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What is IP?

IP is the Internet Protocol.

A protocol is nothing more than the definition of the set of rules and codes used by computers to communicate over a network. In the Internet Protocol, one of these rules says that each must be identified unequivocally, through a number, which also takes its name from IP. There can be no more than one computer using the same IP across the Internet, which allows to route the data to the correct destination.

You can make an analogy between the number (or address) and IP address, in the real world and physical address of a house. Thus, IP can also be compared to the set of traffic rules, signs and maps that would allow someone to reach that location.

What is IPv6?

IPv6 stands for Internet Protocol version 6.

You could say that a protocol is a set of rules that enable (enables) communication between devices. Roughly, the protocol is a “language”. The Internet Protocol, or IP, is designed to allow communication between different computer networks and now in its fourth version is the foundation of the Internet.

IPv6 is the successor to IPv4 . It was developed over the last decade for this purpose. Today it is a mature protocol with several advantages over IPv4, and supported by major equipment and computer programs.

Its Internet deployment is already underway and should be accelerated in the coming years.

Why IPv6 is needed?

An important feature of the Internet Protocol is that each device connected to the network must have a unique identifier, which is usually called an IP address or IP number. On the Internet, these numbers are centrally controlled, and responsible entity (and the entity responsible for that ) is the IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority).

IPv6 is needed because the free IPv4 addresses are running out.

In IPv6 the amount of available addresses is much greater than in IPv4. These addresses will no longer then be a critical resource, they will be available in abundance. This will allow continued growth of the Internet.

Why IPv4 is running out?

The Internet was not designed to be what it is today. In 1983, it was a predominantly academic network with little more than 100 computers connected. Their success, fueled the growth of Ipv4 exponentially. By 1993 commercial use of the internet began and the current distribution policy of IP addresses was thought because they could run out in two or three years.

The IPv4 address space is not small. Each address is a number with 32 bits, which means there are 4,294,967,296 addresses, but the initial policy of distribution of these addresses was not very appropriate, dividing them into classes. There were three classes of addresses:

• A Class: Consisted of address blocks 128, each about 16 millions.
• B Class: Consisted of 16,000 blocks, each having 64 000 addresses, approximately.
• C Class: Consisted of 2 million blocks, each with 256 addresses.

A Class, for instance, by addressing only the 128 institutions, alone consumed half of the available resources. That was a big waste! Several institutions such as IBM, MIT, HP, Apple, ESDS, among others, received this type of block to use. The other classes did not adequately represent the needs of networks connected to the Internet, being too big or too small.

This political class was responsible for a large waste of resources, in the early days of the Internet, and this is one of the reasons why the new IP addresses are ending. It was, however, modified in 1993 with the adoption of CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing).

Despite the adoption of CIDR and other factors have lessened the demand for new addresses, this demand remains strong. The Internet continues to grow exponentially, with the connection of new businesses, institutions and individuals to the network. Factors such as digital inclusion and 3G technologies, among many others, contribute to this growth. So the addresses are ending.

Why IPv4 is not over yet?

To perceive the imminent exhaustion of IP numbers, when it was started on the commercial Internet, around in 1993, developing a new generation of Internet protocol. This new generation should be the ultimate solution to the problem and, in fact, this development has resulted in what we know today as IPv6.

The development of a new protocol, however, requires considerable time and resources. So, other technological solutions were also adopted in the short term. These new technologies, named below, allowed the reduction of demand for new addresses, and rationalization in how they were distributed, thus postponing their exhaustion.

Among the relevant technologies (that) may be mentioned:

CIDR (Classless Inter Domain Routing) is the routing without the use of classes, described by RFC 1519. With CIDR scheme was abolished in classes, allowing you to assign blocks of addresses with arbitrary size, as needed. CIDR allowed a more rational use of available addresses. Furthermore, CIDR also allowed the aggregation of information in the routing tables, which grew excessively, another contributing factor to enable the continued growth of the network.

Private addresses: RFC 1918 private address specified, not valid on the Internet, which could be used, for example, in corporate networks. NAT (Network Address Translation): NAT enabled network, using private addresses, from connecting to the Internet. With NAT, just a valid address on the Internet, to connect to a limited extent, an entire institution.

This solution is widely used, however, NAT has a number of problems: it ends with the operating model in order to stop ( peer to peer ), causing complications or preventing the operation of a variety of applications such as voice over IP applications based on SIP, it does not scale well, because it requires heavy processing, it does not work with IPsec, it functions as a stateful firewall, giving a false sense of security to many network administrators and contributing to the failure to adopt good security practices within firms, among others.

DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol): Described by RFC 2131, this protocol allows dynamic allocation of IP addresses, which brought the possibility to reuse providers Internet addresses provided to its customers for non-permanent connections, such as those made through dial-up lines or ADSL.

When the IPv4 will end?

IPv4 will die as a functional protocol by 2040. It will still exist in some "yea, we have that print server that hasn't been touched since the 20's" configurations, but all new network construction will be IPv6 by 2040 (if another protocol hasn't replaced IPv6, and if ethernet is still king)

What will happen when the IPv4 is over?

IPv6 has been successfully deployed on the Internet and is being widely used, it will allow the continues growth to the network, and there will be no problems.