INTERNATIONALJOURNALOFELECTRONICSAND

COMMUNICATIONENGINEERING&TECHNOLOGY(IJECET)
ISSN0976
6464(Print)ISSN
0976
6472(Online)

Volume4,Issue5,SeptemberOctober,2013,
pp.169176IAEME:www.iaeme.com/ijecet.asp
JournalImpactFactor(2013):5.8896(Calculated
byGISI)www.jifactor.com

IJECET
IAEME

fEngineering
ABSTRAC

TRA T
NSI
TIO
Curr
ently

IPv4
N
isfacingthe
FRO problem of
M address
IPV exhaustion
and it has
4 become a
TO necessity to
IPV make a
transition to
6
IPv6.

However,
the
deployment
Chirag
of IPv6 has
Mulchandani,
been
KinjalMistry,
happening
PurvaChawan, at a slow
AbhishekShetty rate even
Electr after it
promises to
onics
provide
and enhancemen
Teleco ts to IPv4.
mmun The main
ication aim of this
Engin paper is to
eering, present
Dinformation
. about the
J transition
. process
Sfrom IPv4
to IPv6.
a
Initially,the
n
paper states
gthe
hprominent
vfeatures of
i IPv4 and
CIPv6 and
oalso
l mentions
l the
elimitations
gof IPv4
ewhich
ocreated a

psses the advantages of IPv6.

lFinally,itexplainsthetransition
amechanisms specified by
tInternetEngineeringTaskForce
f(IETF) along with their
oadvantagesanddisadvantages.
r
mKeywords:IPv4,IPv6,IPsec,
routinginfrastructure,dual
fstackmechanism,tunnelling
omechanism,translational
rmechanism,protocoltranslation
(PT)
t
hINTRODUCTION
e

Internet plays a very big

nroleinthelivesofindividualsby
emakinginformationavailableina
equick and easy manner. Internet
dhas revolutionized the world of
communication. It has
ofundamentally changed lives of
findividualsandbusinessoperators
inthedevelopedworld.Withthis
thugegrowthintheinternet,there
risanincreaseddemandforbetter,
afaster and efficient technology.
nThishasincreasedthedemandfor
saddresses required for sending
iandreceivinginformation.
t
InternetProtocolversion
i6(IPv6)isthelatestrevisionof
otheInternetProtocol(IP)which
nwas developed by the Internet
EngineeringTaskForce(IETF).
tItwasmainlydevelopedtodeal
owith the problem of address
exhaustionfacedbyIPV4.With
Ithe increase in the use of
PInternetbased

resources
vgloballyandtheshiftofcircuit
6switched technologies to IP
.based technologies in various
ICommunication Networks, the
tproblem of address exhaustion
ainIP4isgettingworse.
l
The current version of
sInternetProtocol(IPv4)hasnot
osubstantiallychangedinthepast
20 years. In this span of time,
dIPv4 has witnessed robustness,

implementation,
ieasy
interoperability

and
saccommodation of rapidly
cgrowing internet. However, the
ucontinuedexpeditiousgrowthof

the

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International Journal ofElectronicsandCommunication Engineering&Technology(IJE CET),ISSN

