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The Complete Guide to Understanding IPv6: History, Features, Benefits, Adoption and Testing

History

The history of IPv6, the next generation Internet Protocol, dates back to the late 1980s, when the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) recognized the need for a new version of IP to address the growing shortage of IP addresses under IPv4.

IPv4, which was first deployed in 1983, uses 32-bit addresses, which allows for a maximum of approximately 4.3 billion unique addresses. However, with the rapid growth of the Internet and the increasing number of devices that connect to it, this number was not enough to meet the demand for new addresses. In the 1990s, the IETF began to develop a new version of IP, called IPv6, which uses 128-bit addresses, allowing for a virtually unlimited number of unique addresses.

Benefits of IPv6

One of the most significant benefits of IPv6 is its vastly expanded address space. This allows for the allocation of unique IP addresses to a much larger number of devices, making it possible to connect virtually anything to the Internet, including cellphones, appliances, cars, and even entire cities. Additionally, IPv6 is designed to improve security through the use of built-in authentication and encryption, which help protect against spoofing and other types of malicious attacks.

Another benefit of IPv6 is its ability to more efficiently route traffic over the Internet. IPv6 includes new features such as anycast addressing and multicast, which allow for more efficient and flexible routing of traffic. Additionally, IPv6 includes support for new types of traffic such as multimedia and real-time applications, which are not well supported by IPv4.

IPv6 also offers better support for mobile devices, which are becoming increasingly important with the rise of smartphones and other mobile devices. IPv6 includes built-in support for mobile IP, which allows mobile devices to move between networks while maintaining their IP address and connectivity.

Adoption of IPv6

The adoption of IPv6 has been gradual, with many networks and devices still using IPv4. However, IPv6 is becoming increasingly more important as IPv4 addresses run out, and internet service providers and corporations start to run out of IPv4 addresses and move towards IPv6. Additionally, many governments and industry groups are now mandating the use of IPv6 to ensure that their citizens and businesses have access to the latest and most advanced Internet technologies.

In summary, IPv6 is the next-generation Internet Protocol, which was developed to address the growing shortage of IP addresses under IPv4. IPv6 offers several benefits over IPv4, including a much larger address space, improved security, more efficient routing of traffic, better support for mobile devices, and built-in support for new types of traffic. While IPv6 adoption has been gradual, it is becoming increasingly more important as IPv4 addresses run out and more networks and devices are being updated to support it.

Detailed statistics on the adoption of IPv6

According to the Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) Deployment and Adoption Dashboard maintained by the Internet Society, as of January 2021, approximately 25% of Internet users globally had access to IPv6. This represents a significant increase from previous years, as the percentage of Internet users with access to IPv6 was at approximately 12% in 2018 and 8% in 2016.
According to data from Google, as of January 2021, approximately 42% of the traffic to Google’s services came from IPv6 addresses. This represents a significant increase from previous years, as the percentage of traffic to Google’s services from IPv6 addresses was at approximately 20% in 2018 and 10% in 2016.
According to data from Akamai’s State of the Internet report, as of the 3Q 2020, around 23% of the networks they connected to support IPv6. This represents a steady increase of 4% points each year during the last decade.
According to the World IPv6 Launch organization, as of September 2020, around 25% of the Alexa top one million websites are IPv6 enabled and around 5% of the overall Internet-enabled devices are IPv6 ready.

According to the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) , as of October 2020, approximately 25% of allocated IPv6 address blocks have been assigned to end-users.

It’s important to note that IPv6 adoption varies greatly between regions and countries, with some areas having much higher adoption rates than others. Also, the IPv6 adoption rate for websites and Internet service providers is higher compared to the general users, As IPv6 adoption for general users depends on the availability of IPv6 connectivity and the IPv6 support on the ISPs and devices.

Overall, the adoption of IPv6 has been increasing over time, but it is still not as widely adopted as IPv4. However, as more and more IPv4 addresses are exhausted and the need for more addresses continues to grow, it’s likely that the adoption of IPv6 will continue to increase in the coming years.

Interesting facts about IPv6

These are some interesting facts about IPv6, it also has several features that aimed to make the internet more secure and efficient than IPv4, and with the IPv4 address pool running out, IPv6 is becoming more and more important in the internet landscape.

