Chapter 2. The IPv6 Protocol
This chapter describes the IPv6 protocol. It examines the fields in the IPv4 header and explores both the similarities and the differences. It explains how IPv6 offers much more than just a larger address space. It’s a new protocol designed to be more flexible and more efficient.
The structure of the IPv6 header is discussed in RFC 2460, Internet Protocol, Version 6 (IPv6) Specification. In addition to the main IPv6 header, a new type of IPv6 header known as an Extension header is also examined. The end of this chapter contains a summary that includes the differences between the IPv4 and IPv6 headers.
IPv4 Header
To help you better understand the IPv6 header, we will first take a look at the IPv4 header. This can ...
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