09766464(Print),ISSN09766472(Online)Volume4,Issue5,SeptemberOctober(2013),IAEME

InternetenableddevicesandtheemergingnecessityforsecuretransferofdataoveertheInternet
aresurpassingthecapabilitiesofIPv4andaresettinglimitations.
INTERNETPROTOCOLVERSION4(IPv4)
InternetProtocolversion4(IPv4)isthefourthversionoftheInternetProtocol(IP).Itisone
ofthecoreprotocolsofinternetworkingmethodsoftheInternet,andmosttrafficisroutedbyit.
Beingaconnectionlessprotocol,IPv4isusedonpacketswitchednetworks.Itdoesnotguarantee
packetdelivery,orpropersequencingofdata.Theseaspectsareaddressedbyanupperlayer,such
asTransmissionControlProtocol.
ThefollowingaresomeimportantfeaturesofIPv4:
Addressing: IPv4addressesaremadeupof32bits,whichallowsatotalof4294967296(2^32)
addresses.Thisnumberwasnotenoughandasuserswereassignedaddresses,itgaverisetoIPv4
addressexhaustion.InIPv4,specialaddressblocksarereservedformulticastaddresses(~270
millionaddresses)andprivatenetworks(~18millionaddresses).
PacketHeader: Ipv4hasa32bitpacketheaderwhichcontains20bytesofinformation.The
header hasvariablelengthwhichdependsonwhethertheOptionsfieldisusedornot.AnIP
packetcomprisesoftwosections:HeaderandData.TheIPv4packetheadercomprisesof14
fields.Outofthese,13arerequired.The14thfieldnamed'Options'isoptional.Inthepacket
header,themostsignificantbyteispackedfirst.Inthetablebelow,thisbyteistheversionfield.

Figure1:IPv4PacketHeader
Packet size: The maximum packet size is 65535 octets. There is a compromise beetween
overheadsofsmallpacketsandlineseizurebylargepackets.
AddressAllocation:Addressallocationisdoneusingnetworkclasses:A,BandC.Localuseof
addressislimitedtothelink.Thereisnoroomforexpansionduetoexhaustionofcurrent
addresses.Addressnotation:Ipv4addresseswhichare32bitintegersvaluescanbeexpressedin
anynotation,butforhumanconvenience,theyareoftenwrittenindotdecimal,whichhasfouro
ctetsexpressedindecimalandseparatedbyperiods.
AddressTypes:
Differenttypesofaddresses
are:1.)Pointtopointaddress
2.)Localbroadcastandlimitedmulticast
3.)Experimentalanycast(notwidelyavailable)
Fragmentation:Theroutersperformmultiplestepfragmentationofpacketsforthesakeofthe
receiver,butthisaffectsrouterperformance.
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International Journal ofElectronicsandCommunication Engineering&Technology(IJE CET),ISSN

09766464(Print),ISSN09766472(Online)Volume4,Issue5,SeptemberOctober(2013),IAEME

Security:SecurityinIPv4islimitedasnoauthenticationorencryptionisdoneatIPlevel.This
makesitmoredependentonhigherlevelprotocols,makingitmorevulnerabletoaddressdeception
anddenialofserviceattacks.
INTERNETPROTOCOLVERSION6(IPv6)
InternetProtocolversion6(IPv6)isthemostrecentversionoftheInternetProtocol(IP).It
wasdevelopedbytheIETFasasolutiontotheproblemofaddressexhaustioninIPv4.
Foradevicetocommunicatewithotherdevicesusingtheinternet,itmustbeassignedanIP
address.AsthenumberofdevicesontheInternetincreased,theneedformoreaddressesthan
existentonesarose.
Addressing: IPv6 has a 128bit add ress, which accommodates 2^128 or around 3.4 10^38
addresses. Packet Header: Packet header in IP v6 is of fixed size: 40 octets. This increases
efficiencyofthenetwork.
ApacketinIPv6hasthefollowingparts:aheaderandapayload.
Theheadercomprisesofafixedpartwithminimalfunctionalitythatpacketsrequireandmaybe
extendedforspecialfeatures.

