IPv6 Protocol and how it replaces IPv4

As we saw in the previous article that we talked about the IPv4 Protocol, now we will talk about its successor known as IPv6 and what this offers to us contrary to its predecessor.

The Internet works through IP addresses, and each device that connects to the Internet does so through these numerical addresses that function as license plates. Currently, the addresses that are used are those of Internet Protocol version 4 or IPv4, but there is a problem that the addresses that are generated with this protocol have run out.

For this reason, on June 6, 2012 the IPv6 or Internet Protocol version 6 protocol was launched, which we had already heard about since 2008. It is a new way of creating IP addresses to be able to generate enough to support all the devices that are connected today and will be in the coming years.

IPv4s are 32-bit addresses, and this protocol allowed 4,294,967,296 addresses to be created, an obviously insufficient number today. In contrast, the IPv6 protocol has a 128-bit space, which makes it capable of holding 340 sextillion addresses.

This also means that IPv6 addresses are much longer and more complex than IPv4. Those of the fourth version have an address structure of the style 255.255.255.255, while the new ones of the sixth version are of the style 2001: 0db8: 85a3: 08d3: 1319: 8a2e: 0370: 7332. As you can see, they are longer and have letters as well as numbers.

Advantages of the IPv6 protocol

These are some of the advantages that we will find in this new IP address protocol, IPv6:

▸Almost unlimited number of unique IP addresses: This new protocol allows each device connected to the Internet to have its own IP address

▸Native support for mobile devices: IPv6 supports the mobile IPv6 protocol, MIPv6, which allows mobile devices to switch from one network to another

▸Self-configuration: The new protocol consists of better methods for automatic configuration, which is a significant improvement over the classic DHCP used in IPv4.

▸More security: The IPv6 protocol can be enhanced with IPsec (Internet Protocol Security) to manage encryption and authentication between hosts.

▸More efficiency: Packet management is much more efficient in IPv6.

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