The Next Generation of the Internet: Aspects o f the Internet Protocol Version 6

David C. lee, Daniel 1 . lough, Scott F. Midkiff, Nathaniel J. Davis IV, and Phillip E . Benchoff Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Abstract
This article presents an overview of several key improvements offered by the Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) over current Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4). The topics covered include IPv6 addressing and routing concepts, changes to the minimum
I

IPv6 packet size, flows, and traffic classes, the neighbor discovery and node autoconfiguration mechanisms, and an overview of mobile IPv6 and the network security architecture. Transition mechanisms, such as dual stacks and the 6bone, are also discussed. The 6bone is a virtual network that is used to help test and facilitate the development of IPv6. Key conce ts associated with the 6bone, such as setup requirements, IPv6 DNS support, a n l t u n n e l mechanics, are also presented

he rapid growth of the current Internet, which operates using the Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4), has created a number of problems for the administration and operation of the global network. These problems include the decreasing number of available IPv4 addresses for network nodes, and the rapid growth of memory and performance requirements for network routers. While changes to IPv4 have extended the life of the current Internet, these changes tend to create new problems and require a significant amount of overhead for network administration. The Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6)l has been designed to support these extensions, and more, without creating the additional problems. An excellent discussion of the requirements and background or Ipil6 can be found in [l]. This article provides a detailed introduction to the addressing specifications, the prefix-based routing scheme, changes to the IPv6 minimum packet size, flows, and traffic classes, neighbor discovery and address autoconfiguration, mobile IPv6, and the IP security architecture. Additionally, ongoing IPv6 testing and deployment efforts are reviewed. Neither the IPv6 packet format nor the Internet Control Message Protocol version 6 (ICMPv6) is discussed in this article; however, a detailed discussion of these and other topics may be found in

[l-61. This article differs from other articles by providing more up-to-date information, and delves into different technical features of IPv6.

Addressing
Network addresses serve two purposes: first, to uniquely identify an interface, and second, to aid routing by identifying where an interface is on the network. The 32-bit IPv4 address is divided into different classes, consisting of fixed boundaries between the identification of each network and the identification of each node. For example, a class B address has a theoretical possible range of 65,536 addresses, and a class C address has a possible range of 256 addresses. Fixedsized addresses cause problems because most sites will need more than 256 addresses and fewer than 65,536 addresses. An IPv6 address is 128 bits in length, and the boundary between the transit network and site network subdivisions is not fixed, so networks can be sized accordingly. This allows a more flexible addressing allocation strategy to be used. The remainder of this section discusses IPv6 address types. A number of address types exist in IPv6 [7],of which the basic types are unicast, multicast, and anycast addresses. A unicast address denotes a single host interface. A multicast address denotes a set of host interfaces. IPv6 no longer supports the broadcast address, preferring the use of multicast addresses. Existing IPv4 services that require the broadcast

For the curious, IPv5 is the experimental Stream Transport Ilprotocol.

