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IP Version 6 and Historical Perspective
Course: Systems Programming (01:198:214)
23 Documents
Students shared 23 documents in this course
University: Rutgers University
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IP Version 6 and Historical Perspective
In many ways, the reason for a new version of IP is straightforward: to address the IP address
space's exhaustion. CIDR made a significant contribution to reducing the rate of address space
consumption on the Internet and limiting the expansion of routing table data needed by routers
on the network. There will, however, come a time when these methods are insufficient. The
address space will run out well before the 4 billionth host connects to the Internet, in part
because it is almost impossible to achieve a 100% address use efficiency. Given that IP addresses
are now issued to devices like smartphones, televisions, and other home appliances in addition to
fully functional computers, it's not difficult to envision scenarios in which the 4 billion addresses
could be used up. All of these scenarios suggest that someday a larger address space than that
offered by 32 bits will be needed.
In 1991, the IETF started investigating the issue of increasing the IP address space, and
numerous solutions were put forth. Every IP packet contains the IP address, so expanding the
address necessitates altering the packet header. As a result, every server and router connected to
the Internet will require new software and a new version of the Internet Protocol. It is evident
that this is not a minor issue; rather, it is a significant development that requires careful
consideration. IP Next Generation, sometimes known as IPng, was the initiative to define a new
version of IP. IPng is now referred to as IPv6 because as work advanced, an official IP version
number was established. Keep in mind that version 4 of IP has been mentioned so far in this
chapter (IPv4). Version number 5 was utilized for an experimental technique some time ago,
which is why there appears to be a numerical discontinuity.
A snowball effect resulted from the significance of upgrading to a new version of IP. Network
designers believed that if such a significant change had to be made, it would be best to address as
many IP-related issues as possible at the same time. In order to gather information on the
features that could be desired in a new version of IP, the IETF requested white papers from
anyone who was interested in writing one. It's important to note that while many of these
capabilities were not present in IPv4 when IPv6 was being developed, support for all of them has
recently been added, frequently by leveraging methods shared by the two protocols. One could
argue that the ability to approach IPv6 as a blank slate made it easier to create additional IP
features that were later added to IPv4. A transition strategy from the existing version of IP
(version 4) to the new version was a non-negotiable requirement for IPng in addition to the wish
list. It would be utterly impossible to have a "flag day" when everyone shut down their hosts and
routers and installed a new version of IP since the Internet is so big and lacks centralized
authority.
As a result, there will likely be a long transition time during which some sites and routers will
operate solely with IPv4, others will operate with IPv4 and IPv6, and some will operate with
IPv6 alone. The IPng Directorate was established by the IETF to gather all IPng requirement
inputs and assess suggestions for protocols that would become IPng. Numerous
recommendations were made over the committee's existence, some of which were combined
with others, and ultimately one was selected by the Directorate to serve as the foundation for
IPng. Simple Internet Protocol Plus was the name of such proposal (SIPP). The IP address size