Figure2:IPv6PacketHeader
Packet Size: As in IPv4, normal pa ckets having up to 65536(2^161) octets are h andled.
However, the concept of jumbo grams is introduced in IPv6, which are packe ts with up to
4294967295(2^321)octets.Thesecanalsobehandled.Thisimprovesperformanceoverahigh
MTUlink.
AddressAllocation:InIPv6,addressallocationishierarchicalbyprovider,registry,subscriber,
subnet and geographical region. Link as well as site is allowed the local use of address.
Approximately70%ofthetotaladdressesarereservedforuseinfuture.
Addressnotation: IPv6addressesareexpressedinthehexadecimalform.Itconsistsofeight
groupsoffourdigitseach,separatedbycolons.Sincethisisalongandinconvenientway,there
existmethodsofshorternotation.
AddressTypes:
ThefollowingarethetypesofaddressesinIPv6:
1.)Multicastmanyinterfacescanbesentdataatonce
2.)Anycastoneoftheseveralgroupsofinterfacesissentdata
Fragmentation:Here,fragmentationisdonebythehostandnotrouter.Itcanbedonenotmore
than once. The host checks MTU over the link before performing fragmentation. The ro uter
performanceisthusimproved.
Security: IPv6 conducts authentication as well as encryption. In addition to this, security
associationsareadministeredtohandlekeydistribution.
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InternationalJournalofElectronicsandCommunicationEngineering&Technology(IJECET),ISSN0976
6464(Print),ISSN09766472(Online)Volume4,Issue5,SeptemberOctober(2013),IAEME

SHORTCOMINGSOFIPv4
WithIPv4beingthemostwidelydeployedInternetprotocolthatisusedtoconnectdevices
ontheinternet,itstillhassomedrawbacks.Someofwhicharestatedbelow:
I.)ExhaustionofIPv4addresses:WiththeadvancementoftheInternet,thereisaconsiderable
increaseinforInternetaddresses,inturndrainingthesupplyofIPv4addresses.IPv4has32bit
capacityandhencesomeorganizationsareforcedtouseNAT(NetworkAddressTranslation)in
ordertomapmultipleprivateaddressesintoasinglepublicIPaddress.Theprimaryreasonfor
exhaustionofIPv4addressesisinadequatedesigncapacityoftheinitialInternetinfrastructure.
However, additional driving factors have worsened the shortcomings. Increased Internet
deployment, new and advanced devices for network, etc are few factors that have raised the
demandsforIPv4addresses.TheexhaustionofIPv4addressescanhavevariouseffectsindifferent
partsoftheworld.Theeffectscantriggerthechangerapidlyindevelopingeconomies.
II.)Complexityofconfiguration:PresentIPv4mustbemanuallyconfigured.Implementationcan
alsobedoneusingastatefulladdressconfigurationprotocollikeDynamicHostConfiguration
Protocol.AsmorecomputersanddevicesuseIP,thereisarequirementforaneasierandhigher
automatic configuration of addresses that are independent of the administration of a DHCP
infrastructure.
III.) Flat Routing Infrastructure: In the initial internet, for creating a hierarchical routing
infrastructure,addressprefixeswerenotassigned.Rather,individualaccessprefixeswereallocated.
Eachaddressprefixbecameanewrouteintheroutingtables.Asaresult,Internetbackboneroutersare
requiredtomaintainirrationallylargenumberofroutingtables.Thelargeroutingtableshaveover
85,000specifiedroutes.CurrentIPv4infrastructurehasboth,flatandhierarchicalrouting.
IV.)Security: Internetsupportsprivatecommunicationoverapublicmedium.Hence,security
calls forencryptionservicesthatshouldprotectthedatathatisbeingsentfrombeingviewedor
beingmodifiedinthetransmission.Therapidlyincreasinghostileenvironmentontheinternet
demandsbuiltinsecurity.
V.)QualityofService(QoS):Presently,Internetusersnotonlylimitthemselvestowebbrowsing
andsearchingdatabutalsoarewellacquaintedwiththetext,voiceandvideochatfeaturesand
onlinevideolibrariesandvideoconferences.Thistypeofcommunicationrequiresrealtimedata
transferservice.TheseservicesrequireTCP(TransmissionControlProtocol)orUDP(UserData
gramProtocol).RealtimetrafficsupportdependsontheIPv4TypeofService(ToS)fieldbutit
haslimitedfunctionality.WhentheIPv4packetpayloadisencrypted,Payloadidentificationusing
aUDPPortisnotpossible.
ADVANTAGESOFIPv6
I.)LargeAddressingSpace:IPv6has128bitlongaddresses.Hence,anaddressspacewith3.4x
38
10 addressesispossible.Thisnumberofaddressspaceisabundantfortheanticipatedfuture.It
alsoallowsallkindsofdevicestoconnecttotheinternetnotmakingtheuseofNetworkAddress
Translators(NATs)andhenceallowingspotlesstransparentendtoendsecurity.Addressspace
canbealsobeassignedinternationally.
II.)FlexibleAddressingConfiguration: Thereareplentyofpossibilitiesforaddressrepresentation
thathavestructureslikemulticast,anycast,unicast,etc.Theanycaststructureisanidentifiertoasetof
interfaceshavingdifferentnodes.Whenapacketissenttoananycastgroup,itwillbedeliveredtothe
nearestinterface(oneofthegroupmembers)andhencelimitingdataflooding
Themulticaststructureisalsoasetofinterfaces,but,unlikeanycast,whenapacketissenttothe
anycastgroup,itwillbedeliveredtoalltheaddressesgivenbythataddress).Hence,thereis
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InternationalJournalofElectronicsandCommunicationEngineering&Technology(IJECET),ISSN0976
6464(Print),ISSN09766472(Online)Volume4,Issue5,SeptemberOctober(2013),IAEME