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address should use the IPv6 all-nodes multicast address. Anythrough the use of two lifetimes associated with each address. cast addresses are special forms of unicast addresses that The first lifetime is the valid lifetime, which defines how long the address is legal for use. The second lifetime, the preferred identify the nearest interface of a set of interfaces. Conceptually, anycast address<-sare similar to multicast addresses but lifetime, is used to define how long the address should be with important changcs in semantics. The anticipated use of used before a new address should be obtained and used. If a long-lived connection desires to persist after the address has anycast addresses is to identify a network path by provider as opposed to a specific router used by the provider. Concepts expired, transport-layer mechanisms must be used preserve the connection after the address change. and details on anycast address use can be found in [7]. IPv6 addresses [7] are typically presented in hexadecimal Other IPv6 address types that are defined include the two format, delimited by colons. A number of rules for comlocal-use, or scoped, addresses types of link-local and sitepressed representations may be used. For example, a comlocal addresses. The link-local address only uniquely identifies a machine that is on the directly attached network. The same plete IPv6 address could be 3FFE:0900:0001:0000:0260: 97FF:FE6C:57BF, and its compressed form would be link-local address may be reused across different directly attached networks. Every IPv6 node must automatically generate a link-local address for use in the neighbor discovery mechanisms. The site-local address only unique1Y identifies a machine that is withFigure 1 . ZPv6 aggvegatable global unicast address format. in a site on the Internet. Similarlv. t h e site-local address may be reused across differenl sites. The specific definition of a site is 3FFE:900: 1::260:97FF:FE6C:57BF. The example prefixes and still under discussion. All other address types are globally addresses used in this article come from the test addresses unique. Scoped addresses allow address reuse and more effiused in the 6bone, which will be discussed later. The meaning cient location of interfaces. of each bit in an IPv6 address varies, depending on the Two other important IPv6 address types have a direct relaaddress format. The proposed provider-based aggregatable tionship to IPv4 addresses. The first is the IPv4-compatible global unicast address format [9] is shown in Fig. 1. Other address, which defines an IPv4 node that supports IPv6. IPv4address types are discussed in [7]. compatible addresses are only used in IPv6-over-IPv4 tunnelAggregation is performed to reduce the performance ing, which will be discussed later. The second is the IPv4-only requirements on routers and to help with prefix routing, address, or an IPv4-mapped IPv6 address, which defines a which will be discussed later. The format prefix (FP) denotes node that does not support IPv6. The IPv4 address types allow which address format is being used. Blocks of addresses will backward coexistence between IPv6 and IPv4 nodes, since the be assigned to transit providers from the range available in universal adoption of 1Pv6 will not occur overnight. the top-level aggregation identifier (TLA ID). The top-level transit providers, which make up the backbone network, will then assign address blocks in the next-level aggregation identiPrefix Routing arid Aggregation