Configuring Ipv6 Basics; Overview; Ipv6 Features - HP 10500 Series Configuration Manual

Configuring IPv6 basics

Overview

Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6), also called IP next generation (IPng), was designed by the Internet
Engineering Task Force (IETF) as the successor to Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4). The significant
difference between IPv6 and IPv4 is that IPv6 increases the IP address size from 32 bits to 128 bits.
NOTE:
The term "interface" in this chapter collectively refers to Layer 3 interfaces, including VLAN interfaces and
Layer 3 Ethernet interfaces. You can set an Ethernet port as a Layer 3 interface by using the port link-mode
route command (see

IPv6 features

Simplified header format
IPv6 removes several IPv4 header fields or moves them to the IPv6 extension headers to reduce the length
of the basic IPv6 packet header. The basic IPv6 packet header has a fixed length of 40 bytes to simplify
IPv6 packet handling and to improve forwarding efficiency. Although IPv6 address size is four times the
IPv4 address size, the basic IPv6 packet header size is only twice the size of the option-less IPv4 packet
header.
Figure 44 IPv4 packet header format and basic IPv6 packet header format
Larger address space
The source and destination IPv6 addresses are 128 bits (16 bytes) long. IPv6 can provide 3.4 x 10
addresses to meet the requirements of hierarchical address division and the allocation of public and
private addresses.
Layer 2—LAN Switching Configuration Guide
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