IPv6

Introduction to IP Version 6

Microsoft Corporation
Published: September 2003
Updated: January 2007



Abstract
Due to recent concerns over the impending depletion of the current pool of Internet addresses and the desire to provide additional functionality for modern devices, an upgrade of the current version of the Internet Protocol (IP), called IPv4, has been defined. This new version, called IP version 6 (IPv6), resolves unanticipated IPv4 design issues and takes the Internet into the 21st Century. This paper describes the problems of the IPv4 Internet and how they are solved by IPv6, IPv6 addressing, the new IPv6 header and its extensions, the IPv6 replacements for the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) and Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP), neighboring node interaction, and IPv6 address autoconfiguration. This paper provides a foundation of Internet standards-based IPv6 concepts and is intended for network engineers and support professionals who are already familiar with basic networking concepts and TCP/IP.


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Contents
Introduction 1
IPv6 Features 2
New Header Format 2
Large Address Space 2
Efficient and Hierarchical Addressing and Routing Infrastructure 2
Stateless and Stateful Address Configuration 3
Built-in Security 3
Better Support for Prioritized Delivery 3
New Protocol for Neighboring Node Interaction 3
Extensibility 3
Differences Between IPv4 and IPv6 3
IPv6 Packets over LAN Media 4
Ethernet II Encapsulation 5
IEEE 802.3, IEEE 802.5, and FDDI Encapsulation 5
IPv6 Implementations from Microsoft 6
The IPv6 Protocol for the Windows Server 2003 Family, Windows XP with SP1, Windows XP with SP2, and Windows CE .NET 6
The Next Generation TCP/IP Stack in Windows Vista and Windows Server "Longhorn" 7
Non-production IPv6 Implementations from Microsoft 7
The IPv6 Protocol for Windows XP with no Service Packs Installed 7
Microsoft IPv6 Technology Preview for Windows 2000 7
Microsoft Research IPv6 Implementation 8
IPv6 Addressing 9
The IPv6 Address Space 9
IPv6 Address Syntax 9
Compressing Zeros 10
IPv6 Prefixes 10
Types of IPv6 Addresses 10
Links and Subnets 11
Unicast IPv6 Addresses 11
Global Unicast Addresses 11
Local-Use Unicast Addresses 12
Zone IDs for Local-Use Addresses 14
Unique Local IPv6 Unicast Addresses 15
Special IPv6 Addresses 16
Compatibility Addresses 16
Multicast IPv6 Addresses 17
Solicited-Node Address 18
Anycast IPv6 Addresses 19
IPv6 Addresses for a Host 19
IPv6 Addresses for a Router 20
IPv6 Interface Identifiers 20
EUI-64 address-based interface identifiers 21
Temporary Address Interface Identifiers 24
Mapping IPv6 Multicast Addresses to Ethernet Addresses 24
IPv6 and DNS 25
The Host Address (AAAA) Resource Record 25
The IP6.ARPA Domain 26
Source and Destination Address Selection 26
IPv4 Addresses and IPv6 Equivalents 26
IPv6 Header 28
Structure of an IPv6 Packet 28
IPv6 Header 28
Extension Headers 28
Upper Layer Protocol Data Unit 28
IPv4 Header 28
IPv6 Header 30
Values of the Next Header Field 31
Comparing the IPv4 and IPv6 Headers 32
IPv6 Extension Headers 32
Extension Headers Order 33
Hop-by-Hop Options Header 34
Destination Options Header 34
Routing Header