fier (NLA ID) to identify transit networks and sites serviced by the provider. Each site may assign addresses in the siteTraditional IPv4 routing tables contain one entry for each netlevel aggregation ID (SLA ID) to individual networks within work, as defined by the network class, and one entry for each the site. The interface identifier (Interface ID) is based on the subnetwork under a given network. In other words, every 64-bit IEEE EUI-64 address of the hardware attached to the reachable network must have a separate entry in the routing network [ l o ] . Interface, o r layer 2 , addresses provide a table. Older routing protocols do not exchange any prefix straightforward mechanism to automatically generate a globalinformation, and thus require that routing decisions be made ly unique IPv6 address. A layer 2 address must be unique, at based on the class of the address for remote networks, or the least on the specific link and possibly globally, and may be subnet mask for attached networks. This limitation also combined with the appropriate prefix to create a globally requires that the same subnet mask, or network prefix, be unique address. used everywhere on the network and that all subnets be The use of prefixes in aggregated addressing allows for simreachable without transiting to another network. Newer routplified and efficient routing. Prefix routing uses a variableing protocols exchange prefix information, allowing variablelength prefix to create hierarchies of transit and leaf networks. length subnet masks (VLSMs) to be used on different subnets To ease site renumbering problems, prefixes may be expired. and arbitrary aggregation of network and subnetwork numThe prefix is the first n bits of the address, where n is the bers into the fewest possible routes. The exchange of VLSM length of the prefix. Using the standard prefix notation, the prefix information, which is adopted in IPv6 and discussed prefix 3FFE:0900::0/24 would mean that the first 24 bits of the later, allows for smaller routing tables and much more effiaddress, 3F:FE:09, is the prefix. For unicast addresses, the cient use of the addrws space. The IPv6 prefix-based route prefix either identifies a specific address, if the prefix is 128 aggregation mechanism is based on the cassless interdomain bits long, or a transit network, if the prefix is between 1 and routing (CIDR) used in IPv4 [8]. 64 bits long. Prefixes for other address types can have other To keep routing tables under control and help ensure effimeanings. Prefixes can be denoted as being on-link or off-link. cient prefix-based routing, addresses must be assigned by netAn on-link prefix means that nodes with that prefix are reachwork access providers. A number of immediate problems able on the directly attached network. An off-link prefix result; foremost is that a change in providers results in the means that a gateway must be used to reach nodes using that entire site being renumbered. T o ease the administrative prefix. The on-link and off-link denotations simplify local problem of site addre ss renumbering, addresses in IPv6 can routing decisions and renumbering. These denotations are be expired and autonlatically generated. However, address carried by the neighbor discovery protocol, which will be disexpiration causes problems with long-lived connections since cussed later. the connection is still alive but the endpoint address, or An example of prefix routing is given in Fig. 2. Prefix 1 is a addresses, have changed. This problem is partially solved

