Four aspects confirm that IPv6 is about to save the Internet

IT administrators and common users are familiar with IT. Currently, there are almost no IP addresses in the world, or at least there are almost no IPv4 addresses. Fortunately, IPv6 has been developed, which will multiply the available IP address pool and provide some other benefits. To solve the problem with the current IP protocol (IPv4) and add new features to improve future protocols, the Internet Engineering Task Group (IETF) has launched IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6 ). Let's look at how IPv6 can save and protect the Internet from several aspects.

1. For more IP addresses, IPv6 uses a 128-bit address instead of the current 32-bit address. As a result, the number of available IP addresses increases dramatically. Network Routing experts, as early as 1980s before most people in the world knew the Internet, were aware of the limitations of IPv4 before the Internet became ubiquitous.

Using a 32-bit IPv4 address only allows about 0.43 billion IP addresses. Each device connected to the network, such as servers, desktops, laptops, smartphones, and tablets, must have an IP address, in addition, because the network has exploded in countries such as China and India, the available IPv4 addresses in the world are nearing the end.

Using 128 bits to compile unique IP addresses, IPv6's massive IP addresses far exceed the crazy needs of today's Internet and network connection devices. Instead of being like IPv4's 4.3 billion address limit, IPv6 has enough addresses to allocate billions of addresses to everyone on the planet.

2. backward compatible IPv6 can be backward compatible with IPv4, so different network or hardware manufacturers can upgrade at different times without damaging the current traffic data on the Internet. In view of the world's reliance on the Internet for news, commerce, public security, and national security, IPv6 is especially important.

Finally, all IPv4 devices will be replaced, and IPv6 will be the only address protocol used. However, this may take decades, so in the foreseeable future, backward compatibility will be crucial.

3. Better security IPv6 design concepts include encryption and authentication. IPSec is an optional security component of IPv4, but it is mandatory in IPv6. Using IPSec, each independent data packet is encrypted and authenticated, making many malicious attacks on the Internet unlikely or more difficult.

4. the better performance of IP packets and headers, as well as the way IPv6 routers process data packets, has been changed to improve performance, so as to reduce the loss or omission of data packets, the connection is more reliable and effective. As more people and devices share the Internet, the demand for VoIP and video streams increases, and performance is more important than ever.

It will be more than 20 years later, but IPv4 address shortage is now very realistic. We hope to see IPv6 adoption in the near future.