IPv6 Migration

The Impact to the Network Infrastructure as a

result of Implementing IPv6

SEIS 645-01

Research by:
Ed Grams
Eric Hunsberger
Jayesh Naithani
Jess Walczak

12/7/2010

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved

Contents
Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... 4
IPv6 Overview ............................................................................................................................................... 4
Important features of IPv6 ........................................................................................................................ 4
Physical Layer ................................................................................................................................................ 5
Transmission media .................................................................................................................................. 5
Data Link Layer .............................................................................................................................................. 6
Impact to Connecting Devices................................................................................................................... 6
Use of VLANs and Gateways for IPv6 and IPv4 Co-existence ................................................................... 6
WAN: Transitioning to IPv6 ....................................................................................................................... 6
Impact to Link-Layer Technologies ........................................................................................................... 7
Ethernet ................................................................................................................................................ 7
Bridged .................................................................................................................................................. 7
Switched................................................................................................................................................ 8
Bluetooth .............................................................................................................................................. 8
Frame Relay........................................................................................................................................... 8
ATM ....................................................................................................................................................... 9
Network Layer ............................................................................................................................................... 9
Physical Addresses .................................................................................................................................... 9
IP Address................................................................................................................................................ 10
Cast addresses......................................................................................................................................... 10
Port Address ............................................................................................................................................ 11
Classless Addressing................................................................................................................................ 11
Configuring Addresses ............................................................................................................................ 11
Subnets.................................................................................................................................................... 11
NAT-PT .................................................................................................................................................... 12
Inter-networking ..................................................................................................................................... 12
IPv6 Datagram format ............................................................................................................................. 13
Path MTU Discovery ................................................................................................................................ 13
Fragmentation......................................................................................................................................... 14
Routing and Forwarding.......................................................................................................................... 15
Unicast Routing and Protocols ................................................................................................................ 15
Intradomain ............................................................................................................................................ 15
Interdomain ............................................................................................................................................ 16
Transport Layer ........................................................................................................................................... 16
Checksum requirement........................................................................................................................... 16
User Datagram Protocol (UDP) ............................................................................................................... 16
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) ...................................................................................................... 16
Internet Message Control Protocol (ICMP)............................................................................................. 17
ICMPv6 ................................................................................................................................................ 17
Protocols combined ............................................................................................................................ 17
Neighbor Discovery ............................................................................................................................. 17

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved 2

 Quality of Service and Congestion Control ............................................................................................. 18
Flows and Flow Labels......................................................................................................................... 18
Traffic Class ......................................................................................................................................... 18
Integrated Services ............................................................................................................................. 18
Network Address Translation ............................................................................................................. 19
Differentiated services ........................................................................................................................ 19
Security ................................................................................................................................................... 19
IPSEC.................................................................................................................................................... 19
ISAKMP and IKE ................................................................................................................................... 20
AH ........................................................................................................................................................ 20
ESP....................................................................................................................................................... 20
Application Layer ........................................................................................................................................ 20
Multimedia .............................................................................................................................................. 21
DNS Changes, DHCP ................................................................................................................................ 21
Interoperability ........................................................................................................................................... 21
Dual Stack ................................................................................................................................................ 21
Tunneling................................................................................................................................................. 22
Header Translation.................................................................................................................................. 22
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 23
References .................................................................................................................................................. 24

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved 3

 Abstract
In this paper we will describe the effect and impact of implementing and migrating to an IPv6 capable
network. Our goal is to combine the understanding of the IPv6 protocol and related specifications when describing
its impact to the overall network infrastructure. An important and related goal is to describe the migration to IPv6
in terms of concepts and information we have learned in our Data Communications and Networking class about the
five (5) layer TCP/IP protocol suite.
Our goal is not to present a paper describing a network migration strategy from IPv4 to IPv6. We will not
provide details about the various interoperability strategies between IPv4 and IPv6. Any differences between the
two protocol versions will be noted to illustrate and emphasize the impact to network operation and efficiencies as
a result of the implementation and migration.

IPv6 Overview
IPv6 is the new version of the Internet Protocol and has been designed as an evolutionary rather that a
revolutionary step-up from the IPv4 standard. Certain IPv4 functionality that worked well was
preserved, certain functionality that was either under used or did not work efficiently was removed
and/or made optional, and some new, improved, and necessary functionality was added [A1].

IPv6 can be installed as a normal software upgrade in most Internet devices today, and is interoperable
with the IPv4 standard. It is designed to run well on high performance networks such as Gigabit
Ethernet, ATM, Frame Relay, and others, as well as on low bandwidth networks, such as wireless
networks. And it provides a starting point for some new Internet functionality such as extended
addressing, improved security, and better quality of service (QoS) capabilities. [A2]

Important features of IPv6

The large address space offered by IPv6 is its most important feature and, because of the problem of
rapid addresses depletion with IPv4, the primary reason for migration. The availability of additional
important features such as higher scalability, better data integrity, improved QoS capabilities,
autoconfiguration capabilities for dynamically connecting devices, and improved routing and end-to-end
connectivity also come along with IPv6. [A3].
 Substantial increase in IP address space: The address size for IPv6 has increased to 128 bits.
This solves the problem of the limited 32 bit address space in IPv4.

[A4]

 Simplified header format: The IPv6 header has a fixed length of 40 bytes. Some fields of the
IPv4 header have been removed or made optional leading to faster packet handling and lower
processing costs.

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved 4

 [A5]
 Additional support for extension headers and options: Extension headers are optional and are
only inserted between the IPv6 header and the message payload. Forwarding IPv6 packets is
very efficient. IPv6 options can be of arbitrary length, providing the ability to be used for
functions that were not practical or possible with IPv4. Options can be encoded with actions
that routers or hosts should perform if the option is unknown, and this facilitates the
incremental deployment of additional functionality dynamically into an existing network without
the danger of disruption [A1].
 Improved security: Support for authentication and privacy is provided and required in IPv6.
Besides extensions for support data integrity, extensions exist to also support message
encryption and confidentiality.
 Flow labeling capability: Packets that belong to the same traffic flow can be labeled by senders
to provide special handling, real-time service, and improved QoS.
 Support for autoconfiguration: Multiple forms of plug and play configurations of node
addresses, and complete support for DHCP facilities is possible via autoconfiguration with IPv6.
 Simple and flexible transition from IPv4: Existing IPv4 hosts and routers can be upgraded to
IPv6 at any time independent of each other, while IPv6 host and routers can be installed at
anytime without any prerequisites or prior preparation. Additionally, IPv4 routers can continue
to operate using existing addresses while co-existing with IPv6 routers on a network.