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Prefix 1

3FFE:900::/24

_ . .. 32-bit prefix which covers the downstream 3FFE:900:1::/48 Prvfix 2 networks and nodes serviced by prefixes 2, . . . -. . _ - , 3, and 4, assuming that there are no multi \ . homed nodes and so forth. The down3FFE:900:1:112::,%4 J stream networks are covered because the Prefix 4 Prefix 3 prefix is contained in the prefixes and -. . . . . addresses of every node that is in t h e Figure 2. Prefwl Touting example. examole downstream transit network. The 48-bii prefix 2 identifies a site reachable layer 2 addresses, route redirections, and status of neighborby the transit network provided by the node that uses prefix 1. ing nodes. Some example network parameters include MTU The 64-bit prefixes 3 and 4 are leaf networks that are reachvalues, hop count limits, address lifetimes, and prefixes that able by the transit network provided under prefix 2. Thus, for are on-link. This protocol unifies a set of disparate IPv4 prothe upstream and peer route advertisements, the routers in tocols such as the address resolution protocol (ARP), router the network that use prefix 1 only need to advertise prefix 1. discovery services, and dynamic host configuration protocol All nodes and networks that are covered by prefixes 2, 3, and (DHCP). Note that some functions of DHCP are still handled 4 are taken care of by the advertisement for prefix 1. Suppose separately from the neighbor discovery protocol. Neighbor that a router using prefix 4 is a peer with a router, X, which is discovery also provides services that IpV4 does not have, such also a peer to the router using prefix 1. Router X will receive as address and router renumbering. The discovery protocol, advertisements for prefixes 1 and 4, and must then choose which relies heavily on multicasting, uses a set of ICMP solicidestinations using the longest matching prefix. For example, if tation and advertisement messages to accomplish these tasks. a packet is bound to the node 3FFE:900:1:lll:260: Information about the network is periodically advertised, but 97FF:FE6C:57BF, router X would send the packet to the a solicitation forces an advertisement to be made. Neighbor router that serves prefix 1. If a packet is bound to the node discovery procedures for nonbroadcastimultiple access 3FFE:900:1:112:2AO:24FF:FEDO:C6B4, router X would send (NEMA) networks are in development [15]. Three important the packet to the router that serves prefix 4. aspects of the discovery protocol include support for network mobility, the ability to perform node autoconfiguration, and Revised Maximum Transfer Units support for automatic site address renumbering. Mobility is discussed in the following section, and the other two aspects At present, the minimum packet size has been raised from the IPv4 minimum of 576 bytes to 1280 bytes. The rationale for are briefly discussed below. this is that the most common media IP traverses is Ethernet. The two types of autoconfiguration are stateless and stateful, and both allow a new node to be added to a network with which has a link maximum transfer unit (MTU) of 1500 bytes. 1280 bytes allows for a generous use of security and other no or minimal human administrative activity. Stateful configuheaders. Links that do not support the proposed minimum ration is managed by some node on the network and is typiare required to use some form of link fragmentation and cally performed by D H C P version 6 (DHCPv6) [16]. I n reassembly. stateless address autoconfiguration, router and neighbor solicitations and advertisements are used to discover which nodes are routers and which routers to use, obtain prefix and link Flows and Traffic Classes information, and to perform duplicate address detection. Through the traffic class and flow label fields, IPv6 allows Duplicate address detection ensures that automatically genernodes to distinguish certain packets for possible special treatated addresses are unique within the appropriate scope. As ment by a router. These packets typically carry time-sensitive, discussed earlier, layer 2 addresses and network prefixes may or real-time, data, and may or may not benefit from the spebe used to generate a globally unique address for each node. cial processing. The class field, formerly known as the priority Additionally, a node will have a link-local address generated field, must be set to all zeros for normal applications. This using the link-local address format and the host interface field is still under study, and semantics are not yet known. address. Autoconfiguration greatly reduces the problems that There has been some discussion on using some bits in the network administrators encounter in managing networks. To class field for explicit congestion notification, which is dishandle problems such as a malicious node changing network cussed in [ll]. parameters to perform denial of service attacks, the specificaThe other mechanism for specialized packet processing is tions recommend the use of the IP security mechanisms, the flow label field. The principle behind the use of flow which are discussed later. labels is to allow routers to treat packets having the same flow The use of provider-assigned CIDR blocks to solve address label with t h e same specialized processing. This label is space and routing problems has raised renumbering as a critiuniquely assigned by an end node and may be used by the cal problem. Aggregation of IPv4 network routes at t h e router, for example, to place a packet into a special queue for provider level requires that the providers assign the addresses, faster processing. Multiple flows for each end-node pairing and sites usually have to renumber when they switch providers. are possible. The exact use of the flow label field and how it is It is no longer possible for a small site to have enough IPv4 assigned by an end node are still under discussion [12]. addresses allocated to support many years of network growth. IPv6 simplifies renumbering by requiring automated network numbering. The automated network numbering process Neighbor Discovery and Address involves dynamic assignment of network prefixes and automatic generation of new addresses. While specifications to do A utoconfiguration this are still under early development [17], a potential process The neighbor discovery protocol is used to dynamically detercould be as follows. One of the first and only steps that the mine information about the directly attached network [13, 141. site administrator would do is to set a new prefix at a single This information includes which neighbor nodes are routers, border router. Special router renumbering messages are mullocal network parameters, resolution of IPv6 addresses to ticast to all downstream transit and leaf routers. These mes-

