IPv4 vs IPv6

What is IP?
An IP stands for internet protocol. An IP address is assigned to each device connected to
a network. Each device uses an IP address for communication. It also behaves as an
identifier as this address is used to identify the device on a network. It defines the
technical format of the packets. Mainly, both the networks, i.e., IP and TCP, are
combined together, so together, they are referred to as a TCP/IP. It creates a virtual
connection between the source and the destination.

We can also define an IP address as a numeric address assigned to each device on a

network. An IP address is assigned to each device so that the device on a network can
be identified uniquely. To facilitate the routing of packets, TCP/IP protocol uses a 32-bit
logical address known as IPv4(Internet Protocol version 4).

An IP address consists of two parts, i.e., the first one is a network address, and the other
one is a host address.

There are two types of IP addresses:

o IPv4
o IPv6

What is IPv4?
IPv4 is a version 4 of IP. It is a current version and the most commonly used IP address.
It is a 32-bit address written in four numbers separated by 'dot', i.e., periods. This
address is unique for each device.

For example, 66.94.29.13

The above example represents the IP address in which each group of numbers
separated by periods is called an Octet. Each number in an octet is in the range from 0-
255. This address can produce 4,294,967,296 possible unique addresses.

In today's computer network world, computers do not understand the IP addresses in

the standard numeric format as the computers understand the numbers in binary form
only. The binary number can be either 1 or 0. The IPv4 consists of four sets, and these
sets represent the octet. The bits in each octet represent a number.
Each bit in an octet can be either 1 or 0. If the bit the 1, then the number it represents
will count, and if the bit is 0, then the number it represents does not count.

Representation of 8 Bit Octet

The above representation shows the structure of 8- bit octet.

Now, we will see how to obtain the binary representation of the above IP address, i.e.,
66.94.29.13

Step 1: First, we find the binary number of 66.

To obtain 66, we put 1 under 64 and 2 as the sum of 64 and 2 is equal to 66 (64+2=66),
and the remaining bits will be zero, as shown above. Therefore, the binary bit version of
66 is 01000010.

Step 2: Now, we calculate the binary number of 94.

To obtain 94, we put 1 under 64, 16, 8, 4, and 2 as the sum of these numbers is equal to
94, and the remaining bits will be zero. Therefore, the binary bit version of 94 is
01011110.

Step 3: The next number is 29.

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To obtain 29, we put 1 under 16, 8, 4, and 1 as the sum of these numbers is equal to 29,
and the remaining bits will be zero. Therefore, the binary bit version of 29 is 00011101.

Step 4: The last number is 13.

To obtain 13, we put 1 under 8, 4, and 1 as the sum of these numbers is equal to 13, and
the remaining bits will be zero. Therefore, the binary bit version of 13 is 00001101.

Drawback of IPv4
Currently, the population of the world is 7.6 billion. Every user is having more than one
device connected with the internet, and private companies also rely on the internet. As
we know that IPv4 produces 4 billion addresses, which are not enough for each device
connected to the internet on a planet. Although the various techniques were invented,
such as variable- length mask, network address translation, port address translation,
classes, inter-domain translation, to conserve the bandwidth of IP address and slow
down the depletion of an IP address. In these techniques, public IP is converted into a
private IP due to which the user having public IP can also use the internet. But still, this
was not so efficient, so it gave rise to the development of the next generation of IP
addresses, i.e., IPv6.

What is IPv6?
IPv4 produces 4 billion addresses, and the developers think that these addresses are
enough, but they were wrong. IPv6 is the next generation of IP addresses. The main
difference between IPv4 and IPv6 is the address size of IP addresses. The IPv4 is a 32-bit
address, whereas IPv6 is a 128-bit hexadecimal address. IPv6 provides a large address
space, and it contains a simple header as compared to IPv4.

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It provides transition strategies that convert IPv4 into IPv6, and these strategies are as
follows:

o Dual stacking: It allows us to have both the versions, i.e., IPv4 and IPv6, on the
same device.
o Tunneling: In this approach, all the users have IPv6 communicates with an IPv4
network to reach IPv6.
o Network Address Translation: The translation allows the communication
between the hosts having a different version of IP.

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This hexadecimal address contains both numbers and alphabets. Due to the usage of
both the numbers and alphabets, IPv6 is capable of producing over 340 undecillion
(3.4*1038) addresses.

IPv6 is a 128-bit hexadecimal address made up of 8 sets of 16 bits each, and these 8 sets
are separated by a colon. In IPv6, each hexadecimal character represents 4 bits. So, we
need to convert 4 bits to a hexadecimal number at a time

Address format
The address format of IPv4:

The address format of IPv6:

The above diagram shows the address format of IPv4 and IPv6. An IPv4 is a 32-bit
decimal address. It contains 4 octets or fields separated by 'dot', and each field is 8-bit
in size. The number that each field contains should be in the range of 0-255. Whereas an
IPv6 is a 128-bit hexadecimal address. It contains 8 fields separated by a colon, and each
field is 16-bit in size.

Differences between IPv4 and IPv6

Ipv4 Ipv6

Address length IPv4 is a 32-bit address. IPv6 is a 128-bit address.

Fields IPv4 is a numeric address that consists IPv6 is an alphanumeric address

of 4 fields which are separated by dot that consists of 8 fields, which
(.). are separated by colon.

Classes IPv4 has 5 different classes of IP IPv6 does not contain classes of
address that includes Class A, Class B, IP addresses.
Class C, Class D, and Class E.

Number of IP IPv4 has a limited number of IP IPv6 has a large number of IP

address addresses. addresses.

VLSM It supports VLSM (Virtual Length It does not support VLSM.

Subnet Mask). Here, VLSM means that
Ipv4 converts IP addresses into a
subnet of different sizes.

Address It supports manual and DHCP It supports manual, DHCP, auto-

configuration configuration. configuration, and renumbering.
Address space It generates 4 billion unique It generates 340 undecillion
addresses unique addresses.

End-to-end In IPv4, end-to-end connection In the case of IPv6, end-to-end

connection integrity is unachievable. connection integrity is
integrity achievable.

Security features In IPv4, security depends on the In IPv6, IPSEC is developed for
application. This IP address is not security purposes.
developed in keeping the security
feature in mind.

Address In IPv4, the IP address is represented In IPv6, the representation of the

representation in decimal. IP address in hexadecimal.

Fragmentation Fragmentation is done by the senders Fragmentation is done by the

and the forwarding routers. senders only.

Packet flow It does not provide any mechanism It uses flow label field in the
identification for packet flow identification. header for the packet flow
identification.

Checksum field The checksum field is available in IPv4. The checksum field is not
available in IPv6.

Transmission IPv4 is broadcasting. On the other hand, IPv6 is

scheme multicasting, which provides
efficient network operations.

Encryption and It does not provide encryption and It provides encryption and
Authentication authentication. authentication.

Number of octets It consists of 4 octets. It consists of 8 fields, and each

field contains 2 octets. Therefore,
the total number of octets in
IPv6 is 16.