Physical Layer
Transmission media
The transmission media, be it air, copper, fiber optic or some other type of media used for
communication has no impact on the IPv6 protocol. By the time the IPv6 communication has traversed
the layers of the network it is bits and signals, and transmission across the media essentially process the
same. When the discussion grows to include the fact that IPv6 allows for more devices to connect to a
network, and utilize the transmission media, there will likely be bandwidth concerns. For example, a
network with 10 devices connected and transmission media of copper has a certain speed per user.
Convert it to IPv6 and now there are 1000 devices on that same copper media, the speed per user may
be impacted.

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved 5

Data Link Layer
In this section we discuss the impact of IPv6 to data link layer connecting technologies, both hardware
and software, and some addressing related considerations when transitioning a WAN from IPv4 to IPv6.

Impact to Connecting Devices

Connecting devices such as hubs, repeaters, bridges, and two layer switches operate at the Data Link
layers and below. They work with data frames that contain MAC source and destination addressees
which are completely independent from IPv6 [A2].

Connecting devices such as routers and three-layer switches operate at the Network layer, while
gateways operate on all five layers. These devices route data packets that contain source and
destination logical addresses. These devices cannot route packets unless they understand the IPv6
protocol. Older hardware designed for the efficient forwarding of just the IPv4 packets will not be
suitable for supporting IPv6, and will require a complete hardware update or a firmware update at the
least. Also, as a result of larger address size for IPv6, routing tables and caches on routers now need to
be bigger and re-structured to be optimized for IPv6. Routers need to use better routing protocols such
as Open Shortest First Protocol (OSFP) and Routing Information Protocol (RIP) and be able to support
the optional IPv6 header extensions, such as the Routing Header, for streamlining the packet forwarding
process.

Use of VLANs and Gateways for IPv6 and IPv4 Co-existence

A couple of connecting technologies are involved when interoperating between IPv4 and IPv6 enabled
networks.

VLANS create broadcast domains, and can be used in networks for the purpose of traffic segregation.
Enterprises migrating from IPv4 can utilize the VLAN technique to provide a gradual approach to
introducing IPv6 capable switch-router equipment into their networks, without requiring changes to
their existing IPv4 configuration. [D1]

An application level gateway operates in the application layer and acts as an intermediate system
between two internetworks. The application level gateway converts the network layer address
information found inside the application payload between two hosts exchanging information. They are
often used as a translating technology to connect host nodes between IPv4 and IPv6.

WAN: Transitioning to IPv6

As with many cases, in a pure IPv6 network, the WAN addressing would have the ability to allow a
device to connect to another device directly, without any translation being necessary. When the
discussion moves to a WAN that operates between IPv4 and IPv6, there are more considerations.
Translation schemes are required to allow IPv4 and IPv6 protocols to interoperate. Since it will be some
time until a pure IPv6 world exists, the best advice to give network administrators is to understand their
WAN use model and plan accordingly. This means that in a first implementation, the larger support
would be to convert IPv4 devices to connect to the IPv6 network as it is likely the administrator will be
able to upgrade their network long before IPv4 devices cease to have a need for access [C1].

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved 6

As the model matures towards IPv6 devices, and IPv4 devices become the minority, the support would
also shift towards an IPv6 biased implementation. Many organizations and network administrators
have lifecycle management in which devices are swapped out for more capable devices. It would be
logical to reason the replacement of equipment over a lifecycle will lend itself to implementing against a
network model that roadmaps the transition from IPv4 bias to IPv6 bias [C1].

Impact to Link-Layer Technologies

IPv6 is defined to work over most of the data link layer technologies such as Ethernet, Frame Relay,
ATM, FDDI, PPP, Bluetooth, and Token-Ring. The rules and packet sizes for the transport of IPv6
datagrams differ depending upon the topology. Key points are how IPv6 packets are encapsulated in
the data link layer protocol unit, how IPv6 multicasts and unicasts are directed on the local link, and how
the IPv6 interface identifiers are derived from link layer addresses.

In this section we describe IPv6 over Ethernet, a common wired Local Area Network (LAN) technology;
IPv6 over Bluetooth a wireless LAN technology; and IPv6 over Frame Relay and Asynchronous Transfer
Mode (ATM), two common virtual-circuit Wide Area Network (WAN) technologies

Ethernet

[A3]

The transmission of IPv6 over Ethernet is quite straightforward. The IPv6 packet is transmitted as a
payload of the Ethernet frame. The default Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) size is 1500 bytes. A
data link node is autoconfigured by concatenating the link local prefix FE80::/64 with the the 64 bit
Extended Unique Identifier of the node interface. The identifier is based on the MAC Ethernet Address
of the interface. Ethernet has protocol field in the frame format to help identify the type of protocol in
the frame payload. IPv6 datagrams are identified with 0x86DD in the protocol field. A neighbor’s
Ethernet address is discovered through the neighbor discovery procedure. Finally IPv6 multicast
addresses are constructed by concatenating the 2-byte prefix 3333 (hex) and the last four bytes of the
IPv6 address [A3].

Bridged
There is no difference between the forwarding of IPv4 packets versus the forwarding of IPv6 packets
specifically in regards to a bridged Ethernet configuration since bridging logic never looks at any IP
addresses contained in the packet. Instead, bridging being a data link protocol is only concerned with
the MAC Ethernet addresses of the source and destination nodes when making its decision to either
drop the packet or to forward the packet on across the bridge. [C2]

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved 7

Switched
The only real difference that IPv6 has in regards to Layer 2 Ethernet switching is in the area of
multicasting. The difference is mainly that in IPv6 the Ethernet framing uses a different MAC destination
address prefix, 0x3333, which avoids the problem of increasing packet collisions that is inherent in IPv4
multicasting. [C3]

Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a wireless LAN technology. The connection of Bluetooth devices to a central device has
been called a Personal Area Network (PAN). A prime example would be that of a BlackBerry and a
laptop that are connected together via Bluetooth. The laptop, in this example, is connected to a WAN
and is using IPv6. There is communication between the WAN and the BlackBerry happen through the
laptop. In an IPv6 world, the BlackBerry and the Laptop could both have connection to the WAN as long
as the WAN had a Bluetooth access point. There is a good presentation on the need for Bluetooth to
support IPv6 to allow for these devices to access the internet [C4]. Since the IPv6 address allows for
unique device identification, it makes sense to have WAN access provide Bluetooth. Network
administrators will have to consider what Bluetooth means to their network and, much like with the
WAN discussion, they will have to determine a model for supporting Bluetooth as the technology and
devices mature.

Frame Relay
Frame Relay is a connection-oriented, high-speed network technology used in WANs. It operates in the
physical and data link layers, and can be used as a backbone network to provide services to protocols
that already have a network layer protocol. [D2]

(source: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb726928.aspx)

- Frame format for the transmission of IPv6 packets over Frame Relay: Frame Relay devices are
configured to have a maximum frame size of at least 1600 octets and the default IPv6 Maximum
Transmission Unit (maximum packet size) is 1592 octets. The IPv6 frame encapsulation format allows a
virtual circuit to carry IPv6 packets. The Frame Relay header has a 1 byte field called the Next Level
Protocol ID (NLPID), which contains the value 0x8E indicating the IPv6 protocol.

