Lecture Note 1-2

IPv6 Network Addresses

IPv4 Issues

The Need for IPv6

 IPv6 is designed to be the successor to IPv4.
 Depletion of IPv4 address space has been the motivating factor for moving to IPv6.
 Projections show that all five RIRs will run out of IPv4 addresses between 2015 and
2020.
 With an increasing Internet population, a limited IPv4 address space, issues with NAT
and an Internet of things, the time has come to begin the transition to IPv6!
 IPv4 has a theoretical maximum of 4.3 billion addresses, plus private addresses in
combination with NAT.
 IPv6 larger 128-bit address space provides for 340 undecillion addresses.
 IPv6 fixes the limitations of IPv4 and includes additional enhancements, such as ICMPv6.
IPv4 Issues

IPv4 and IPv6 Coexistence

The migration techniques can be divided into three categories:
Dual-stack, Tunnelling, and Translation.

Dual-stack

Dual-stack: Allows IPv4 and IPv6 to coexist on the same

network. Devices run both IPv4 and IPv6 protocol stacks
simultaneously.
IPv4 Issues

IPv4 and IPv6 Coexistence (cont.)

Tunnelling

Tunnelling: A method of transporting an IPv6 packet over an

IPv4 network. The IPv6 packet is encapsulated inside an IPv4
packet.
IPv4 Issues

IPv4 and IPv6 Coexistence (cont.)

Translation

Translation: The Network Address Translation 64 (NAT64)

allows IPv6-enabled devices to communicate with IPv4-enabled
devices using a translation technique similar to NAT for IPv4. An
IPv6 packet is translated to an IPv4 packet, and vice versa.
IPv6 Addressing

Hexadecimal Number System

• Hexadecimal is a base sixteen
system.
• Base 16 numbering system uses
the numbers 0 to 9 and the letters
A to F.
• Four bits (half of a byte) can be
represented with a single
hexadecimal value.
IPv6 Addressing

IPv6 Address Representation

• 128 bits in length and written as a string of hexadecimal values
• In IPv6, 4 bits represents a single hexadecimal digit, 32 hexadecimal value
= IPv6 address

•2001:0DB8:0000:1111:0000:0000:0000:0200
•FE80:0000:0000:0000:0123:4567:89AB:CDEF

• Hextet used to refer to a segment of 16 bits or four hexadecimals

• Can be written in either lowercase or uppercase
IPv6 Addressing

IPv6 Address Representation (cont.)

IPv6 Addressing

Rule 1- Omitting Leading 0s

• The first rule to help reduce the notation of IPv6 addresses is any leading
0s (zeros) in any 16-bit section or hextet can be omitted.
• 01AB can be represented as 1AB.
• 09F0 can be represented as 9F0.
• 0A00 can be represented as A00.
• 00AB can be represented as AB.
IPv6 Addressing

Rule 2 - Omitting All 0 Segments

• A double colon (::) can replace any single, contiguous string of one or
more 16-bit segments (hextets) consisting of all 0’s.
• Double colon (::) can only be used once within an address otherwise the
address will be ambiguous.
• Known as the compressed format.
• Incorrect address - 2001:0DB8::ABCD::1234.
IPv6 Addressing

Rule 2 - Omitting All 0 Segments (cont.)

Example #1

Example #2
Types of IPv6 Addresses

IPv6 Prefix Length

• IPv6 does not use the dotted-decimal subnet mask notation
• Prefix length indicates the network portion of an IPv6 address using the
following format:
 IPv6 address/prefix length
 Prefix length can range from 0 to 128
 Typical prefix length is /64
Types of IPv6 Addresses

IPv6 Address Types

There are three types of IPv6 addresses:
 Unicast
 Multicast
 Anycast.

Note: IPv6 does not have broadcast addresses.

Types of IPv6 Addresses

IPv6 Unicast Addresses (cont.)

Types of IPv6 Addresses

IPv6 Unicast Addresses (cont.)

Global Unicast
 Similar to a public IPv4 address
 Globally unique
 Internet routable addresses
 Can be configured statically or assigned dynamically
Link-local
 Used to communicate with other devices on the same local link
 Confined to a single link; not routable beyond the link
Types of IPv6 Addresses

IPv6 Unicast Addresses (cont.)

