LPIC-1 (102) IPv6 Address Types

IPv6 Address Types

• Three types of IPv6 addresses: Unicast, Multicast, and Anycast
• Unicast: identifies a single network interface, divided into 64 bits for network and 64 bits for interface
• Multicast: identifies a set of network interfaces, similar to broadcast but doesn't exist in IPv6
• Anycast: identifies a set of interfaces, but packet is delivered to only one address in that set

IPv6 vs IPv4

• Same service ports and protocols (TCP, UDP), but different IP and port representation
• IPv6: [IP address]:port, e.g., [2001:0db8:85a3:08d3:1319:8a2e:0370:7344]:443
• IPv4: IP address:port, e.g., 200.216.10.15:443
• No broadcast feature in IPv6, but similar result can be achieved with ff02::1
• SLAAC (Stateless Address Autoconfiguration) allows IPv6 hosts to self-configure
• TTL (Time to Live) field replaced with "Hop Limit" in IPv6 header
• All IPv6 interfaces have a local link-local address, fe80::/10

Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)

• Network layer protocol in TCP/IP stack
• Analyzes and controls network elements
• Functions: traffic volume control, unreachable destination detection, route redirection, remote host status checking
• Used by ping command

IPv6 Characteristics

• 128-bit address, divided into 8 groups of 16 bits, represented by hexadecimal values
• Address representation: 2001:0db8:85a3:08d3:1319:8a2e:0370:7344
• Address abbreviation rules:
  • Reducing strings from 0000 to 0
  • Omitting group strings with value 0, but only once in the address

Routed Protocols

• IPv4 and IPv6 are routed or routable protocols
• Allow network designers to control traffic flow
• Ethernet is not a routed protocol
• Routable protocols enable network segmentation, redundancy, and traffic management