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved 8

- Method of forming IPv6 link local addresses on Frame Relay links: The IPv6 link-local addresses
for an IPv6 Frame Relay interface is formed by appending the interface identifier, as described in the
Network Layer Physical Addresses section described later, to the prefix .

- Mapping of IPv6 addresses to Frame Relay addresses: The procedure of mapping IPv6 addresses
to link-layer addresses follows the specification for Neighbor Discovery, which is discussed in more detail
later in this paper.

ATM
ATM is a connection oriented high speed network technology that is used in both LANs and WANs.

An ATM network is used in Permanent Virtual Circuit (PVC) mode to connect exactly two nodes. An
IPv6/ATM interface has only one neighbor on each link. All IPv6 multicast and broadcast operations
collapse down to an ATM level unicast operation. PVCs do not have link-layer addresses, so the link-
layer address option is not used in neighbor discovery messages. All IPv6 unicast and multicast packets
sent over ATM are encapsulated using the LLC/SNAP encapsulation standard by an encapsulating service
called Application Adaption Layer (AAL5), and the Ethertype field is set to the value 0x86DD for IPv6.
The default MTU size for an ATM PVC link is 9180 bytes. [D3]

When an ATM network is used in Switched Virtual Circuit (SVC) mode, unicast packets are transmitted
using the same method as described for PVC. For the transmission of multi cast packets, the OUI field in
the encapsulation header is set to 0x000005E and the Ethertype field to 0x0001.

[D4]

Network Layer
Physical Addresses
The physical address, also known as the MAC address, for any given device can be included in the IPv6
address. The standard physical address has a length of 48 bits and is commonly referred to as the IEEE
802 MAC Address. The Interface identifier of the IPv6 address is 64 bits and is commonly referred to as
the 64 bit Extended Unique Identifier (EUI-64). [D5] To include the MAC address in the interface
identifier portion of the IPv6 address, a few steps have to be taken. The first step is the physical address
has to be split into two 24 bit pieces. The first 24 bit section is the Organizationally Unique Identifier
(OUI) which is given to companies that create network using devices. The second 24 bit section is the
device identifier, which is the particular network using device the company created. The two 24 bit
sections of the MAC address then have a hexadecimal 0xFFFE placed in between them. The final step is
the 7th bit (from the left) is set to a one (1), this makes the identifier a universal identifier. The final
notation is referred to as modified EUI-64. [D6]

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved 9

The following diagram, as found on The TCP/IP Guide website [D7] does a great job showing this
process:

This is commonly used in IPv6 autoconfiguration between two devices. This can occur within a local
network or globally depending on the prefix used. IPv6 prefixes will be discussed later.

IP Address
The IPv6 address is 128 bits long whereas IPv4 had a 32 bit address size. An IPv6 address is divided into
eight groups of four hexadecimal digits. Example: 2001:ab49:0987:1120::4011:f542:21f0. The ::
represents contiguous groups of four zeros. The IPv6 address is divided into two parts: a 64 bit network
prefix and a 64 bit interface identifier. The Network Address Translator (NAT) has been traditionally
used to deal with the diminishing number of IPv4 address. In theory, a true IPv6 network would
eliminate the need for the use of NATs, however, as the scope of this document suggests, the
networked world is a long ways from a true and pure IPv6 network. [D8] The Network Address
Translation with Protocol Translation (NAT-PT) has been introduced to assist with the, potentially years
long, transition to a true IPv6 networked world. The actual translation of IPv4 to IPv6 addresses will be
covered in the Interoperability with IPv4 section.

Cast addresses
The IANA is responsible for the address management of IPv6 addresses. Per their address space
allocation, they had defined the following addresses [D9]

2000::/3 – Global Unicast

FC00::/7 – Unique Local Unicast
FE80::/10 – Link Local Unicast
FF00::/8 – Multicast

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved 10

Each of the addresses divides the network prefix into sections in order to direct the cast traffic. A
generic way to look at this section break down is the first 64 bits are broken into two sections. Section
one is n bits long and is the routing prefix (global, local, etc). The second section is m bits long and
defines the subnet for the cast traffic. The remaining bits, 128 – n – m are the interface ID, or the node
that is being cast to. In the cases of multicast transmissions, the interface ID is likely set as zero or
omitted altogether which will send it to all interface IDs on the defined subnet or subnets. There is
another address, called a loopback address, defined as 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1, and can be used by an IPv6 node
to send a packet to itself [D10]. One helpful piece of information regarding localhost is: in IPv4 it is the
address 127.0.0.1, for IPv6 it is the loopback address of ::1.

Port Address
With IPv4, the port address was identified by using a colon and the port number. Since IPv6 has colons
as part of its address structure, the question comes up of how ports are dealt with. The answer is
surprisingly simple: the same, with a slight exception. Take the IPv6 address of
2001:a3f5:4480:f399:1c5d:7822:ee44:0001 and a port of 80. To represent this notation we simply add
brackets to the IPv6 address and then the colon and the port [D11]. Entered in a browser window, this
would look like: http://[2001:a3f5:4480:f399:1c5d:7822:ee44:0001]:80/

Classless Addressing
Classless addressing in IPv6 is essentially the same as with IPv4. The IP address uses the / notation to
determine the address range. As expected, this can be a large number such as /48 since IPv6 has 128
bits versus the 32 bits with IPv4. One important notation to be aware of is the :: notation. This notation
signifies a series of 0 addresses. For example: 2001:e34f:5591:4739:eedc::2e44/90 is short for
2001:e34f:5591:4739:eedc:0:0:2e44/90. While this example is unlikely, it is still worth noting that it
could occur [D9]. A classless address of /90 would land in the middle of a 0 address range.

Configuring Addresses
There are two ways to configure addresses with IPv6. The first is the nodes automatically create their
local-link addresses. This works with Router Advertisement and Neighbor Discovery messages to avoid
address collision. IPv6 can also automatically configure 6to4 tunnels, Intrasite Automatic Tunnel
Addressing Protocol (ISATAP) and address routes to off-link routers, given the off-link address prefix has
been advertised by a router. The second method for configuring addresses is manually, which according
to Microsoft in their products is not needed due to the local-link scope always being automatically
configured [D12]. It is probably safe to assume that not all software and hardware manufacturers
provide this local-link auto configuration, so it is best to understand the capabilities of the network and
choose an addressing configuration scheme that best fits.

Subnets
Dividing a network into subnets has traditionally been a good way for network administrators to control
traffic between various areas of their networks. With IPv6 there exists the potential to access a device
directly from anywhere on the internet. The question then can be raised: do network administrators
need to segment their networks into subnets if all devices can be resolved down to a single address?

