So that you are online now, reading this article, billions of numbers are processed, fragmented, sent and received. Among them is the famous IP address (Internet Protocol), in its two versions: the IPv4 protocol and the IPv6 protocol.
These two acronyms share the difficult task of addressing all devices connected to the internet and intranets around the world. They are the ones that guarantee that all machines can communicate effectively with each other, ensuring privacy and reliability of the information exchanged.
However, despite such importance, many people still do not understand for sure what these protocols are and how they work. For example, do you know what the IP address is? Do you know the difference between their versions: IPv4 and IPv6? Ever heard of the worldwide transition between the two?
In the following article, we bring the answers to these and many other questions involving the IP protocol. Follow and understand what it is, how it works and what are the differences between its versions. Come on?
The Internet Protocol (IP)
In order for us to meet and communicate in the real world, we use a series of identifiers. Your house, for example, has a unique number, which is associated with the name of your street and your neighborhood, and your city’s zip code.
Thus, it is possible to find her under any circumstances and that is what allows her letters and parcels to arrive at her house and not at the neighbor’s, or at any house in another state. The same goes for your phone: you have a unique number, through which anyone can reach you.
In the virtual world, on the internet, the logic is basically the same. But instead of an address or phone number, you have an IP number. And it is this number that identifies your machine and allows it to communicate with any other, from anywhere in the world.
These numbers are part of the protocol that governs the internet: the Internet Protocol, better known as IP, currently used in two versions: the IPv4 protocol and the IPv6 protocol, which we will get to know in detail in the following topics.
What is the IPv4 protocol?
The IPv4 protocol is the first version of the IP protocol, released at the beginning of the internet. Among the most important protocols for establishing network connections, it was the first version of the protocol used for launching the ARPANET, the predecessor to the internet.
Currently, IPv4 still routes the majority of all traffic worldwide, despite the increasing implementation of the IPv6 protocol. It has standard 32-bit addresses and, as it is quite old, it presents numerous problems, especially with regard to its expandability.
This is because, with 32 bits in size, the number of possible addresses is relatively small. In fact, with this configuration, the IPv4 protocol allows the creation of up to 4,294,967,296 different addresses. Which was enough for a long time. However, with the growing expansion of the internet and the number of connected devices, this number is not enough.
Therefore, it is currently quite difficult to find available IPv4 addresses and all new devices that are connecting to the network use the IPv6 protocol. However, it is important to note that they are not over. Because there are still many addresses in the hands of industry giants such as Ford, Google and IBM .
What is the IPv6 protocol?
Created in the last century, more specifically in 1998, and launched in 2012, the IPv6 protocol is something relatively old that only became necessary recently.
With the growing and already foreseen shortage of IPv4 addresses, IPv6 is being used more and more and in a short time it will be the majority all over the world. This is because, unlike its predecessor, it uses 128-bit addresses. This allows an almost infinite amount of addresses to be created.
To be more specific, with the IPv6 protocol it is possible to create 340,282,366,920,938,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, or about 340 duodecillion unique addresses. Which is more than enough to sustain all the world’s traffic for quite a while.
IPv4 and IPv6 protocol differences
The main difference between the IPv4 protocol and the IPv6 protocol is the expandability that each one has. As we saw earlier, IPv6 makes it possible to create many more addresses than its predecessor; about 79 octillion more, to be more specific. Which is the same as 56 octillion addresses per human on earth.
IPv6 also ended one of IPv4’s biggest villains: broadcast. In the new version, only unicast and multicast are used, and any cast, a type of address configured on multiple interfaces, was introduced.
Furthermore, in the IPv6 protocol, the term “mask” is no longer used, but “prefix”, changing the form of addressing. It still maintains the network, subnet and host part as in IPv4 protocol, but there is this difference.
Finally, IPv6 also differs from its precursor in the header or header part. In it, everything was simplified and there was the introduction of the so-called “extension headers”, in addition to native support for important issues such as security and QoS. Thus, we can conclude that the IPv6 protocol is a much more efficient, secure and useful version than IPv4 .
And you, what do you think? Have a question or would you like to make a suggestion? Talk to us in the comments! And if you want to see more content like this, always keep an eye out here on the Host One blog, as we always bring articles covering this and other topics in the IT world.
