Advantages of IPv6 over IPv4
IPv4 address have approximately 4.3 billion addresses and managed and distributed by Internet Assigned Numbers Authority(IANA) to the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) in blocks of approximately 16.8 million addresses each. The Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) exhaustion started in 2011 for the pool of unallocated addresses. This depletion led to the research and development to the it’s next successor which is the Internet Protocol Version 6(IPV6).
The new Internet Protocol Version 6(IPv6) is the successor technology designed to address the problem. IPV6 supports approximately 3.4×1038 network addresses which translate to equivalent of 340 trillion trillion trillion addresses in figures, that’s about 670 quadrillion addresses per square millimetre of the Earth’s surface.
The table below will list the key differences between IPv4 and is to why IPv6 better. See the side by side comparison of IPv4 and IPv6 it’s six important areas showing the benefits of using it.
| Why IPv6? | IPv4 | IPv6 |
| IPv6 has more addresses | 4.3 billion addresses | 340 trillion trillion trillion addresses |
| IPv6 networks are easier and cheaper to manage | Networks must be configured manually or with DHCP. IPv4 has had many overlays to handle Internet growth, which demand increasing maintenance efforts. | IPv6 networks provide autoconfiguration capabilities. They are simpler, flatter and more manageable for large installations. |
| IPv6 restores end-to-end transparency | Widespread use of NAT devices means that a single NAT address can mask thousands of non-routable addresses, making end-to-end integrity unachievable. | Direct addressing is possible due to vast address space – the need for network address translation devices is effectively eliminated. |
| IPv6 has improved security features | Security is dependent on applications – IPv4 was not designed with security in mind. | IPSEC is built into the IPv6 protocol, usable with a suitable key infrastructure. |
| IPv6 has improved mobility capabilities | Relatively constrained network topologies restrict mobility and interoperability capabilities in the IPv4 Internet. | IPv6 provides interoperability and mobility capabilities which are already widely embedded in network devices. |
| IPv6 encourages innovation | IPv4 was designed as a transport and communications medium, and increasingly any work on IPv4 is to find ways around the constraints. | Given the numbers of addresses, scalability and flexibility of IPv6, its potential for triggering innovation and assisting collaboration is unbounded. |
Not adopting to IPv6 have some serious drawbacks and problems ahead for organisations. For more about the positives of IPv6 and the negatives of not using it, see below:
IPv4 is Over
On the surface, the IPv4 world seems calm. However, the top-level body that assigns IPv4 addresses, IANA, announced as long ago as 2011 it had no more blocks of IPv4 left to distribute. The Asia-Pacific registry APNIC also hit IPv4 exhaustion in 2011, as did the European RIPE-NCC registry in 2012, and South American LACNIC in 2014. The North American registry, ARIN, announced in April 2014 it has also reached its final stages of IPv4. All registries strongly recommend immediate IPv6 adoption. IPv4 is done. It’s old technology. Your current IPv4 range may be enough for life support for some time yet, but if expansion or diversification is required, your networks will suffer. Any new technology requiring Internet access will push network demand to the limit. Yes, there are stop-gaps such as NAT boxes, but they are costly and require time-consuming expertise and maintenance. Far better to put scarce resources into something with a future, and to do it before IPv4 exhaustion becomes an emergency.
As Vint Cerf said on this issue, “Engineering in a crisis is never a good idea…”
Things and Clouds Need IPv6
Cloud computing is now fundamental to most enterprises, providing cheap, powerful resources such as databases, applications, security and system administration that cannot be afforded individually. IP addresses are critical for orchestrating cloud processes. To commission or decommission cloud virtual machines, multiple IP addresses need to be reserved or freed up with blinding speed. The IPv4-based Internet, increasingly hamstrung by NATs, cannot provide such functionality, and the required numbers of addresses simply do not exist in IPv4.The Internet of Things, the concept of communicating networks of independent devices, is estimated to reach twenty to thirty billion devices by 2020. Every networked device needs an address, and IPv4 has a hard limit of 4.3 billion. IPv6 has 340,282,366,920,938,000,000,000,000,000 billion addresses.
IPv6 is the only technology that can scale to deal with massively distributed cloud infrastructure and the Internet of Things.
IPv6 is On by Default
Almost all current device operating systems have working IPv6, many with IPv6 enabled by default. See Wikipedia’s comparison of IPv6 support in operating systems, and the IPv6 for Microsoft Windows FAQ. There is far more IPv6 traffic on most networks than commonly recognised. If enterprise firewalls have not been expressly configured to handle IPv6, then the enterprise is vulnerable to malicious traffic, no matter how sturdy the old IPv4 defences are. IPv6 is on by default, and can be accidentally or deliberately used to bypass usage and security policies.
Shadow Networks and IPv6
While IPv6 remains uncommon, it will be used by those seeking to avoid attention. The most shadowy networks remain hidden except to devotees, but one well-known peer-to-peer filesharing network, the Pirate Bay, went to IPv6 two years ago after courts began ordering European ISPs to block Pirate Bay IPv4 addresses. IPv6 is also being used for free, fast Internet. In 2012, large numbers of students began downloading the IPv6Now tunnel client to avoid their slow ISP and use a free academic IPv6 server. Since then, the client has been downloaded tens of thousands of times worldwide. While not illegal, this is certainly flying under the radar of their network service providers.If you think your network’s not carrying IPv6, it just means you don’t know about it.
Government Use IPv6
Governments worldwide take IPv6 very seriously. The US government has already transitioned to supporting IPv6 on all external services, and in 2014 mandated IPv6 for all internal services. The Australian Government met a deadline in 2012 for external services to be IPv6 capable. In Australia, the Department of Defence began its IPv6 migration in 2005. In the US, DREN, the defence research and engineering network, has dedicated significant effort to IPv6 implementations in everything from ‘network-centric warfare’ to networked uniforms. Governments in India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, etc., have mandated IPv6-transition timetables. In April 2014, the Chinese government announced it would be providing 20 billion Chinese yuan (3.2 billion US dollars) for IPv6 promotion and expansion. IPv6 transition is actively supported by governments globally.
Business Continuity Needs IPv6
Connectivity is now essential to the viability of most enterprises. Management must always be aware of issues that will impact on service delivery. IPv4 exhaustion is a serious that will prevent enterprises from significantly expanding networks or taking competitive advantage of new features. Sadly, some levels of management dismiss IPv6 as a technical upgrade with no commercial relevance. Avoiding IPv6 is flimsy, even in light of governmental adoption globally, and not acting is a neglect of corporate responsibilities. Adopting IPv6 is a low-cost business continuity strategy.
Team discovery are moving all their services to websites to IPV6 for future proofing.