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved 11

This answer depends on the administrators approach to security and access control. Good security and
segmentation practices would require that yes, a network should have subnets.

Breaking the IP address into subnets is relatively easy. Per the IPv6 specification, the 16 bits from the
49th to the 64th are for defining subnets [D13]. Given the following IP address, the bytes in red are the
subnet bits: 2001:a3f5:4480:0000:1c5d:7822:ee44:0001. If an administrator had a need for 15 subnets,
the mask for the subnets would be: FFFF:FFFF:FFFF:FFF0 allowing for addresses 1 – F for each subnet.
For example, the first four subnets would look like:

 Subnet one: 2001:a3f5:4480:0001

 Subnet two: 2001:a3f5:4480:0002
 Subnet three: 2001:a3f5:4480:0003
 Subnet four: 2001:a3f5:4480:0004

Granted, the 64 bits of unique device identification will most likely far exceed the number of possible
devices in any given subnet. Administrators can mask further into the unique device identification
portion to provide smaller subnet definitions if desired. [D14]

NAT-PT
Network Address Translation –Protocol translation in a pure IPv6 environment is not needed as there
are plenty of addresses to assign out to devices and still have the ability to provide a unique address to
all devices in the world. For networks that have to provide interoperability between IPv4 and IPv6
network devices, a NAT-PT table would be used. The translation table would look much like the NAT
tables that divide and isolate IPv4 networks with the difference that the table would have IPv6
addresses included for those translations. Cisco systems shows the following command line output of a
NAT-PT mapping that illustrates the concept well [D15]:

1 - ipv6 nat v4v6 source 192.168.30.1 2001:0db8:0::2

2 - ipv6 nat v6v4 source 2001:0db8:bbbb:1::1 10.21.8.10
3 - ipv6 nat prefix 2001:0db8:0::/96

Line 1 shows the mapping from an IPv4 address to a IPv6 address. Line 2 shows a mapping from IPv6 to
IPv6 and line 3 shows the router prefix.

Inter-networking
The topic of Inter-networking changes depending on the IPv6 implementation context being used for
the discussion. In a pure IPv6 network, the connection from device to device and network to network
adheres to the IPv6 standard and communication happens as it would with any other type of inter-
networking. When the context of inter-networking shifts to an IPv4 and IPv6 blend of device and
network interaction, translation protocols have to be agreed upon so communication can flow from
network to network. This statement of protocol agreement is true for even a pure IPv6 network. To
limit the scope of this discussion, and to avoid a fifty page research paper with great depth on the topic
of inter-networking, the general rule to any kind of inter-networking is to ensure that the boundaries of
the various networks have a defined and agreed upon implementation of the IP protocol. Failure to do

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved 12

so will result in the inability to communicate, misunderstanding in Quality of Service (QoS) definitions
and great pains for the network administrators [D16].

IPv6 Datagram format

The IPv6 datagram header format is shown in the graphic as documented on tcpipguide.com [D17]:

The version for the IPv6 header is 0110 which is binary for a decimal value of 6. The Traffic class relates
to QoS which is discussed later in this research paper. Flow label is used for extended QoS abilities and
to ensure that all routers in the flow path of a datagram network handle the packets the same way,
thereby ensuring proper flow control for different types of network traffic. The payload length contains
the number of bytes in the payload as well as any extension headers that might be included in the
packet. Next header is used in one of two ways. The first is to callout the identity of an extension
header, should one exist. The second use is the same as with IPv4 packets in that specifies the
protocols. Hop limit is self explanatory in that it represents the number of hops allowed before the
packet is dropped. The source address is just as it states, the source address. Finally, the destination
address is the ultimate destination the packet is intended for, not the next intermediate destination or
hop [D17].

Path MTU Discovery

A significant change from IPv4 to IPv6 was the consideration of packet fragmentation in the network
layer. IPv4 made provision for the intentional fragmentation of packets by each router along the way,
and while the provision in IPv4 for packet fragmentation may be potentially useful in negotiating
different types of networks, it comes at a cost of router processing power and time along the route and
at the destination. IPv6 explicitly permitted fragmentation only between the origination node and
destination, but not during the intermediate hops. Hop-by-hop fragmentation is considered a bad thing
since it can generate more fragments than end-to-end fragmentation and it should be considered more
inefficient since the loss of a single fragment means all those corresponding fragments must be
retransmitted. This is interesting since unlike most other enhancements in IPv6, the responsibility is
shifted from the router back to the node [D18].

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved 13

IPv6 tries to avoid fragmentation along its route, but how is it to know how large to make packets that
will make it end-to-end without the need for fragmentation, especially considering that packets could
take varying routes? IPv6 does this through two ways; the first is specifying that any IPv6 node must be
able to transmit a packet sized at 1280 bytes at minimum which reflects the realities that most routers
can handle average IP packets without needing fragmentation (MTU = maximum transmission unit), and
the second is the mechanism of Path MTU Discovery (PMTUD), which adjusts the packet sizes as needed
from any point along the route back to the source [D19].

The operation of PMTUD goes as follows: the source node sends out packets at the size of the MTU of
the first link and the first packet continues on its route until it reaches the destination or a router that
has an MTU sized smaller than the packet size. Then that router drops the packet and sends back to the
source an ICMPv6 Packet Too Big message. The error message contains in it the MTU size of the next
hop link, and so the source node resizes its packets to comply with this new link MTU. Note that this can
occur multiple times in either a unicast or multicast packet stream. Interestingly, when dealing with
multicast source packets, the routes may be different and the smallest MTU reported back affects the
size for all recipients—the lowest common denominator is the rule in this case [D20].

Fragmentation
As mentioned earlier, the minimum MTU that routers and physical links were required to handle was
576 bytes in IPv4, while in IPv6 all links must handle a packet size of at least 1280 bytes. This doubling in
size improves efficiency by increasing the ratio of maximum payload to header length, and reduces the
frequency with which fragmentation is required. Within IPv6, source nodes are expected to perform
PMTUD to determine the maximum size of packets to send, and the upper-layer protocol is expected to
limit the payload size. However, if the upper-layer protocol is unable to do so, the sending host may use
the Fragment extension header in order to perform end-to-end fragmentation of IPv6 packets if the
packets must be fragmented [D21].

The method of fragmenting begins at the source node when it inserts a fragmentation header into the
optional part of the standard IP packet header—note that there isn’t anything in a standard IP packet
header about fragmentation unless it is required, lessening the overhead all around. The Fragmentation
header contains the following fields: Next Header, Reserved, Fragment Offset, Res, M Flag, and
Identification fields. The design of this Fragment header is interesting since by shifting the Fragment
Offset field to the left and the M flag (which signifies “More packets coming”) it has become easier to
process than its IPv4 equivalent. The Fragment Offset is a value specifying the number of 8-octet words
to be offset; that value is stored in a 13-bit field. Ignoring the low-order 3 bits of that part of the header
(that is, the 2 reserved bits and the more flag) allows the 13-bit Fragment Offset field to be expressed as
a 16-bit value and interpreted as the number of octets specified by the offset [D22].