transmissionofasingledatapackettomultiplereceivers.Multimediaapplicationscantake
advantageofmulticast
III.)Hierarchicalroutinginfrastructure: Globaladdressesaredesignedtobehierarchicalthat
leadstorelativelyfewroutingentriesoftheroutingtablesoftheInternetbackbonerouters.Faster
routing is possible due to the efficient routing table organized with hierarchical routing
infrastructure.Hierarchicalroutingismeasurableenoughtosustainthegrowthofinternetdueto
thelargeaddressspace.
IV.) Automatic Configuration: IPv6 supports two configurations, the state full address
configuration (with DHCP) and stateless address configuration (without DHCP automatic
configuration).Hence,IPv6hostscanconfigurethemselvesautomaticallyintheabsenceofan
addressconfigurationinfrastructureusingstatelessaddressconfiguration.
V.)ImprovedSecurity:IPv6requiressupportforIPsec.IPsecisaframeworkofopenstandards
developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force and functions at a lowlevel in the layers
betweenthephysicalwireandasoftwareapplication.SupportforIPsecpromotesinteroperability
betweendifferentIPv6implementations.Italsoprovidesstandardbasedsolutionsfornetwork
securitydemands.
THEPROGRESSIONFROMIPv4TOIPv6
ThemaincriteriaforsmoothtransitionfromIPv4toIPv6iscompatibilitybetweenthetwo
protocolsasmajorityofhostsandrouterscurrentlyuseIPv4anditisnotfeasibletomakea
completeswitchinashortspanoftime.AlsoNetworkprotocoltransitionsrequiresignificant
investmentandwork,andwiththeexhaustionofIPv4addressesmounting,thereislackoftimeto
completethefullIPv6transition.
ThetechniquesthroughwhichIPv6hostsandrouterscaninteroperatewithIPv4hostsand
employtheexistingIPv4routinginfrastructurearediscussedbelow.
I.)DualStackMechanism: DualStackreferstoTCP/IPcapablenetworkequipmentthatprovides
supportforbothIPv4andIPv6.ItmeansthatiftheenduserisIPv6readythenIPv6isusedandifthe
enduserisIPv4readythenIPv4isused.BothIPv4andIPv6protocolstackisrunbyhostsandrouters
asspecifiedinIETFRFC2893.Thus,withallnewdevicestobebothIPv6andIPv4capableallows
thesedevicestohavethecapabilitytouseeitheroftheIPversions,dependingontheavailabilityofthe
network,service,andtheadministrativepolicy.Thismeansthat,foreachdatagramtherouterhastwo
routingtablesandtworouteswillbecalculatedbutonlyoneofthemwillbefollowedbythepacket.
The application needs to know that routers have a double stack. Figure3 shows the dual stack
mechanisminwhichIPv4networkscommunicatewithIPv6networks.

