Core Protocols of IPv6

The core protocols of the IPv6 protocol suite consist of the following:

  • IPv6

  • Internet Control Message Protocol for IPv6 (ICMPv6)

  • Neighbor Discovery (ND)

  • Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD)

IPv6

The IPv6 header is described in RFC 2460. It has a new, streamlined design that removes unneeded fields and moves seldom-used fields to extension headers. Even with addresses that are four times larger than IPv4 addresses, the size of the IPv6 header is only twice as large as the IPv4 header, with a 40-byte fixed size. Although larger, the IPv6 header contains fewer fields and is more efficiently processed by routers. Like IPv4, IPv6 is connectionless and provides a best-effort delivery to the destination.

The IPv6 header is not compatible ...

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