Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Difference between IPv4 and IPv6

1] IPv4-Source and destination address are 32 bits(4bytes) in length.
IPv6-Source and destination address are 128 bits(16bytes) in length.

2] IPv4-IPsec support is optional.
IPv6-IPsec support is mandatory requirement.

3] IPv4-No identification of 'packet flow' by routers.
IPv6-Packet flow identification by routers is included in the header
using the Flow Label fied.It is for handling of QOS.

4] IPv4-Header is of variable length.
IPv6-Base header is of fixed length(40 octets).

5] IPv4-Address Resolution Protocol(ARP) uses brodcast ARP requests to resolve
an IPv4 address to a link layer address.
IPv6-Replaced with multicast Neghbor Solicitation messages by using ICMPv6.

6] IPv4-Internet Group Management Protocol(IGMP) is used to manage local subnet
group membership.
IPv6-Replaced with Multicast Listener Descovery(MLD) messages.

7] IPv4-ICMP Router Descovery is used to derermine the address of the best
default gateway.
IPv6-Replaced with ICMPv6 Router Solicitation and Router Advertisement message.

8] IPv4-ICMP router descovery is optional.
IPv6-Router solicitation is mandatory.

9] IPv4-IP addresses must be configured either manually or through DHCP.
IPv6-Addressare auto configured.

10] IPv4-Minimum size of MTU is 576-byte in the IPv4 networks.
IPv6-Minimum size of MTU to support IPv6 is 1280-byte.