What is IPv6

What is IPv4?

The Internet works using many different protocols. One of the "lowest" protocols is IPv4, more commonly known as just IP (there are lower protocols, such as Ethernet, but those can vary, whereas virtually all Internet communications uses IP). IPv4 takes care of identifying where information is coming from (the IP of the source) and going (the IP of the destination). It does some other stuff, such as identifying how much information is contained in a single packet, what the next higher protocol is (such as TCP or UDP), and a checksum to make sure that the packet is not corrupted.

What is wrong with IPv4?

IPv4 works extremely well. For a protocol developed decades ago, when computers and networks were much slower, it has proven to be very robust. It works. However, IPv4 has one major limitation: the IPv4 addresses are 32 bits long, which means that there are a maximum of about 4 billion IPv4 addresses. The real number of useable IPv4 addresses is a lot less than that, due to reserved addresses (such as the 16 million IPv4 addresses beginning with 127, which are "localhost" addresses), and poorly allocated addresses (such as companies that were given millions of IPv4 addresses in the early days of the Internet). That's less than one IPv4 address per person on the planet, yet many people want their own IPv4 address. Eventually, we'll run out.

What does IPv6 do?

The main benefit to IPv6 is that it increases the number of addresses significantly. IPv6 addresses have 128 bits instead of 32 bits. Very few people even know how to properly write the number of possible IPv6 addresses (you need to know what a "trillion trillion trillion" is). It is a virtually unlimited supply of addresses.

When was IPv6 first used?

It was first used in the late 1990s (around 1998). Many people do not realize this!

How can someone connect to the IPv6 network?

There are a number of ways you can connect. [1]The first is to have a pure IPv6 network, where your computer(s) all use IPv6 exclusively, and connect to an Internet provider that provides IPv6 connections. This can be very difficult, as you have to find a provider that provides IPv6, which isn't common in many areas. [2] Another method is using IPv4 tunnels (RFC2893), where you have any normal Internet provider (using IPv4), and your router/gateway connects via IPv4 to an Internet provider that will transfer the packets using IPv6. [3] Next, you can use 6to4 (RFC3056), where you have a normal Internet provider, and your router/gateway sends the packets via IPv4 to a special IPv4 address that routes to a gateway that will transfer the packets to/from IPv6. [4]There's also something called 6over4 (RFC2529), but that requires multicast addresses, which can get even more confusing. [5] Finally, you can use a Tunnel Broker (RFC3053), which is a "virtual ISP", requiring authentication (it seems that the RFC does not specify the protocol used by Tunnel Brokers, however!).

So how can *I* connect to the IPv6 network

It isn't easy, but it can be done. My recommendation is our upcoming Easy64 program, if you use Windows. It allows you to use 6to4 very easily (without even needing to install an IPv6 stack). However, this (like all IPv6 connection methods) does require that if you have a firewall (you should!) that allows 6to4 packets through. Many do not -- if it does not, you're out of luck (unless you want to buy another firewall).