protocol version 6 is the next addressing system for Internet-connected devices. The explosive growth of the Internet has exceeded the capacity of the 30-year-old stan-dard, known as IPv4, to handle all the network tools, websites, cell phones, and other devices that need unique addresses out in the Wild Wild Web. IPv4 has been a very successful standard with impressive durability. Not much else on the Internet has lasted 30 years unchanged, so they must have gotten a few things right when they designed it. However, the massive growth in the number and types of devices that use an Internet address has finally made a change necessary. IPv6 is that change.

IPv4 uses a 32-bit address, usually expressed as a group of four address numbers from 0 to 255, which made around 4.3 billion addresses available. The vast majority of these addresses have already been assigned to Internet service providers. IPv6s 128-bit address provides for many times that amount of addresses. To be exact, IPv6 will supply 2128 or 340 undecillion or 3.4x1038 addresses!

Defining IPv6The 128-bit address in IPv6 is the most obvious differ-ence from IPv4. Besides expanding the number of available addresses, IPv6 also has a new packet format that cuts down on packet header processing by routers, thereby increasing efficiency.

The IPv6 packet in Figure 1-1 is made up of two parts: the packet header and the payload.

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IPv6 For Dummies, Infoblox Special Edition 4??? Traf!c Class Flow Label

Payload Length

Source Address

Destination Address

Next Header Hop Limit

Figure 1-1: The IPv6 packet format.

The header consists of a portion with basic data required for all packets (and may contain optional extensions for special features). The header occupies the first 40 octets (320 bits) of the IPv6 packet, and contains the source and destination addresses, traffic classification options, a hop counter, and a pointer for extension headers, if any. You will also find the Next Header field, which points to the upper-layer protocol that is carried in the packets payload.

The payload can have a size of up to 64 kilobytes without spe-cial options, or can be larger with a Jumbo Payload Option in a Hop-by-Hop Options extension header. IPv6 jumbograms can be as large as 232 1 octet, and their use may improve performance over high-MTU links.

Getting Some StatisticsWant proof that IPv6 is necessary? Check out these factoids.

Internet World Statistics tells us there were 1.25 billion Internet users and 1 billion Internet connections at the start

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Chapter 1: Routing around IPv6 Basics 5of 2008. In dramatic con