Q+A : Understanding Ipv6

What is TCP/IP? 

If a person knows only German and another knows only French, they cannot communicate with each other. To communicate with each other they need a common language, even the sign language will do. 

Same is for computers. The Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is a language that the computers speak. It's basically a set of rules that defines how two computers address each other and send data to each other.

• When many protocols are grouped together, the make a protocol suite and when this group works together, it is called Protocol Stack. 
  
• The two words are used interchangeably, though there is slight difference in definition.
  
• TCP/IP works like a protocol suite and the word protocol stack is also used for the same.
  
• The TCP/IP originated as Transmission Control Program and was introduced by Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn in 1974.
  

What are IPv4 & IPv6? 

The first major version of Internet Protocol is Internet Protocol Version 4 or IPv4. It is the most dominant protocol of the internet today. 

• IPv4 proved to be a stable and fully developed protocol, but due to the enormous growth of internet, IPv4 is no longer viable. 
  
• The Internet protocol Version 6 (IPv6) is going to replace the IPv4 fast. 
  
• IPv6 is also called Internet Protocol, Next Generation (IPng). 
  

IPv6 was first proposed and recommended in the IETF meeting in July 1994. The proposal was accepted by the Internet Engineering Steering Group and it became a proposed standard.

Why from IPv4 to IPv6 and not IPv5?

• This is because already a protocol IPv5 exists which is better known as ST2. Since it is not a replacement for IPV4 and has very limited use, the IPv4 will be succeeded by Ipv6.
  

What is difference between the IPv4 address and Ipv6 Address?

• In IPv4 there are 32 bits in every address. This means that there can be approximately 4 billion unique IP addresses. 
  
• This would have been enough number of addresses to serve the ARPANET or Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, which was the First operational packet switching network.
  
• But ARPANET grew and it became Internet.
  
• This growth of Internet has seen an enormous number of the hosts connected to the internet have depleted the IPv4 addresses.
  

What is the important issue?

• The important issue of transition from IPv4 to IPv6 in the country has emerged as a critical concern for quite some time in view of the increasing demand for IP addresses and global scarcity of free space on IPv4 platform. 
  
• Fast exhausting of IPv4 address space, growing demand for new addresses globally and expanding communication networks have necessitated timely action and implementation of new strategies to address the issue.
  

How advanced is IPv6?

• The IPv6 uses 128 Bit Address. The upgradation from the 32 bit to 128 bit is exponentially larger that the address size of IPv4. 
  

This can be understood by the following example:

In IPv4 Address : 2³² = 4,294,967,296 addresses available. 

In IPv6 Address : 2¹²⁸ = 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 addresses available. 

Thus IPv6 gives an extremely large number of Unique IP address. For every square meters of earth, Zillions of addresses are available which makes it the most advanced IP. 

How the Address will be written in IPv6? 

In IPv4, the address is written like this:

192.168.1.1

In IPv6, the 128 bit address would be written in hexadecimal form. Example is as follows:

EFDC: BA62:7652:1605: EFCD: BA64:7652:1621

Thus the IPv6 address would be written in 32 hex digits and will have a value that is significantly unique. However, there are ways to shorten this address. For example if an address is as follows:

EFDC: 0000:0000:0000:0000:0A64:7652:1100

It may be written as follows:

EFDC: 0:0:0:0:0A64:7652:11

What is India's Position in Implementation of IPv6? 

• In mid of 2010, the Government of India had released the Roadmap for Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) deployment in the country in a time bound manner. 
  
• Accordingly, the government had decided to form an IPv6 Task Force in the PPP mode for timely implementation of IPv6 in the country.
  

This was disclosed in the IPv6 roadmap that was released last year. IPv4 is already overburdened in India with 18.4 million registered addresses and is expected to exhaust the available space globally by March 2012. This initiative of the Government has come at most appropriate time when a concerted effort is needed on part of all stakeholders to migrate to a higher platform i.e. IPv6.

Is there any last date fixed for this Implementation?

As per this Roadmap, the formation of the IPv6 Task Force together would enable citizens to start using IPv6 services by March 2012. For this all Telecom and Internet Service providers are required to become IPv6 compliant by December-2011 and offer IPv6 services thereafter. 

What is the Current Position? 

Department of Telecommunication (DoT) has decided to form a panel of consultants for IPv6 implementation in the Government Sector and to prepare the National IPv6 Address Policy for the country. This was decided on January 15, 2011 in a meeting of Central and State Nodal officers to review the progress of the IPv6 implementation. Security and law enforcement issues in view of adopting IPv6 were also discussed. The meeting was attended by more than 130 officers from 66 Central Departments and 11 States.