Internet Protocol addresses: IPv4 and IPv6 comparison

Personal Statement

An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a special kind of numerical label which is assigned to various devices such as computers and printers that are part of a computer network that makes use of Internet protocol for the purpose of communication (RFC, 1980).The functions of an IP address are; identification of host and network interface and the location of addressing.

Roles of IP addresses

The roles of IP address are numerous. It is used for the identification of all the devices that originates or receives request or to identify messages over a given network as well as the internet (which is made up of a large network groups).

Each of the IP addresses makes use of a unique set of characters which are hexa decimal in order to identify a certain network, an applicable subnetwork or a device which is located within the network.

The following are enabled by an IP address;

It enables requests as well as messages to be delivered to the intended destination.

It enables the receiving device to be aware of the source of the request or message as well as to initiate a response if need be (McAfee,2011)

The architects of the Internet Protocol did define IP address to be a 32-bit number (RFC, 1980) and the system was referred to as Internet protocol Version 4 (IPv4), which is still in use today.

Due to the exponential growth of the internet as well as the already predicted depletion of the currently available IP addresses, a new system of addressing has been devised .The new system is called IPv6 and makes use of 128-bit addressing system. It was developed in 1995 (Deering and Hinden, 1995).In 1980, it was standardized as RFC 2460 (Deering and Hinden,1998).

The IP addresses are binary numbers that are utilized in the storage of text files which are displayed in forms that are human readable forms/notations. The global management of the IP addresses allocation is carried out by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) which allocates a total of 5 regional Internet registries (RIRs) in order to allocate the IP address spaces to local internet registries as well as to other entities.

The comparison between IPv4 and IPv6

According to IBM (2011) the differences between IPv4 and IPv6 are as follows:

Address allocation

For IPv4, the address allocation was originally done using a network class. As the system's address space gets depleted, certain smaller allocation are made using Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR).These allocation are however not balanced among various nations and institutions.

Address lifetime

For IPv4 the concept of address lifetime is not applicable except for the cases of addresses that are assigned using Dynamic Host Configuration protocol (DHCP). As for the IPv6, the addresses have two definite lifetimes. The preferred and the valid lifetimes.

Address mask

For IPv4 address mask is used in order to designate network from the host portion.Address mask is not applicable for the PIv6 case.

Communications trace

As for IPv4 a tool that is used to collect a very detailed trace of the TCP/IP packet enters the system then leaves soon. As for IPv6, the mechanism is the same.

Configuration

For IPv4 the configuration is a must while for Ipv6 it is optional.

Domain Name System (DNS)

Both IPv4 and IPv6 applications do accept host names as well as use the DNS in order to retrieve the IP addresses via a socket API referred to as gethostbyname ().

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)

Used in Ipv4 to allocate addresses while for IPv6,the implementation of the i5/OS implementation of DHCP is not supported.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

For Ipv4,it is used to transfer files across network while for Ipv6 the implementation of the i5/OS implementation of FTP is not supported.