Each packet contains essentially two parts. The Unfragmentable Part which is the original IPv6 header
and any extension headers that must be processed by nodes rather than the destination (these
extension headers are options). The Fragmentable Part is therefore everything else which includes
those extension headers that are meant for the destination, along with the upper layers headers, and of
course the data payload. Fragments are created by dividing the Unfragmentable Part up, with each

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved 14

fragment incorporated into its own packet; the resulting packets duplicate the Unfragmentable Part of
the original packet and add a Fragment Header, resulting in a sequence of packets where each of the
fragment-carrying packets has the same Unfragmentable Part, with the Next Header field of the last
header of that part set to 44, indicating that the next header is a Fragment Header. At the destination,
the process is reversed as fragment packets begin arriving; if all the fragments have not been received
within 60 seconds, the packets that have been received are discarded, and if the first fragment was
received, the receiving node sends an ICMP error message [D23].

Routing and Forwarding

Routing is the process in which systems decide where to send a packet. Forwarding is a process used to
determine which path a packet should be sent. Forwarding can originate from two places: from the
source host that is sending the packet to another host or from a router that is an intermediary between
the source host and the destination host. Both use cases require a routing table, which stores
information regarding the source address of the packet and the destination address of the packet.

In both IPv4 and IPv6 use cases, the main difference between protocols is the size of the addresses being
stored in the packet (source and destination) and in the routing table (source and next hop) from 32 bits
to 128 bits. To increase the speed of forwarding between routers, the IPv6 protocol has abandoned the
use of header checksums that the IPv4 protocol offers between nodes as well. Routing is still performed
by looking at the IP address to determining which portion is the network ID and which is the host ID,
despite that IPv6 unicast addresses use a special hierarchical format [D24].

Unicast Routing and Protocols

Unicast addressing is defined as one-to-one communication between a host and a destination. Unicast
routing is the mechanism for handling routing for unicast addressing. Since the internet is constantly
changing, routing tables need to be updated dynamically and frequently. To address this issue, routing
protocols were developed and implemented. A routing protocol is a combination of rules and
procedures that let routers in the internet inform each other of changes with themselves and changes
within their neighborhood. Since the internet is so large, routing for the internet needs to be broken
down into separate domains. Each domain is a group of networks and routers which is called an
autonomous system. Routing protocol technologies used within an autonomous system is referred to as
intradomain routing whereas routing used between autonomous systems is interdomain routing. Both
types of routing use different kind of routing protocols which we will discuss further.

Intradomain
Intradomain routing uses two different protocol technologies to to update the routing tables: distance
vector routing and link state routing. In distance vector routing, routing is configured based upon the
least-cost or minimum distance between nodes. The Routing Information Protocol (RIP) is as an
implementation of this protocol and the IPv4 protocol has two different versions; RIPv1 and RIPv2.
RIPv1 was the original protocol used for distance vector routing while RIPv2 was introduced to fix the
inefficiencies of RIPv1 (currently used for IPv4) and it also multicasts its information to adjacent routers
instead of broadcasting for better performance. RIPng was introduced for IPv6, which extends the

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved 15

functionality of RIPv2 while allowing support for IPv6 networking (128 bit addresses). RIPng also no
longer supports authentication on packets and routing table groups [D25].

Linked state routing uses LSAs (linked state advertisements) throughout an autonomous system to
update routing tables. This routing technology uses the Open Shortest Path First protocol (OSPF).
OSPFv2 is the routing protocol used for IPv4 and OSPFv3 is the routing protocol used for IPv6. The main
difference between these two protocols is that OSPFv3 supports IPv6 addressing and also no longer
supports protocol –internal authentication but instead relies on the IPv6 protocol security.

Interdomain
Interdomain routing uses only the path vector routing technology to handle updates between
autonomous systems within the internet. Path vector routing is very similar to distance vector routing,
except that each autonomous system acts like a node instead of a host or router. The Border Gateway
Protocol (BGP) is an implementation of this technology, and unlike using network IP address as the other
protocols mentioned previously do, this protocol uses assigned 16-bit integers (ASN numbers) within the
network to identity each autonomous system [D26]. Each system keeps track of other autonomous
systems when router table information is shared. Since systems are tracked by ASNs, there is no
difference in implementation for IPv4 and IPv6.

Transport Layer
One of the requirements of the IPv6 protocol is to re-use current UDP and TCP transport protocols as
they are currently defined. The impact to the Transport layer is that it is now mandatory to carry a
transport protocol checksum for both the UDP and TCP transport protocols. This is a direct result of the
removal of the IP packet checksum from the IPv6 message header with the assumption that the layer
above IP must carry and require the checksum.

Checksum requirement
All transport protocols such as UDP, TCP, and ICMP, compute the checksum for IPv6 packets. The
transport protocol checksum is calculated over the following fields: Source Address, Destination
Address, Next Header field, Transport-layer payload length [A3].

User Datagram Protocol (UDP)

No modifications were done to the UDP protocol for IPv6. With UDP however the checksum is
mandatory when using IPv6, but not when using IPv4.

Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)

The TCP protocol has not changed for IPv6. The checksum is still mandatory. The protocol has been
improved and optimized for IPv6, such as improvements in performance as a result of the Selective
acknowledgement (SACK) and Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) mechanisms [A3].

The ECN mechanism allows routers to signal early detection of congestion to nodes by modifying the
ECN bits in the traffic class field of the IPv6 header. To avoid congestion which in turn results in packet

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved 16

drops, end nodes supporting ECN decrease their transport window size to participate in the reduction of
network traffic. The ECN mechanism is defined for both IPv6 and IPv4 [A3].

Internet Message Control Protocol (ICMP)

ICMP is not a transport protocol like UDP or TCP, but from the perspective of IPv6 it also contains a
checksum which is computed the same way as the transport protocol checksum.

ICMPv6
ICMP in IPv6 is used by intermediate and receiving nodes to inform source nodes about errors and
issues related to the delivery of datagrams. It is similar to ICMP in IPv4, but with a few enhancements
[A2]:

- ICMP is carried in an IPv6 datagram identified by a specific Next Header field

- As mentioned before, a checksum is computed
- New messages have been defined, for instance, informational messages for Path Maximum
Transmission Unit (MTU) Discovery and Neighbor Discovery. ICMP for V4 message numbers and
types have been substantially changed.
- Error reporting messages such as the source-quench message has been eliminated and instead
the priority and flow label fields are used for congestion control and discarding of messages.
And the packet-too-big error message has been added because in IPv6 fragmentation is the
responsibility of the sender.
- Query messages for timestamp request and replay and address-mask request and replay have
been eliminated because they are already implemented in other protocols such as TCP and very
rarely used in ICMP for IPv4.
- An ICMP error message includes the original datagram within the error packet for easier
recovery by the source.