Figure3:DualStackMechanism

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InternationalJournalofElectronicsandCommunicationEngineering&Technology(IJECET),ISSN0976
6464(Print),ISSN09766472(Online)Volume4,Issue5,SeptemberOctober(2013),IAEME

Advantages
1.)
Easytounderstandandimplement.
2.)
ItisthemostdirectmethodforasmoothtransitionfromIPv4toIPv6.
Disadvantages
1.)
Decreasestheperformanceofdevices.
2.)
Networkcomplexityandcostincreased.
3.)
Allowscommunicationonlybetweensimilarnetworknodesi.e.IPv6IPv6orIPv4IPv4.
II.)TunnellingMechanism: Thetermtunnellingingeneralreferstoamethodofenvelopingone
versionofIPinanothersothepacketscanbesentoveranetworkthatdoesnotsupporttheenveloped
IPversion.Inotherwords,tunnellingisusedtoimplementtheinterconnectionbetweentheisolated
IPv4 networks distributed in an IPv6 network or the isolated IPv6 islands distributed in an IPv4
network.Forexample,whentwoIPv6islandsneedtocommunicateoveranIPv4network,dualstack
routersatthenetworkborderscanbeusedtosetupatunnelwhichenvelopestheIPv6packetswithin
IPv4therebyallowingtheIPv6networkstocommunicatewithouthavingtomodifytheIPv4network
infrastructure. Thus, tunnelling facilitates internetworking between IPv6 islands without the up
gradationoftheentireIPv4network.Thetunnellingmechanismisshowninfigure4.

Figure4:TunnellingofIPv6overIPv4network
Typesoftunnels:
A.)
Configured:Inconfiguredtunnels,thenetworkadministratorsmanuallyconfigurethetunnel
withintheendpointroutersateachend.
B.)
Automatic:Inautomatictunnels,thedevicescreatetheirowntunnelstoendpointroutersfor
shippingIPv6packetswithinIPv4
Advantages:
1.)
EasytoimplementoverexistingIP4network.
2.)Besttechniqueforolderlegacyequipment.
3.)Easytouseattheearlystageoftransition.
Disadvantages:
1.)
Breakdownoftunnelwillfailthenetwork.
2.)
Creationoftunnelcanbecostly.
III.)TranslationalMechanism:Asthenamesuggests,thistechniquetranslatestheIPpacketsi.e.
fromIPv4toIPv6andviceversa.Translationdevicesarelocatedontheedgesoftwonetworks.

TheytranslatecorrespondingfieldsoftheIPheaderandtheIPaddresscarriedinthepacketbody.
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InternationalJournalofElectronicsandCommunicationEngineering&Technology(IJECET),ISSN0976
6464(Print),ISSN09766472(Online)Volume4,Issue5,SeptemberOctober(2013),IAEME

NetworkAddressTranslation(NAT):TheNATmechanismisanIPv4toIPv6translator.Nodes
ofNATPTareattheboundariesbetweenIPv6andIPv4.WhensessionsareinitiatedbetweenIPv4and
IPv6,eachNATPTnodemaintainsapoolofIPv4addresseswhicharegloballyroutableandtheyare
dynamicallyassignedtoIPv6.ThismechanismallowsnativeIPv6hostsandrouterstocommunicate
withnativeIPv4networkdevicesandviceversa.NATPTusesanApplicationLayerGateway(ALG)
functionalitythattranslatesDomainNameSystem(DNS)mappingsbetweenprotocols.Thetranslation
fromIPv4toIPv6usingNATPTrouterisshowninfigure5.

Figure5:NATPTTranslationMechanism
Advantages:
1.)

