
128 Part Two • IPv6 Protocols
The header could be simplified as a result of some changes in the way
IP works. For one thing, making all headers the same length eliminates
the need for the header length field. For another, by changing the rules
about packet fragmentation, severalfields can be removed from the header.
Fragmentation in IPv6 may only be done by source nodes: Intermediate
routers along the packet’s path can no longer fragment them. Finally, while
eliminating the IP header checksum will definitely improve performance,
it shouldn’t affect reliability in any way, particularly because header
checksums are performed by higher-level protocols (UDP ...