Protocols combined
Also, the Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) function that manages multicast group
memberships with IPv4 and the Address Resolution Protocol/Reverse Address Resolution Protocol
(ARP/RARP) that is used to map Data Link layer addresses to IP addresses and vice versa, has been
included in ICMP for IPv6 [E1].

Neighbor Discovery
A new protocol, Neighbor Discovery, has been introduced which uses ICMP for IPv6 messages and
allows IPv6 nodes to:

- determine Data Link layer addresses for Neighbors attached to the same link
- find Neighboring routers that can forward their packet
- keep track of Neighbors that are reachable
- detect changes in Data Link layer addresses

Duplicate address detection (DAD) is used to verify the usability of an address by sending a neighbor
solicitation to its own address. If a neighbor advertisement is received, the address is not used.

With IPv4, there is no means to detect whether a neighbor is reachable or not [A2]. Also, NDP in IPv6 is
insecure and susceptible to malicious interference, and an extension of this protocol called SEcure

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved 17

Neighbor Discovery (SEND) provides an alternate mechanism for securing NDP with a cryptographic
method that is independent of IPSec [E9].

Quality of Service and Congestion Control

Quality of Service is typically defined as a mechanism that provides distinction of traffic types,
So that it can be classified and administered differently throughout the network [A3]. The IPv6 protocol
does not impose a specific mechanism for QoS, but offers enough flexibility to support multiple QoS
mechanisms. A number of QoS specific service elements in the IP Base and Extension headers can be
used in different ways and combinations to provide QoS. IPv6 uses the Integrated Services and
Differentiated Services traffic policing strategies for QoS the same way as IPv4. Few differences do exist
such as the use of the IPv6 flow label, network address translation, and hardware processing issues [A3].

(source: Cisco IPv6 QoS at-a-glance)

Flows and Flow Labels

A flow is a sequence of packets from a particular source to a particular destination. The flow requires
special handling by intermediate routers, which is communicated by routers using other protocols. The
20 bit Flow Label field in the IPv6 header can be used by a source to request special handling by other
IPv6 routers. A router that does not support the flow label functions is required to set the field to all
zeros when sending a packet, pass it unchanged when forwarding packets, and ignore when receiving a
packet. Additionally, routers do not need to inspect the application payload which results in efficient
QoS processing [A2].

Traffic Class
The Traffic Class field in the IPv6 header enables a source to identify the desired delivery priority of the
packets. The bits of this field hold two values. The 6 most-significant bits are used for differentiated
services (DS) and the remaining two bits are used for ECN (Explicit Congestion Control). The priority
values are divided into ranges: traffic where the source provides congestion control and non-congestion
control traffic. [E2]

Integrated Services
Integrated services are implemented by having the source node start a RSVP (Resource Reservation
Protocol) reservation through the path to a destination node. Each router along the path processes the

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved 18

reservation, and when the destination is reached an acknowledgment is sent back to the source node
confirming the reservation. The Next Header field in the IPv6 basic header indicates, with a value of
zero, a hop-by-hop extension header following the basic header. The Option-Type field indicates a
Router Alert which means every router that receives the packet should look inside it. The IPv6 packet
structure provides many more features such as chaining of extension headers, use of Next Header to
indicate next payload type, hop-by-hop options and option types [A3].

Network Address Translation

Network Address Translation (NAT) disables the use of QoS, and creates artificial boundaries. Since IPv6
has no NAT this limitation does not exist and QoS can be applied to larger domains. With IPv6 true end-
to-end QoS policy implementations are closer to reality [A3].

Differentiated services
Differentiated services are identical to IPv4. Differentiated services mark packets so that routers in the
network process packets differently. In IPv6 the packets are marked by setting bits in the IPv6 header
Traffic Class field. The Traffic Class fields directly map to the Diffserv (DS) bits on the Type of Service
(TOS) field in the IPv4 header [A3].

Security
As discussed, the IPv6 protocol has been introduced to replace IPv4 due to the consumption of all
available IPv4 addresses. Part of the design of IPv6 has been geared towards adding security features to
aid in protecting network traffic. IPSEC is a standard that encompasses many of the security features.
This section will discuss IPSEC, the various protocols and modes is supports as well as some overall
security concerns and implementation practices that are recommend for organizations using IPv6
capable hardware and software. The IPv6 protocol addresses many of the security issues with the IPv4
protocol. While not all attacks have been resolved, some of them have been made more difficult to
achieve. A prime example of this is network scans to determine vulnerable addresses. With IPv6 the
sheer number of possible addresses makes this attack a very lengthy process.

IPSEC
As defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), “IPSEC is designed to provide interoperability,
high quality, cryptographically-based security for IPv4 and IPv6.” *E3] IPv6 was designed with IPSEC in its
architecture, while it is an optional extension that can be used, if desired, in IPv4. IPSEC provides end-to-
end security and operates in the Internet Layer. Since IPv4 is optional, considerations must be taken
when determining how to connect IPv6 and IPv4 networks together. IPv4 to IPv6 connection points
must be able to assimilate the appropriate packets to traverse through the IPSEC implementation on the
IPv6 network. Similarly, the IPv6 to IPv4 connection points must to be able to either adapt the packets
to the IPv4 IPSEC implementation, if required, or to disassemble the packets and reassemble for the IPv4
network. Regardless of which state exists, measures must be taken to ensure the security level of the
network is maintained through these connections.

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved 19

ISAKMP and IKE
IPSEC implementations include Internet Security Association and Key Management Protocol (ISAKMP)
and Internet Key Exchange (IKE). ISAKMP defines the framework with which the Security Associations
(SA) will be generated. The framework provides payload formats, negotiations of the SA and the
mechanism by which the IKE is performed. IKE, as its name implies, is a protocol used for exchange keys
between nodes on a network that have a requirement to communicate securely. A feature of IKE is the
automatic negotiation of the SA and a secure communication channel. This eliminates manual pre-
configurations which can be both costly and timely. [E4] The ISAKMP has what is called an identity. The
identity can be either an IP address or name. It is worth mentioning that both ends of a connection
have to have the same type of identity setup, IP or name, or the IKE could fail should a DNS not be able
to resolve the identity for both ends. [E5]

AH
The Authentication Header (AH) provides important security features such as authentication and
integrity for the entire packet being sent. [E6] Authentication is important as there is a need to be sure
the sender is both identifiable and verifiable. Integrity is important for ensuring the data being sent, has
not been modified. It is important to note that authentication and integrity are not the same as
confidentiality. The implementation of the AH does not provide any level of data encryption, therefore
the actual data portion of the packet is readable, should it be intercepted. The AH is inserted for use in
the Network layer, and before any headers or information for the Transport layer. Lastly, the AH in IPv6
protects both the header and the payload whereas in IPv4, only the payload is protected.