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IEEE Network Januarypebruary 1998

..

Corresponding node

1
1 Home network Home agent

Internet

Mobile IPv6
When the Internet was created, there was little, if

wireless communications grows, mobility is increasFigure 3, Mobile node routing sample. in& desired. Ideally, mobile computers should be a& to use the same IP address w&hout any significant new burden on the network itself. Under the mobile IPv6 will use security features is increased. A variety of cryptoscheme outlined in [18], t h e mobile node has one home graphic algorithms can be used through the definition of a address that remains the same regardless of the location of security parameter index - required algorithms ensure that a the mobile node. However, other IPv6, or care-of, addresses base level of communications exists. The architecture is may also be acquired by the mobile node. The care-of address designed so that data authentication and integrity is separated is an IP address that is automatically generated by, or for, the from data confidentiality, which allows IPv6 authentication to mobile node on a foreign network using node autoconfiguraoperate regardless of export controls on encryption technolotion. gy. IPv6 security features do not prohibit higher-level applicaThis care-of address is returned to a home agent through tions from using other security mechanisms. An overview of the use of mobile IPv6 binding destination options. The home the IP security architecture can be found in [5]. agent is responsible or ensuring delivery of packets to the mobile node and can proxy packets, or send and receive packets on behalf of the mobile node, through the use of mechaIfv4-to-IPv6 Transifion nisms provided by the neighbor discovery protocol. The home The migration from IPv4 to IPv6 is a Herculean task whose agent resides on the original, or home, network of the mobile scope has never been attempted before. It is unreasonable to node. To allow for direct and more efficient delivery of packexpect the millions of IPv4 nodes to convert, overnight, to ets from some arbitrary, or corresponding, node on the netIPv6. Thus, a well planned transition mechanism has been work, mobile IPv6 allows the care-of address to be sent to and used by the corresponding node. developed. Obviously, IPv6 must coexist with IPv4, and the methods used to accomplish this are to use dual protocol Figure 3 shows the operation of mobile IPv6, assuming that stacks, IPv6 standards support, and incremental and dual serthe mobile node has obtained a care-of address and has vice introduction. Since most, if not all, routers and hosts supbound this address to its home address through a binding port multiple protocols, dual support of IPv6 and IPv4 should message sent to the home agent. In the first step, a correnot be a significant problem. To support the transition, the sponding node sends a packet to the home address of the standards specify IPv4-compatible addresses and IPv6-overmobile node. In the second step, the home agent intercepts IPv4 tunneling. Both of these mechanisms allow IPv6 to operthe message, using thz discovery mechanisms, and forwards it a t e over IPv4 networks. Another potential transition to the mobile node. The mobile node sends binding informamechanism is to translate IPv4 headers to IPv6 headers and tion, and possibly other data, directly to the corresponding vice versa [21]. This gives the appearance that the IPv4 node node in the third s t e p This allows the corresponding node to is communicating with another IPv4 node, while it is really deliver packets directly to the mobile node, as shown in step communicating with an IPv6 node. The final aspect of transifour. tion is the incremental deployment of IPv6 and related serIn IPv4, the corresponding node cannot send packets vices, which is performed using an overlay network known as directly to the mobile node. The IPv4 corresponding node the 6bone [22]. must use a foreign agent that is located on the foreign network where the mobile node currently resides. The foreign agent serves the same purpose as the home agent, except the The 6bone foreign agent is on a oreign network. IPv6 obtains more effiThe 6bone, which is similar to t h e multicast backbone cient use of resources through the use of the direct paths of (MBone), is a virtual network that does not physically exist. It steps 3 and 4 as opposed to relaying data though an intermeruns over the production Internet and uses IPv4 to transport diate node such as the home or foreign agents, as in IPv4. A IPv6 packets in a process known as IP-over-IP tunneling. The tutorial on mobile IP can be found in [19]. result is that different sites which use IPv6 appear to be connected using a native IPv6 internet. It should be understood Security Architecture that the current 6bone is purely for experimental purposes
The IP security architecture [20] is required for every IPv6
and provides for an intermediate transition step from IpV4 to

.
I

i-i 2
Foreign network

-1

Mobile node
-.

..

..

__ .

implementation and is applicable to, but not required for, IPv4. The architecture creates a secure network infrastructure by providing protection for data and key headers, and can be used to implement midtilayer secure networks and virtual private networks. By having security features uniformly implemented at the network layer, the likelihood that developers

IPv6. It is not a production network, and many 6bone backbone sites provide tunnel endpoints only on an unsupported or unofficial basis. As the 6bone grows and IPv6 development proceeds, large sections and eventually the entire 6bone should support native IPv6 routing. Individuals or organizations interested in connecting to the 6bone must perform four

