
7
7
IPv6 Protocol Basics
IPv6 embodies change in several important areas.
• Expanded addressing
• Simplified header format
• Improved extension and option support
These changes to IP succeed at achieving most of the goals originally
charted by the IAB back in 1991 (see RFC 1287, “Toward the Future Internet
Architecture”). The expanded IPv6 address space means IP can continue
to grow without concern about depletion of resources; the addressing
architecture helps improve the situation for routing efficiency.
The simplified header format improves routing efficiency by requiring
less processing of packets, whereas the improvements in extension and
option support ...