Loopback
 Used by a host to send a packet to itself and cannot be assigned to a physical interface.
 Ping an IPv6 loopback address to test the configuration of TCP/IP on the local host.
 All-0s except for the last bit, represented as ::1/128 or just ::1.
Unspecified Address
 All-0’s address represented as ::/128 or just ::
 Cannot be assigned to an interface and is only used as a source address.
 An unspecified address is used as a source address when the device does not yet have
a permanent IPv6 address or when the source of the packet is irrelevant to the
destination.
Types of IPv6 Addresses

IPv6 Unicast Addresses (cont.)

Unique Local
 Similar to private addresses for IPv4.
 Used for local addressing within a site or between a limited number of sites.
 In the range of FC00::/7 to FDFF::/7.
IPv4 Embedded (not covered in this course)
 Used to help transition from IPv4 to IPv6.
Types of IPv6 Addresses

IPv6 Link-Local Unicast Addresses

• Every IPv6-enabled network interface is REQUIRED to have a link-local
address
• Enables a device to communicate with other IPv6-enabled devices on the
same link and only on that link (subnet)
• FE80::/10 range, first 10 bits are 1111 1110 10xx xxxx
• 1111 1110 1000 0000 (FE80) - 1111 1110 1011 1111 (FEBF)
Types of IPv6 Addresses

IPv6 Link-Local Unicast Addresses (cont.)

Packets with a source or
destination link-local address
cannot be routed beyond the link
from where the packet originated.
IPv6 Unicast Addresses

Structure of an IPv6 Global Unicast Address

• IPv6 global unicast addresses are globally unique and routable
on the IPv6 Internet
• Equivalent to public IPv4 addresses
• ICANN allocates IPv6 address blocks to the five RIRs
IPv6 Unicast Addresses

Structure of an IPv6 Global Unicast Address (cont.)

Currently, only global unicast addresses with the first three bits of 001 or
2000::/3 are being assigned
IPv6 Unicast Addresses

Structure of an IPv6 Global Unicast Address (cont.)

A global unicast address has three parts: Global Routing Prefix, Subnet ID,
and Interface ID.
 Global Routing Prefix is the prefix or network portion of the address
assigned by the provider, such as an ISP, to a customer or site, currently,
RIR’s assign a /48 global routing prefix to customers.
 2001:0DB8:ACAD::/48 has a prefix that indicates that the first 48 bits
(2001:0DB8:ACAD) is the prefix or network portion.
IPv6 Unicast Addresses

Static Configuration of a Global Unicast Address

IPv6 Unicast Addresses

Static Configuration of an IPv6 Global Unicast Address (cont.)

Windows IPv6 Setup

IPv6 Unicast Addresses

EUI-64 Process or Randomly Generated

EUI-64 Process (Extended Unique Identifier)
 Uses a client’s 48-bit Ethernet MAC address and inserts another 16 bits in the middle of
the 46-bit MAC address to create a 64-bit Interface ID.
 Advantage is that the Ethernet MAC address can be used to determine the interface; is
easily tracked.

EUI-64 Interface ID is represented in binary and comprises three parts:

 24-bit OUI from the client MAC address, but the 7th bit (the Universally/Locally bit) is
reversed (0 becomes a 1).
 Inserted as a 16-bit value FFFE.
 24-bit device identifier from the client MAC address.
IPv6 Unicast Addresses

EUI-64 Process or Randomly Generated (cont.)

IPv6 Unicast Addresses

EUI-64 Process or Randomly Generated (cont.)

IPv6 Unicast Addresses

EUI-64 Process or Randomly Generated (cont.)

Randomly Generated Interface IDs
 Depending upon the operating system, a device can use a randomly generated Interface ID instead of
using the MAC address and the EUI-64 process.
IP Addressing

Summary
• Each IPv6 address has 128 bits verses the 32 bits in an IPv4 address.
• The prefix length is used to indicate the network portion of an IPv6
address using the following format: IPv6 address/prefix length
• There are three types of IPv6 addresses: unicast, multicast, and anycast.
• An IPv6 link-local address enables a device to communicate with other
IPv6-enabled devices on the same link and only on that link (subnet).
• Packets with a source or destination link-local address cannot be routed
beyond the link from where the packet originated.
• IPv6 link-local addresses are in the FE80::/10 range.