IEEE Network January-iFebruary1998

31

. < ,. 1 mat and are used to transport data direct. relatively straightforward tasks, assuming . ly to the node in question. For example, IPv6 service is known to work. These --. I~ ,. to send an IPv6 packet to the IPv4-comtasks are to find a 6bone site willing to patible address ::128.173.91.72, the source provide a tunnel endpoint, obtain proper ..,.(... node would encapsulate the IPv6 packet test addresses from t h e site, provide .. . in an IPv4 packet and send the IPv4 packname service for IPv6 network nodes, et to the IPv4 host 128.173.91.72. This and provide routing information. These can be accomplished through native IPv4 tasks and related issues are discussed IPv4. route routing. Configured tunnels a r e fixed below. Specific node configuration details , ... , IPv6 tunnel point-to-point transmission paths that are are not discussed here. used to create the 6bone. ImplementaCurrent IPv6 test addresses are based p*I Figure 4. Tunnel ineficiency examtions must support multicasting on tunon the new aggregatable global unicast ple. nels for proper configured tunnel test address format 1231. Note that an operation; other tunnel requirements are IPv6 test address is n i t the same address under discussion. Traffic sent over configthat would be used in a production enviured tunnels must be routed, as in the production Internet. ronment - all 6bone nodes will be renumbered at some Because tunneled routes do not necessarily match the future time. The first step in obtaining 6bone connectivity is routes available in the underlying network, the tunneled to find an attachment point on the 6bone, which will deterroutes typically result in inefficient paths, as shown in Fig. 4. mine the address block to which the new site will be delegatThe solid lines show the routes available to the underlying ed. One method for finding an access provider is to find the network, the dashed lines the configured tunnel paths. To nearest 6bone backbone site, as defined by network topology, send an IPv4 packet from ndde A to node D, a direct route is and ask the administrator for a tunnel endpoint. 6bone backavailable. However, to send an IPv6 packet with the same bone sites can be found at [22].Once the IPv6 nodes are connode pairing requires the packet to be routed from node A to figured and addresses are obtained, the authority to use the node B to node C and then to node D. Tunnels are also inefdelegated address block must be obtained by registering the address with the IS1 6bone registry [24]. Additionally, the ficient because protocol headers and data must be further embedded into a different network layer, which incurs addiproper domain name delegation must be obtained for the tional computational and resource costs. However, tunnels do newly registered site. Many 6bone backbone sites will provide provide the appearance of a real network, which requires the primary and secondary name service support if requested. use of routing information. Secondary name service is essentially a backup or alternate name service. Obviously, routing information must be providRouting of IPv6 packets can be performed through static or dynamic routing. Static routing uses fixed and manually coned in order for other nodes to route packets to the site. The routing mechanisms that are required for use in the 6bone are figured routing tables, while dynamic routing requires the use documented in [22]. of some IPv6 version of a routing protocol such as Routing Information Protocol next generation (RIPng) [27], Border Gateway Protocol version 4+ (BGP4+) [28]. or Open ShortDomain Name Service est Path First version 6 (OSPFv6) [29]. Dynamic routing is The fundamental ancillary network service that must be preferred in all cases because it creates a more robust netdeployed during the transition is Domain Name Service work. (DNS). Two DNS changes have been made to support the new address format used in IPv6; however. the precise supSummary port of IPv6 addresses in DNS is still under debate. These changes are the addition of the DNS AAAA resource record IPv6 was designed as an evolutionary approach to a global type and the IP6.INT domain class [25].The AAAA resource Internet as opposed to a revolutionary approach. IPv6 incorporates existing IPv4-based technologies and integrates them record is used to resolve a fully qualified domain name (FQDN), such as ip6rll.ee.ipv6.vt.edu, to a numeric address, into a unified whole. Examples of IPv4 technologies incorposuch as 3FFE:900:1::260:97FF:FE6C:57BF. The IP6.INT rated into IPv6 include router discovery, prefix-based routing, domain class is used to resolve a numeric address to an multicasting, and mobility. Other current and proven ideas are FQDN, or so-called reverse lookup. A number of issues have also being used, such as flows, network security, and automatbeen raised regarding DNS support for address renumbering, ed node configuration. This article discussed concepts surwhich will result in a specification change of both resource rounding prefix-based routing, the provider-based address records. The first problem is that a renumbering site changes aggregation scheme, minimum MTU changes, network paramthe prefixes, and thus must change all its entries in DNS. The eter discovery mechanisms, flow-based IPv6 routing, IPv6 second problem is that support of multihomed sites is cummobile node support, and the IP security architecture. Addibersome under the current scheme. To address these probtionally, the operation and various technical features of the lems, working groups of the I E T F are studying possible 6bone were introduced. mechanisms to update DNS records and the format of the Much of the traffic on the 6bone is still highly experimenrecords themselves. tal, since services for the infrastructure are being either slowly ported from the current Internet or developed. There are 210 sites connected to the 6bone as of December 14, 1997. IPv6 IPv6-over-lPv4 Tunneling has strong vendor support because implementations of IPv6 As discussed earlier, IP-over-IP tunneling is used to create the are available for all major operating systems and platforms, 6bone. The tunneling concept is to encapsulate an IPv6 packand many router vendors have implementations available for et as the payload of an IPv4 packet. A detailed discussion of their hardware [30]. A number of issues are currently outIPv6 tunneling schemes can be found in RFC 1933 [26]. There standing or in development in IPv6 standards work. These are two primary types of tunnels in use, automatic and configinclude, but are not limited to, the protocols that should be ured. Automatic tunnels use the IPv4-compatible address forused for multicast routing, support for NBMA networks such
I
VI_