ProvidesasmoothmigrationtoIPv6andprovidesseamlessInternetexperiencetoIpv6
usersonly.
2.)
IPv4Networkinfrastructureneednotbechangedsubstantiallytoprovideservicesto
IPv6networks.
3.)
Costislow.
Disadvantages:
1.)TieupwithALGfunctionalitycauseshindrancestodeploymentofNATPT.
2.)Notsupportedonendtoendbasis.
3.)
Singlepointoffailure.
PROBLEMSINIMPLEMENTINGIPv6
DeploymentofIPv6isabigchallengeforserviceprovidersandstakeholders.IPv6is
highly incompatible with IPv4 for deployment at the packet level. Translation services have
variouspracticalissuesthatmakeitdisputed.Asaresult,IPv4andIPv6aretreatedascompletely
separatenetworkswithhostsandroutershavingtwoseparateprotocolstacksincasedevicesneed
toaccessbothnetworks.Anotherchallengeistheupgradejumpfrom32bitofIPv4to128bitof
IPv6.TheimplementationofIPv6isasgoodasplanningtoimplementanewtechnologythat
includesincreasedprojectrisks.PlanningtodeployIPv6mustalsotakeintoaccountthelackof
broadexperiencewithprotocol.DuetothelargesizeoftheIPv6addressingspace,reversename
mappingwhichisanessentialpartofdailyadministrationsovertheinternetisimpossibletocarry
outmanually.Hence,itisclearthatthecomplexitiesintheimplementationofIPv6willrequire
judicioususeoftimeinthetransitionperiodfromIPv4toIPv6.

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InternationalJournalofElectronicsandCommunicationEngineering&Technology(IJECET),ISSN0976
6464(Print),ISSN09766472(Online)Volume4,Issue5,SeptemberOctober(2013),IAEME

CONCLUSION
WhileIPv4hashadanoverwhelmingdurabilityintheeverincreasingnetworkingworld,
major limitations like the exhaustion of addressing space coupled with other basic limitations
makes it essential to implement features of IPv6. With the increased addressing space made
possibleintheIPv6addressingscheme,thesolutionisdeployingIPv6.AsthenumberofInternet
baseddevicescontinuestoincreaseworldwideatanexponentialrate,theincreasedavailabilityof
theinternetinremoteareasandtheuseofInternetenableddevicesinpopulationdenseareas,the
needfortheflexibilityextendedbyIPv6willbeveryimportant.However,transitionfromIPv4to
IPv6ataninstantisnotpossibleduetothelargenumberofIPv4users.Takingintoaccountthe
risks of this immigration a serious challenge is presented to the technologists, which when
accomplishedsuccessfullyshoulddefeatthedifficulties.
REFERENCES

[1]. IPv6: Theory, Protocol, and Practice, 2nd Edition(The Morgan Kaufmann Series in
Networking)
[2]. IPv6essentialsSylviaHagen.
[3]. RFC2462:IPv6StatelessAddressAutoconfiguration
[4]. http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/iseries/v6r1m0/index.jsp?topic=/rzai2/rzai2compipv4ipv6.htm
[5]. www.cisco.com
[6]. IPv4/IPv6TransitionMechanismsEuropeanJournalofScientificResearch
[7]. RFC1933TransitionMechanismsforIPv6hostsandrouters
[8]. IPv6: Current Deployment and Migration StatusInternational Journal of Research and
ReviewsinComputerScience(IJRRCS)
[9]. FahimA.AhmedGhanemAndVilasM.Thakare,OptimizationofIPv6PacketsHeaders
Over Ethernet Frame, International Journal of Electronics and Communication
Engineering&Technology(IJECET),Volume4,Issue1,2013,pp.99111,ISSNPrint:
09766464,ISSNOnline:09766472.
[10]. FahimA.AhmedGhanemandVilasM.Thakar,CompatibilityBetweentheNewandthe
CurrentIPv6PacketHeaders,InternationalJournalofElectronicsand Communication
Engineering&Technology(IJECET),Volume4,Issue3,2013,pp.211219,ISSNPrint:
09766464,ISSNOnline:09766472.
[11]. FahimA.AhmedGhanemandVilasM.Thakare,CompatibilityBetweentheNewandthe
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