ESP
Like AH, Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) provides authentication and integrity. Unlike AH, ESP also
provides confidentiality and anti-replay mechanisms. The ESP, however, does not protect the IP header,
as AH does. This is true with the exception of tunneling where the entire packet is encapsulated in
another packet used for the tunnel. [E7] Similar to the discussion around IPSEC, the use of AH and ESP
between IPv6 and IPv4 requires careful implementation to ensure data integrity and security are
maintained. Ensuring the IPv4 and IPv6 implementations of IPSEC are the same, helps mitigate many of
the concerns. The ESP can be implemented in both cases and remain intact from end to end, providing
that overall data confidentiality. The AH and ESP can be used together which can help protect the traffic
information of the network communication in transit. [E8]

Application Layer
To fully understand the impact the IPv6 protocol has on the TCP/IP Application Layer, we must first
understand (briefly) the Application Layer itself. The Application Layer is highest layer in the TCP/IP
stack, and is solely concerned with the user’s view of a network. Common examples of Application
Layer protocols are FTP, HTTP, POP, SSH and Telnet. Since the Application Layer treats the Transport
Layer as a “black box” to create network communication between devices, information regarding the
connection between the two devices is abstracted away from the Application Layer. Since the IP
protocol is isolated in the Network Layer, any migration made from IPv4 and IPv6 will go unnoticed in
the Application Layer. This means that any change from IPv4 to IPv6 will have no impact on the

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved 20

Application Layer in almost all cases. The only exceptions to this rule are application protocols that
embed internet-layer addresses such as FTP and NTPv3 [F1]. The FTP extensions, as specified in RFC
2428 "FTP Extensions for IPv6 and NATs", work with both IPv4 and IPv6.

Multimedia
The IPv6 protocol does not affect the process of encoding or streaming of multimedia. The multi-media
server software that is responsible for streaming data will need to be updated to support streaming data
over IPv6. A benefit from using IPv6 will be increased network capacity and faster delivery of real time
data since routers no longer need to translate addresses between sub-nets and home networks. Certain
characteristics of IPv6, such as the large addressing space reserved for multicast addresses and the
availability of the Priority field and the Flow Label field on the IPv6 header, will improve the support of
multimedia applications, and especially real-time applications [F2].

DNS Changes, DHCP

The Domain Name System (DNS) is a distributed database across the Internet which maps host names to
addresses. Modifications were done to DN to support IPv6 addresses [F3]. To support the storage of
IPv6 addresses the several extensions have been defined. A new resource record type is defined to map
a domain name to an IPv6 address. A new domain is defined to support lookups based on the address.
Finally, existing queries that perform additional processing to locate IPv4 addresses have been redefined
to perform additional processing on both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. [F4]

With IPv6, DHCP is not required to configure hosts with address information. The stateless
autoconfiguration mode will configure hosts with IPv6 addresses.

Interoperability
The transition from IPv4 to IPv6 will continue to occur gradually, especially with the large number of
systems that exist in the Internet today. It will need to be done smoothly in order to prevent problems
between IPv4 and IPv6 systems. Three common strategies to help with the transition are briefly
described below [E1].

Dual Stack
This technique provides complete support for both protocol versions in hosts and routers. A station
must run IPv4 and IPv6 simultaneously until all the Internet uses IPv6. In this technique, the source host
queries the DNS to determine the version to use when sending a packet. Depending on the version of
the address returned - IPv4 or IPv6 – the source host sends the packet in the corresponding version.

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved 21

 [E1]

Tunneling
This technique is used for establishing a point-to-point tunnel between a source and destination host
where IPv6 packets are encapsulated within IPv4 headers in order to carry them over IPv4 routing
infrastructures.

[E1]

Header Translation
This technique will be necessary when the majority of hosts on the Internet have moved to IPv6 but
some systems continue to use IPv4. The packet sent to a node within an IPv4 based network has to in
the format that can be understood by it. The header format of the IPv6 packet is converted to an IPv4
format by a combination of Application Level Gateways (ALG), and Network Address Translation and
Protocol Translators (NAT-PT), before being sent to the receiving IPv4 node.

[E1]

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved 22

Conclusion
Our paper analyses and describes the impact of implementing IPv6 to the overall network infrastructure.
We have intentionally limited the scope of our research to the information we have learned in class this
semester. Impact to network hardware and components, network area topologies, routing
mechanisms, transport protocols, application, security, quality of service, and performance have been
organized and presented using the structure of the five (5) layer Internet TCP/IP protocol suite –
starting with Layer 1: The Physical Layer, and concluding with Layer 5: The Application Layer.

With the rapid depletion and eventual exhaustion of the global Internet address space using IPv4,
migration to IPv6 is inevitable. Companies and their IT staffs need to fully understand the impact of
implementing IPv6 on their network infrastructure so that they can plan and choose their migration
strategy wisely, and continue to provide uninterrupted, reliable, and cost efficient service to their end
consumers.

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved 23

References
[A1] S. Bradner, A. Mankin, “The Recommendation for the IP Next Generation Protocol”, Jan 1995 Retrieved
from the World Wide Web on November 12th, 2010 http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1752.txt
[A2] Silvia Hagen, “IPv6 Essentials – Integrating IPv6 into your IPv4 network”, O’Reilly Media, May 2006
[A3] Marc Blanchet, “Migrating to IPv6 – A Practical Guide to Implementing IPv6 in Mobile and Fixed
Networks”, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2006
[A4] Retrieved from the World Wide Web on November 12th, 2010
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/technologies/tk648/tk872/technologies_white_paper0900aecd8026003d.pdf
[A5] Retrieved from the World Wide Web on November 12th, 2010
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/technologies/tk648/tk872/technologies_white_paper0900aecd80260042.pdf
[C1] H. Singh, et. Al. “IPv6 CE router requirements” Internet Engineering Task Force August 2010 Retrieved
from the World Wide Web on November 12th, 2010 http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-v6ops-ipv6-cpe-
router-07
[C2] Retrieved from the World Wide Web on December 3rd, 2010
http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/Source-Route_Bridging
[C3] Retrieved from the World Wide Web on December 3rd, 2010
http://www.juniper.net/techpubs/software/junos/junos91/swconfig-multicast/layer-2-frames-and-
multicast.htmli/Transparent_Bridging
[C4] Carlos Perez “IPv6 and Bluetooth” French IPv6 Worldwide Summit November 2006 Retrieved from the
World Wide Web on November 12th, 2010
http://www.v6summit.com/Conference/Presentations/MOBILITY_PEREZ.pdf
*D1+ T. Chown “Use of VLANs for IPv4-IPv6 Coexistence in Enterprise Networks” Networking Working Group
June 2006 Retrieved from the World Wide Web on November 12th, 2010 http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4554.txt
*D2+ A. Conta “Transmission of IPv6 Packets over Frame Relay Networks Specification” Network Working
Group May 1999 Retrieved from the World Wide Web on November 12th, 2010
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2590
*D3+ G. Armitage et. Al. “IPv6 over ATM Networks” Network Working Group January 1999 Retrieved from the
World Wide Web on November 12th, 2010 http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2492
[D4] http://www.eurescom.eu/~public-web-deliverables/P1100-series/P1113/D1/31_diflink.html#3
[D5] C. Kozierok “The TCP/IP Guide – Ipv6 Addressing” Retrieved from the World Wide Web on November
12th, 2010 http://www.tcpipguide.com/free/t_IPv6InterfaceIdentifiersandPhysicalAddressMapping.htm
[D6] F. Donze “IPv6 Autoconfiguration” The Internet Protocol Journal, Volume 7, Number 2 June 2004
Retrieved from the World Wide Web on November 12th, 2010
http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac123/ac147/archived_issues/ipj_7-2/ipv6_autoconfig.html
[D7] C. Kozierok “The TCP/IP Guide Retrieved from the World Wide Web on November 12th, 2010
http://www.tcpipguide.com/free/diagrams/ipv6eui64.png