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I
~

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IEEE Network JanuaryiFebruary 1998

as ATM, support for mobility and integrated services, the final address allocation scheme, mechanisms for header translation, the proper use of the flow label and class fields, and a global key distribution scheme for the security architecture. Some of these issues are open issues for IPv4 as well. Since the basis for the modern Internet was developed over a decade ago, one should not expect IPv6 to become the protocol of choice overnight. Considering its features for enhanced network performance, increased network security, and automatic configuration of network nodes, it is the clear choice to be the successor to IPv4..

Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank Dorian Kim, Pedro Roque, and Craig Metz for their technical assistance with the Gbone. The authors also appreciate the thoughtful comments of the anonymous reviewers which\ helped improve the quality of this article.

[15] G. Armitoge et ol., "IPv6 over Non-Broadcast Multiple Access (NBMA) Networks," Internet draft, Oct. 1997. [ 161 J. Bound and C. Perkins, "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv6 (DHCPv6)," Internet draft, Nov. 1997. [171 M. Crawford and R. Hinden, "Router Renumbering for IPv6," Internet draft, Nov. 1997. [18] D. B. Johnson and C. Perkins, "Mobility Support in IPv6," Internet droft, Nov. 1997. [19] C. E. Perkins, "Mobile IP," IEEE Commun. Mog., vol. 35, no. 5, May 1997, pp. 84-99. [20] R. Atkinson, "Security Architecture for the Internet Protocol," RFC 1825, Aug. 1995. [22] R. Fink, "6bone Home Page," Web doc., Sept. 10, 1997 (Dec. 14, 1997), http://www.6bone.net/ [23] R. Hinden, R. Fink, and J. Postel, "IPv6 Testing Address Allocation," Internet draft, July 1997. [24] D. Kessens, "6bone Regist " Web doc., Oct. 3, 1997 (Dec. 14, 1997),

http://www.isi.edu/-davidkzbone/.
[25] S . Thomson and C. Huitemo, "DNS Extensions to Support IP Version 6," RFC 1886, Dec. 1995. [26] R. Gilligan and E. Nordmark, "Transition Mechanisms for IPv6 Hosts and Routers," RFC 1933, Apr. 1996. [27] G. Malkin and R. Minnear, "RIPng for IPv6," RFC 2080, Jan. 1997. [28] T. Bates et al., "Multiprotocol Extensions for BGP-4," Internet draft, July 1997. [29] R. Coltun, D. Ferguson, and J. Moy, "OSPF for IPv6," Internet droft, Nov.

