Module 10: IPv6

Addressing
Networking Basics (BNET)
Module Objectives
Module Title: IPv6 Addressing
Module Objective: Explain the features of IPv6 addressing.

Topic Title Topic Objective

IPv4 Issues Explain the need for IPv6 addressing.

IPv6 Addressing Explain how to represent IPv6 addresses.

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10.1 IPv4 Issues

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IPv4 Issues
Need for IPv6
• IPv4 is running out of addresses and that is why you need to learn about IPv6.
• IPv6 is designed to be the successor to IPv4.
• IPv6 has a larger 128-bit address space, providing 340 undecillion possible addresses.
• When the IETF began its development of a successor to IPv4, it used this opportunity to fix the
limitations of IPv4 and include enhancements.
• One example is ICMPv6, which includes address resolution and address autoconfiguration not
found in ICMPv4.
• The depletion of IPv4 address space has been the motivating factor for moving to IPv6.
• As Africa, Asia, and other areas of the world become more connected to the internet, there are not
enough IPv4 addresses to accommodate this growth.
• IPv4 has a theoretical maximum of 4.3 billion addresses.
• Private addresses in combination with NAT have been instrumental in slowing the depletion of
IPv4 address space.
• However, NAT is problematic for many applications, creates latency, and has limitations that
severely impede peer-to-peer communications.
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IPv4 Issues
Need for IPv6 (Cont.)
• With the ever-increasing number of mobile devices, mobile providers have been leading the way
with the transition to IPv6.
• The top two mobile providers in the US report that over 90% of their traffic is over IPv6.
• Most top ISPs and content providers (YouTube, Facebook, Netflix) have also made the transition.
• Many companies like Microsoft, Facebook, and LinkedIn are transitioning to IPv6-only internally.

• Internet of Things
• The internet of today is more than email, web pages, and file transfers between computers.
• The evolving internet is becoming an Internet of Things (IoT).
• The devices accessing the internet are no longer only computers, tablets, and smartphones.
• The sensor-equipped, internet-ready devices of tomorrow will include everything from
automobiles and biomedical devices, to household appliances and natural ecosystems.
• With an increasing internet population, a limited IPv4 address space, issues with NAT and the
IoT, the time has come to begin the transition to IPv6.

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IPv4 Issues
IPv4 and IPv6 Coexistence
• Both IPv4 and IPv6 will coexist in the near future, and the transition will take several years.
• The IETF has created various protocols and tools to help network administrators migrate their
networks to IPv6.
• The migration techniques can be divided into three categories:

Dual stack (native IPv6)

• It allows IPv4 and IPv6 to coexist on the
same network segment.
• Its devices run both IPv4 and IPv6 protocol
stacks simultaneously.
• The customer network has an IPv6
connection to their ISP and can access
content found on the internet over IPv6.

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IPv4 Issues
IPv4 and IPv6 Coexistence (Cont.)
Tunneling Translation
• It's a method of transporting an IPv6 • NAT64 allows IPv6-enabled devices to
packet over an IPv4 network. communicate with IPv4-enabled devices
• The IPv6 packet is encapsulated using a translation technique like NAT for
inside an IPv4 packet, like other IPv4.
types of data. • An IPv6 packet is translated to an IPv4
packet and an IPv4 packet is translated to
an IPv6 packet.

• Tunneling and translation are for transitioning to native IPv6 and should only be used where needed.
• The goal should be native IPv6 communications from source to destination.
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10.2 IPv6 Addressing

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IPv6 Addressing
Hexadecimal Number System

• Before diving into IPv6 addressing, it's important to know that IPv6 addresses are represented
using hexadecimal numbers.

• This base sixteen number system uses the digits 0 to 9 and the letters A to F:
0123456789ABCDEF

• In IPv6 addresses, these 16 digits are represented as hextets (discussed next) allowing us to
represent these massive addresses in a much more readable format.

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IPv6 Addressing
IPv6 Addressing Formats

• 16-bit Segments or Hextets

The first step to learning about IPv6 in networks is to
understand the way an IPv6 address is written and
formatted.
• IPv6 addresses are much larger than IPv4 addresses,
which is why we are unlikely to run out of them.
• IPv6 addresses are 128 bits in length and written as a
string of hexadecimal values.
• Every four bits is represented by a single hexadecimal
digit; for a total of 32 hexadecimal values, as shown in
the figure.
• IPv6 addresses are not case-sensitive and can be written
in either lowercase or uppercase.

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IPv6 Addressing
IPv6 Addressing Formats (Cont.)