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved 24

[D8+ C. Aoun, et. Al. “Reasons to Move the Network Address Translator - Protocol Translator (NAT-PT) to
Historic Status” Network Working Group July, 2007 Retrieved from the World Wide Web on November 12th,
2010 http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4966
[D9] “Internet Protocol Version 6 Address Space” Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) Retrieved from
the World Wide Web on November 12th, 2010 http://www.iana.org/assignments/ipv6-address-space/ipv6-
address-space.xml
[D10] R. hinden et. Al. “IP Version 6 Addressing Architecture” Network Working Group February 2006
Retrieved from the World Wide Web on November 12th, 2010 http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4291
[D11] B. Posey “Crash Course in IPv6” Windows Networking – Network Protocols November 2006 Retrieved
from the World Wide Web on November 12th, 2010
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Crash-Course-IPv6-Part1.html
[D12] “Methods for Configuring IPv6 Addresses” Microsoft April 2010 Retrieved from the World Wide Web
on November 12th, 2010 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa920446.aspx
[D13] M. Clark “How To Subnet IPv6” Internet Retrieved from the World Wide Web on November 12th, 2010
http://www.clarksys.com/blog/2009/03/12/howto-subnet-ipv6/
[D14] J. Lambert “IPv6 Subnet Masking” Exabyte.com Retrieved from the World Wide Web on November
12th, 2010 http://www.exabyte.net/lambert/subnet/ipv6_subnet_masking.htm
[D15] “Cisco IOS IPv6 Configuration Guide – Implementing NAT-PT for IPv6” Cisco November 2002 Retrieved
from the World Wide Web on November 12th, 2010
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios/ipv6/configuration/guide/ip6-
nat_trnsln_ps6350_TSD_Products_Configuration_Guide_Chapter.html
[D16] D. Teare “Designing Cisco Networks” Cisco Press July 1999 Retrieved from the World Wide Web on
November 12th, 2010 http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/Internetworking_Basics
[D17] C. Kozierok “The TCP/IP Guide – IPv6 Datagram Main Header Format” Retrieved from the World Wide
Web on November 12th, 2010 http://www.tcpipguide.com/free/t_IPv6DatagramMainHeaderFormat.htm
[D18] Pete Loshin, “IPv6: Theory, Protocol, and Practice, 2nd Edition”, Morgan Kaufmann, December 2003
[D19] Silvia Hagen, “IPv6 Essentials – Integrating IPv6 into your IPv4 network”, O’Reilly Media, May 2006
[D20] Charles M. Kozierok, “IPv6 Datagram Size, Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU), Fragmentation and
Reassembly”, Version 3.0, September 2005
http://www.tcpipguide.com/free/t_IPv6DatagramSizeMaximumTransmissionUnitMTUFragment.htm
[D21] Pete Loshin, “IPv6: Theory, Protocol, and Practice, 2nd Edition”, Morgan Kaufmann, December 2003
[D22] Silvia Hagen, “IPv6 Essentials – Integrating IPv6 into your IPv4 network”, O’Reilly Media, May 2006
[D23] Pete Loshin, “IPv6: Theory, Protocol, and Practice, 2nd Edition”, Morgan Kaufmann, December 2003
[D24] http://www.tcpipguide.com/free/t_IPv6DatagramDeliveryandRouting.htm
[D25] http://www.juniper.net/techpubs/software/junos/junos64/swconfig64-routing/html/ripng-
overview.html

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved 25

[D26] http://www.bgp4.as
[E1] Behrouz A. Ferouzan , “Data Communications and Networking”, McGraw Hill, 2007
*E2+ “IPv6 Packet”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPv6_packet
[E3] S. Kent, K. Seo “Security Architecture for the Internet Protocol” Network Working Group December 2005
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4301.txt
[E4] D. Maughan et. Al. “Internet Security Association and Key Management Protocol (ISAKMP) NEtowrk
Working Group November 1998 http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2408.txt
[E5] “Internet Key Exchange Security Protocol” Cisco Retrieved from the World Wide Web on November 12th,
2010 http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios/11_3/feature/guide/isakmp.html
[E6] “Authentication Header” Microsoft TechNet Retrieved from the World Wide Web on November 12th,
2010 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc959507.aspx
[E7] S.Kent, R. Atkinson “IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) Network Working Group November 1998
Retrieved from the World Wide Web on November 12th, 2010 http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2406.txt
[E8] D. Parker “IPSEC (IP Security)” Windows Networking – Network Protocols February 2006 Retrieved from
the World Wide Web on November 12th, 2010 http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/IPSec-
IP-Security-Part1-ESP.html
[E9] Secure Neighbor Discovery Protocol http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Neighbor_Discovery_Protocol
[F1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPv6
[F2] David Childers, “How will IPv6 Change Internet Multimedia Streaming” Retrieved from the World Wide
Web on November 12th, 2010 http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Will-IPV6-Change-Internet-Multimedia-
Streaming&id=2275641
[F3] S. Thomson, C. Huitema “DNS Extensions to Support IP version 6” Retrieved from the World Wide Web
on November 12th, 2010 http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1886.html)
[F4] Charles M. Kozierok, The TCP/IP Guide Retrieved from the World Wide Web on November 12th, 2010
http://www.tcpipguide.com/free/t_DNSChangesToSupportIPVersion6.htm

Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved 26