Categories: Review

IPv6 – Sample IP address and precautions to be taken by IPv4 users

Yes, we are all about to change from IPv4 to IPv6. On June 8, 2011 Google, Facebook, Yahoo!, Akamai, Limelight Networks, Cisco, Meebo, Genius, W3C and others will participate for 24 hours in the first global test of IPv6.

Internet world is getting ready for the big change in the protocol we use use at present. Yes, we are all about to change from IPv4 to IPv6. The Internet Society sponsors World IPv6 Day on June 8, 2011, in which Google, Facebook, Yahoo!, Akamai, Limelight Networks, Cisco, Meebo, Genius, W3C and others will participate for 24 hours in the first global test of IPv6. So we can all enjoy and watch what exactly this change means to normal internet users.

Whats up with IPv4 ?

Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) is the fourth revision in the development of the Internet Protocol (IP) and it is the first version of the protocol to be widely deployed. Together with IPv6, it is at the core of standards-based internetworking methods of the Internet. IPv4 is still by far the most widely deployed Internet Layer protocol. As of 2011, IPv6 deployment is still in its infancy.

Address representations

Notation	Value	Conversion from dot-decimal
Dot-decimal notation	`192.0.2.235`	N/A
Dotted Hexadecimal	`0xC0.0x00.0x02.0xEB`	Each octet is individually converted to hexadecimal form
Dotted Octal	`0300.0000.0002.0353`	Each octet is individually converted into octal
Hexadecimal	`0xC00002EB`	Concatenation of the octets from the dotted hexadecimal
Decimal	`3221226219`	The 32-bit number expressed in decimal
Octal	`030000001353`	The 32-bit number expressed in octal

Say hi to IPv6

Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is a version of the Internet Protocol (IP) that is designed to succeed Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4). The Internet operates by transferring data in small packets that are independently routed across networks as specified by an international communications protocol known as the Internet Protocol. Each data packet contains two numeric addresses that are the packet’s origin and destination devices. Since 1981, IPv4 has been the publicly used Internet Protocol, and it is currently the foundation for most Internet communications. The Internet’s growth has created a need for more addresses than IPv4 has. IPv6 allows for vastly more numerical addresses, but switching from IPv4 to IPv6 may be a difficult process.

Sample IPv6 IP address

IPv6 addresses have two logical parts: a 64-bit network prefix, and a 64-bit host address part. (The host address is often automatically generated from the interface MAC address.) An IPv6 address is represented by 8 groups of 16-bit hexadecimal values separated by colons (:) shown as follows:

A typical example of an IPv6 address is

2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334.

The hexadecimal digits are case-insensitive.

The 128-bit IPv6 address can be abbreviated with the following rules:

Rule one: Leading zeroes within a 16-bit value may be omitted. For example, the address fe80:0000:0000:0000:0202:b3ff:fe1e:8329 may be written as fe80:0:0:0:202:b3ff:fe1e:8329
Rule two: A single occurrence of consecutive groups of zeroes within an address may be replaced by a double colon. For example, fe80:0:0:0:202:b3ff:fe1e:8329 becomesfe80::202:b3ff:fe1e:8329

Keep your eyes wide open

Though I have checked a lot with Cloud computing and similar stuff earlier, I am not really having time to digg in to these heavy technology stuff at the moment. I am more concentrating on my Web design and Development company and working on some iPhone Application development for our Yellow Pages. But keep watching this space. I will have an update about the IPv6 test day on June 8, 2011 if possible. Tell me your thoughts through comments.