6 Advantages and Disadvantages of IPv6 | Limitations & Benefits of IPv6

 

IPv6: What is it?

One kind of internet protocol that routes traffic over the internet is called IPv6. It was primarily created to fix the IPv4 address exhaustion problem. Data packets are delivered from the source to the host by IPv6. It makes use of 128-bit address space for this. As a result, the figure can accommodate more than 340 trillion trillion trillion addresses. This implies that there is greater address space available for connecting more devices.

Where is IPv6 used?

Its extensive address space support makes it more widely employed in the Internet of Things sector. Despite being regarded as a strong industry standard, IPv6 nevertheless has many drawbacks. Before choosing to move to IPv6, it is crucial to understand both its benefits and drawbacks.


I will be focusing on 6 Advantages and Disadvantages of IPv6 | Limitations & Benefits of IPv6 in this post. This essay will inform you about the pros and cons of IPv6 use.

Now let's get started,
 

 

Advantages of IPv6

1. Efficient Routing

In IPv6, hierarchical address allocation is developed to enable efficient routing due to a significant reduction in the size of the routing table. 

 

In addition, fragmentation is carried out via a source device rather than a router. As a result, path allocation uses a technique called Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU).


2. Increased Capacity

Compared to ordinary IPv4 addressing, IPv6 offers additional address space because it is based on a 128 bit addressing method. 

 

Both the network and host components have doubled in length. Because the resources are distributed effectively, more web addresses can be accommodated with ease.


3. Directed Addressing

Multicast addressing replaces broadcast addressing in IPv6. Here, massive data packets are concurrently delivered in multiple directions. As a result, network bandwidths are greatly preserved.


4. Absence of Subnetting

Subnetting issues are entirely avoided by IPv6 thanks to its automatic setting. Static IP addresses were replaced with automatic configuration.


5. Security

IPSec security is intended to be implemented via IPv6. Authentication Headers (AH), which are embedded into network firewalls, are a feature of IPSec.


6. Mobility

When moving devices from one place to another, IPv6 offers smooth connections. By eliminating triangle routing, which sends connections to the proxies even before they reach the host, this is accomplished. 

 

Therefore, every subnet is transferred to a new router without any renumbering.

 

 

Disadvantages of IPv6

1. System Issues

Depending on the kind of system, IPv6 routing needs to be enabled. The IP must be typed if it is manually activated. 

 

In addition, the IP address must be committed to memory. Because the IP address consists of a lot of capital letters and numbers, this process is difficult.


2. Topology Support

Prefixes on most topology drawings are hard to fix when using the IPv6 protocol. This is a result of the IPv6 module's additional storage.


3. Device Upgrade

Many networking equipment that are in use by default are not built to support IPv6 adoption. even with the frequent updates for the devices. 

 

This is difficult since a smooth transition needs the advice of experts.


4. IP address Assigning

Local Network Management should be involved in the IP address assignment process for devices. This procedure is labor-intensive because it is done by hand.


5. IP Scheme Conversion

The move from IPv4 to IPv6 is a laborious and slow process because there is no backward compatibility. 

 

Additionally, in order to transition between several protocols, the Internet Service Provider (ISP) must charge a certain cost.


6. Communication

Due to their extreme complexity, IPv4 and IPv6 can only rarely communicate with one another. Direct communication is not possible.