An IPv6 address is 128 bits long, which is four times larger than an IPv4 address, which is 32 bits long. This means that there are 2^128 (3.4 x 10^38) unique IPv6 addresses, compared to 2^32 (4.3 x 10^9) unique IPv4 addresses. This allows for a virtually unlimited number of unique addresses, making it possible to connect virtually anything to the Internet.
IPv6 uses a different address format than IPv4, with a series of eight groups of hexadecimal digits separated by colons, such as “2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334”.
The first 64 bits of an IPv6 address is the “network prefix” and the last 64 bits is the “interface identifier”. The interface identifier is usually derived from the Media Access Control (MAC) address of the device’s network interface. This means that a public IPv6 address of a device can be inferred from the MAC address.
The “subnet mask” in IPv6 is represented by the prefix length, which is written after the address in the format “address/prefix length”. For example, “2001:0db8:85a3::/64” is a 64-bit prefix, which means that the first 64 bits of the address define the network, and the remaining 64 bits can be used for the host addresses. In a /64 subnet, there are 2^64 (18446744073709551616) unique addresses available for host addressing.
A /64 subnet is the smallest prefix length that is recommended to be used for the subnetting of IPv6 addresses. A /64 prefix is the smallest prefix that can be used for the link-local addresses, which is the communication between hosts in a network without using a router.
IPv6 includes support for multicast, which allows a single packet to be sent to multiple recipients. This can be used for applications such as video conferencing and streaming.
IPv6 includes support for anycast addressing, which allows multiple devices to share the same address and route traffic to the nearest device using that address. This can be used for applications such as load balancing and failover.
IPv6 includes support for the extension headers, which allows for the encapsulation of different types of data. This is beneficial for routing, security, and mobility.
IPv6 does not include the use of the Broadcast address, instead multicast address are used for this purpose.
IPv6 does not include the use of Network Address Translation (NAT), which is used to map multiple private IP addresses to a single public IP address in IPv4. This is because of the large number of addresses available in IPv6, and the lack of need to conserve addresses.

How do I know if I am on an IPv6 Network?

Use a website that tests IPv6 connectivity: There are several websites, such as test-ipv6.com, ipv6-test.com and ipleak.net that can help you determine if your device is connected to an IPv6 network. Simply visit the website and it will perform a series of tests to check if your device is able to connect to IPv6 addresses.
Check your IP address: If your device is connected to an IPv6 network, it will have an IPv6 address in addition to an IPv4 address. You can check your IP address by visiting a website such as whatismyip.com or by running the command “ipconfig” in the command prompt (Windows) or “ifconfig” in the terminal (macOS/Linux) and look for the “IPv6 address” field. If it shows an address starting with “fe80” or “fc00” it could be a local-link address, a global unicast will look like “2001:db8:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx”
Use the ping command: You can use the “ping” command to test if your device is able to connect to an IPv6 address. Simply open a command prompt (Windows) or terminal (macOS/Linux) and type “ping ipv6.google.com”. If you receive a reply, it means that your device is able to connect to IPv6 addresses and that you are on an IPv6 network.
Use a packet sniffer: You can use a packet sniffer tool, such as Wireshark, to check if your device is communicating over IPv6. Install the tool, run it and then filter the packets captured by IP protocol version, if you see packets with IPv6 header, it means that your device is communicating over IPv6.
Use your ISP website: Many Internet Service Providers have websites that allow you to check your network information, check if they have any information about the type of IP version they are providing to their customers.

Testing these methods will confirm if you have IPv6 connectivity or not, but it will not guarantee that your device, or all the devices in your network have IPv6 connectivity, or if all the Internet services you use support IPv6.

Routing protocols that support IPv6:

Routing Information Protocol version 2 (RIPng): This is an extension of the RIP protocol, which supports IPv6.
Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) version 3: This is an extension of the OSPF protocol, which supports IPv6.
Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) version 4+: This is an extension of the BGP protocol, which supports IPv6.
Intermediate System-to-Intermediate System (IS-IS) version 2: This is an extension of the IS-IS protocol, which supports IPv6.
Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP) version 6: This is an extension of the EIGRP protocol, which supports IPv6.
Routing Protocol for Low-Power and Lossy Networks (RPL) : This is a routing protocol designed for Low-Power and Lossy networks, which supports IPv6.
OSPFv3 for IPv6: This is an extension of the OSPF protocol, which supports IPv6 and is based on OSPFv2.
RIPng for IPv6: This is an extension of the RIP protocol, which supports IPv6 and is based on RIPv2.
BGP4+ for IPv6: This is an extension of the BGP protocol, which supports IPv6 and is based on BGP4.

These protocols are similar to their IPv4 counterparts but include some modifications to support IPv6. Some of them have been designed specifically to work with IPv6, They work the same way as the IPv4 routing protocols, by maintaining routing tables and forwarding packets to the appropriate destinations. Some of these routing protocols are Cisco proprietary like EIGRP, others are open standard and are supported by different vendors.