IPv6(Source: Cisco Network Professional's Advanced InternetworkingGuide, Sybex)

With the IPv6, the header and address structure was completely overhauled and many features that were add-ons or afterthoughts in IPv4 are now standard. One such feature is IPSec for end-to-end security. Another is mobility, which allows a device to roam from one network to another without dropping connections. IPv6 efficiency: the header in an IPv6 packet removed half of fields and aligned the fields to 64 bits, which allows processing and lookups to occur faster. Much of the information in the IPv4 header that was taken out in IPv6 can still be provided in optional extension headers . The bigger address space allows more levels of hierarchy inside the address space, as well as flexible address architecture. It also allows for efficient and scalable routing because the addresses can be aggregated more effectively. broader use of multicast communication, which will increase efficiency of networks because the communications can be more specific . new type called anycast: communication that allows an address to be placed on more than one device. When traffic is sent to that address, it is routed to the nearest host with that common address.

The second octet contains the lifetime flag and the scope of the address. There doesnt have to be a time to live (TTL) for the address any more because with IPv6 it is defined in the address. The first 4 bits of the second octet defines the lifetime and is either a 0 for a permanent address or a 1 for a temporary multicast address. The last 4 bits of the second octet defines the scope of the address. devices ability to automatically address itself, called stateless autoconfiguration, and then the other type of autoconfiguration, known as stateful. Stateful autoconfiguration uses a DHCP server and is very similar to what you might be used to with IPv4 configuration.

Autoconfiguration: useful solution for allowing devices on a network to address themselves with a link-local unicast address. Autoconfiguration occurs by learning the prefix information from the router and then appending the devices own interface address as the interface ID. The MAC address is used as the interface ID . The interface ID in the IPv6 address is 64 bits in length and a MAC address is only 48 bits. Where did the extra 16 bits come from? The MAC address is padded in the middle with FFFE. For example, the IPv6 address of a device with a MAC address of 0060.d673.1987 would look like this after padding 0260.d6FF.FE73.1987 . Where did the 2 in the beginning of the address come from, right? Well, part of the process of padding (called modified eui-64 formatting) changes a bit to specify whether the address is locally unique or globally unique. The seventh bit in the address is the bit used. *A bit value of 1 = globally unique ; *A bit value of 0 = locally unique .