References

Requests for comments (RFCs) can be found at ftp://ds. 1997. internic.net/rfc. Internet drafts are works in progress, and the [30] R. Hinden, "IPng Im lementations," Web doc., Jan. 30, 1996 (December reader may need to search the following site for the latest ver14, 1 997), http://p~yground.sun.com/pub/ipng/html/ipng-implemen sions of these documents: http://playground.sun.com/pub/ipng/ tations. html. html/specs/specificatioris.html. Note that the documents generally have the same ti tle from draft to draft and may have Biographies become RFCs. DAVIDC. LEE (dlee@vt.edu) is a Ph.D. candidate in electrical engineering at Vir[l] S. 0. Bradner and A. Mankin, IPng: Internet Protocol Next Generation,
Addison-Wesley, 1996. Hinden, "Internet Protocol, Version 6 (IPv6) Specification," Internet draft, Nov. 1997. [3] C. Huitema, IPv6 The N(?wInternet Protocol, 2nd ed., Prentice Hall, 1997. [4] R. Hinden, "IP Next Generotion Overview," Commun. ACM, vol. 39, no. 6, June 1996, pp. 61-71. [5] W . Stallings, "IPv6: the New Internet Protocol," I Commun. Mog., vol. 34, no. 7, July 1996, pp. 96- 108. [6] A. Conta and S. Deering, "Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMPv6) for the Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) Specification," RFC 1885, Dec. 1995. [7] R. Hinden and S. Deering. "IP Version 6 Addressing Architecture," Internet draft, Nov. 1997. [8] P. S. Ford, Y. Rekhter, and H.-W. Braun, "Improving the Routing and Addressing of IP," IEEE Nofwork, vol. 7, no. 3, May 1993, p 1 1-1 5. [9] R. Hinden, M. ODell, ancl S. Deering, "An IPv6 Aggregata&ie Global Unicast Address Format," Internet draft, July 1997. [lo] IEEE, "Guidelines for the 64-bit Global Identifier (EUI-64) Registration " Web doc., Mar. 1997 (Dec. 14, 1997), http://standards. [2] ginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia ,Tech). He received his B.S. in computer engineering and M.S. in electric0 en ineering from Virginia Tech. He is the primary IPv6 site contact at Vir inia Tect. His research interests include advanced network architectures, distriuted virtual environments, and intelligent agents.

S. Deering and R.

. LOUGH [dlough@vt.edu) is a Hekimian Bradley Fellow at Virginia Tech, DANIEL 1 where he i s currently pursuing his doctorate in electrical engineering. He received his B.S. in computer engineering and M.S. in electrical en ineering from Vir inia Tech. His research interests include computer security anfinformation w a r i r e in both computer hardware and software.

SCOTT F. MIDKIFF (midkiN.edu) is an associate professor in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech. He received B.S.E. and Ph.D. degrees from Duke University and on M.S. from Stanford Universi , all in electrical engineering. His research interests include network protoco s,

$/

wireless networks, and the application of network technology for education.

NATHANIEL J. DAVISIV (ndavis@vt.edu)i s an associate professor in the Bradley

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech. He received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Purdue and his B.S.E.E. and M.S.E.E. degrees from Virginia Tech. Ongoing research efforts include parallel processing network design, wired and wireless communications networks, and performance modeling.

[l 11 K. Ramakrishnan and S. Floyd, "A Proposal to add Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) to lPv6 and to TCP," Internet draft, Nov. 1997; available
at http://ftp.ee.lbl.gav/floyd/ecn.html. [12] R. Hinden, "IPn Minutes for August IETF," FTP Site, Sept. 10, 1997 [Dec. 14, 1997), hp:/8hp.ieff.or~/ietf/ipngwg/ipngwg-minutes-97aug.t~t [13] T. Narten, E. Nordmork, and W. Simpson, "Neighbor Discovery for IP Version 6 (IPv6)," RFC 1970, Aug. 1996. [ 141 S. Thompson and T. Narten, "IPv6 Stateless Address Autoconfigurotion," RFC 1971, Aug. 1996.

PHILLIP E. BENCHOFF(benchof&t.edu) is a senior network engineer with the Communications Network Services department at Virginia Tech. His responsibilities are the design and implementation of IP services on the multihomed campus network and the statewide ATM network, Network Virginia. Current projects include IPv6, IP multicast, and dynamic host configuration.

IEEE Network

January/February 1998

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