A new version of the internet. The whole world is switching to IPv6.
Every device connected to the internet and every website has an IP address. Since 1978, IP version 4, which consists of 32 bits, has been used.There are 4.3 billion available IPv4 addresses, and they were exhausted back in 2011. If left unchecked, your favorite programs will slow down, websites will go down, computers will lose connection, and security issues will arise.
That's why the Internet Society recently declared IPv6—the latest version of the Internet Protocol—the primary standard. It consists of 128 bits and allows for the creation of 340 trillion addresses.
This article discusses the technical differences between protocols, IPv6 implementation, and challenges.
At NIC.UA, we've long understood the promise and importance of IPv6, so we support it on our name servers. To add IPv6 to your domain, create an AAAA record in DNS. However, if your provider doesn't support IPv6, your website may not display in your browser.
It's easy to point a domain running on IPv6 to our hosting servers, as they also support IPv6. If you want to assign your site its own IP address, IPv6 makes this easy.
A brief comparison of IPv4 and IPv6 protocols
| IPv4 | IPv6 |
|---|---|
| Addresses are 32 bits (4 bytes) long | Addresses are 128 bits (16 bytes) long |
| A-records are used in DNS resources to resolve host names to IPv4 addresses. | Uses AAAA records in DNS resources to resolve host names to IPv6 addresses. |
| The DNS pointer (PTR) uses the IN-ADDR.ARPA domain to resolve the host name over IPv4. | The DNS pointer (PTR) uses the IP6.ARPA domain to resolve the hostname over IPv6. |
| IPSec protocol support is optional. | IPSec protocol support is mandatory |
| The header does not identify the packet flow for QoS processing on the router. | The header contains a Traffic Class field, which determines the priority of packets for QoS processing at the router. |
| The router and the sending host fragment the packets | Only the sending host fragments packets |
| The header contains a checksum | The header does not contain a checksum. |
| The header contains options | Additional data is supported as extended headers. |
| ARP uses a broadcast ARP request to determine the MAC address from an IP address. | Uses Multicast Neighbor Solicitation messages to determine the MAC address over IP |
| Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) manages membership in subnet local groups. | Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) messages control membership in subnet-local groups. |
| Broadcast addresses are used to send traffic to all nodes in a subnet. | IPv6 uses link-local (scope-local link) |
| Configured manually or via DHCP | No manual configuration or DHCP required |
| Must support a packet size of 576 bytes (with the possibility of fragmentation) | Must support 1280-byte packet size (without fragmentation) |
| The TTL (Time to Live) field is used to determine the packet's lifetime. | The Hop Limit field is used to determine the packet's lifetime. |
| The packet header length is 20 bytes | The packet header length is 40 bytes |
| The maximum packet size is limited to 65535 bytes. | Supports jumbograms—huge packets up to 4GB in size |
Advantages of IPv6
- High performance and security
IPv6 processes packets more efficiently, improves performance, and makes internet traffic more secure. Unlike IPv4, IPv6 doesn't calculate a checksum at every router hop. This means the time routers spend checking packet integrity is now used to increase data transfer speeds.
- High speed
IPv6 also has advantages for internet service providers. It allows routing tables to become more hierarchical due to their reduced size. This allows providers to consolidate their customers' prefixes into a single one, allowing network devices to process packets more quickly.
- Reducing the load
While IPv4 uses broadcast communication, IPv6 replaces it with multicasting. This allows traffic to be sent to multiple high-bandwidth destinations simultaneously. This reduces the amount of traffic on the local network and helps reduce overall congestion.
- Connecting multiple devices at once
Another benefit of switching to IPv6 is that devices can connect to multiple networks simultaneously and automatically.
- Security and encryption
Unlike its predecessor, IPv6 provides strong security. It enables simplified network configuration with built-in client-side IP address assignment, eliminating the need for a DHCP server.
The integrity and authenticity of IPv6 packets are guaranteed through encryption. This provides VPN-like protection for standard internet traffic. IPv6 helps internet traffic reach its intended destination without interception or spoofing attacks.
IPv6 Migration Challenges
Transitioning to IPv6 is complex and labor-intensive. All devices and software must be updated and tested: routers, switches, servers, applications, laptops, smartphones, firewalls, etc. For large organizations, this work can take years.
Before switching to IPv6, it's important to understand its technical features. A poorly designed IPv6 network can lead to system failures and compromised security. This is especially important when using both IPv4 and IPv6 simultaneously.
Some older devices and applications do not support IPv6 and may not work properly.
Resume.Since IPv6 is recognized as the standard and will soon replace IPv4, businesses need to gradually migrate to this protocol. It has many advantages: high performance and speed, security, and a huge number of addresses. However, the transition to the new protocol will be very labor-intensive and time-consuming: billions of devices will need to be reconfigured.