• The previous figure also shows that the preferred format for
writing an IPv6 address is x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x, with each “x” Examples of IPv6 Addresses in
consisting of four hexadecimal values. the Preferred Format
• The term octet refers to the eight bits of an IPv4 address.
• In IPv6, a hextet is the unofficial term used to refer to a
segment of 16 bits, or four hexadecimal values.
• Each “x” is a single hextet which is 16 bits or four hexadecimal
digits.
• Preferred format means that you write IPv6 address using all
32 hexadecimal digits.
• It does not necessarily mean that it is the ideal method for
representing the IPv6 address.
• In this module, you will see two rules that help to reduce the
number of digits needed to represent an IPv6 address.

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IPv6 Addressing
Video - IPv6 Formatting Rules

This video presents the IPv6 addressing characteristics and its formatting rules.

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IPv6 Addressing
Rule 1 – Omit Leading Zeros
• The first rule to help reduce the notation of IPv6
addresses is to omit any leading 0s (zeros) in
any hextet.

• Here are four examples of ways to omit leading

zeros:
• 01ab can be represented as 1ab
• 09f0 can be represented as 9f0
• 0a00 can be represented as a00
• 00ab can be represented as ab

• This rule only applies to leading 0s, NOT to

trailing 0s, otherwise the address would be
ambiguous.

• For example, the hextet “abc” could be either

“0abc” or “abc0”, but these do not represent the
same value.
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IPv6 Addressing
Rule 2- Double Colon

• The second rule to help reduce the notation of IPv6 addresses is that a double colon (::) can
replace any single, contiguous string of one or more 16-bit hextets consisting of all zeros.

• For example, 2001:db8:cafe:1:0:0:0:1 (leading 0s omitted) could be represented as

2001:db8:cafe:1::1.

• The double colon (::) can only be used once within an address, otherwise there would be more
than one possible resulting address.

• When used with the omitting leading 0s technique, the notation of IPv6 address can often be
greatly reduced.

• This is commonly known as the compressed format.

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IPv6 Addressing
Rule 2- Double Colon (Cont.)
• Here is an example of the incorrect use of the
double colon: 2001:db8::abcd::1234 because it is
used twice.

• Here are the possible expansions of this incorrect

compressed format address:
• 2001:db8::abcd:0000:0000:1234
• 2001:db8::abcd:0000:0000:0000:1234
• 2001:db8:0000:abcd::1234
• 2001:db8:0000:0000:abcd::1234

• If an address has more than one contiguous string

of all-0 hextets, best practice is to use the
double colon (::) on the longest string.

• If the strings are equal, the first string should use

the double colon (::).
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10.3 IPv6 Addressing
Summary

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IPv6 Addressing Summary
What Did I Learn in this Module?
• The depletion of IPv4 address space has been the motivating factor for moving to IPv6.
• IPv6 has a larger 128-bit address space, providing 340 undecillion possible addresses.
• When the IETF began its development of a successor to IPv4, it used this opportunity to fix the
limitations of IPv4 and include enhancements.
• Both IPv4 and IPv6 coexist and the transition to only IPv6 will take several years.
• The IETF has created various protocols and tools to help network administrators migrate their
networks to IPv6.
• The migration techniques can be divided into three categories: dual stack, tunneling, and translation.
• Dual stack devices run both IPv4 and IPv6 protocol stacks simultaneously.
• Tunneling is a method of transporting an IPv6 packet over an IPv4 network.
• The IPv6 packet is encapsulated inside an IPv4 packet like other types of data.
• NAT64 allows IPv6-enabled devices to communicate with IPv4-enabled devices using a translation
technique like NAT for IPv4.
• An IPv6 packet is translated to an IPv4 packet and an IPv4 packet is translated to an IPv6 packet.
• IPv6 addresses are written as a string of hexadecimal values.
• Every four bits is represented by a single hexadecimal digit; for a total of 32 hexadecimal values.

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IPv6 Addressing Summary
What Did I Learn in this Module? (Cont.)
• IPv6 addresses are not case-sensitive and can be written in either lowercase or uppercase.
• In IPv6, a hextet refers to a segment of 16 bits, or four hexadecimal values.
• Each “x” is a single hextet, which is 16 bits or four hexadecimal digits.
• Preferred format means IPv6 addresses are written using all 32 hexadecimal digits.
• There are two rules that help to reduce the number of digits needed to represent an IPv6 address.
• Rule 1 – Omit Leading Zeros. Only omit leading zeros, not trailing zeros.
• Rule 2 – Double Colon. A double colon (::) can replace any single, contiguous string of one
or more 16-bit hextets consisting of all zeros.
• The double colon (::) can only be used once within an address, otherwise there would
be more than one possible resulting address.
• If an address has more than one contiguous string of all-0 hextets, best practice is to
use the double colon (::) on the longest string.
• If the strings are equal, the first string should use the double colon (::).

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