Difference between IPv4 and IPv6

From a long time there is so much debate about changing from ipv4 to ipv6. But what are these so called ipv4 & ipv6, what is the difference between ipv4 and ipv6 and why is it necessary to change from ipv4 to ipv6. In this post we will discuss about all these in simple manner(at least i will try to be simple).

What is an IP

IP which is the short form of Internet Protocol, In simple, this IP is a set of technical rules which define how computer should communicate over a network. This IP has a task to do i.e to deliver datagram's from the source host to destination host based on their address. This address are called as IP(Internet Protocol) address. Currently there are two type of versions i.e IP version 4(IPv4) and IP version 6(IPv6).

What are IPv4 and IPv6

IPv4 is the short form of Internet Protocol Version 4. IPv4 is the first version of Internet Protocol which is widely used now and is deployed in 1981.

IPv6 is the short form of Internet Protocol Version 6. IPv6 is the newer version of Internet Protocol which is already in use(less than 1% uses it) and is more sophisticated then IPv4 and has a larger address pool. IPv6 is deployed in 1999.

Difference Between IPv4 and IPv6

When it comes to the difference between them there are some major differences which we should notice and after reading these differences you would say that IPv6 is better than IPv4.

1) IPv4 and IPv6 are deployed in 1981 and 1999 respectively.

2) IPv4 has a address size of 32-bit number, So the number of IP address are limited to 232 which is equal to 4 billion IPv4 address, if you want to be exact then there are 4,294,967,296 IPv4 address.
But when it comes to IPv6 it has a address size of 128-bit number, which means that the number of IPv6 address are equal to 2128 or approximately 340 undecillion or 3.4×1038 . To be exact there are 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 IPv6 address.

3) IPv4 address has a Dot Decimal Notation ex: 195.165.252.75. But the IPv6 address has a Hexadecimal and Colon separated Notation ex: 3FFF:2030:0535:AB0D:2125:4567:8902:ABDC.

4) IPv4 address has a prefix notation like this 195.165.0.0/24 but IPv6 address has prefix notation like this 3FFF:2030:0535::/48.

5) When compared to IPv4, IPv6 can make the routers task more simpler.

6)IPv6 can allows bigger payloads when compared to IPv4.

7) As you can see from above(point 1) IPv6 has a more useable address when compare to IPv4 which has only a 4 billion address.

8) IPv6 is far more better suited for mobile networks when compared to IPv4.

Not only these but there are may other major and important differences and features in IPv6.

Why is it necessary to shift from IPv4 to IPv6

This is the first major question you get, right… Then here is the famous answer, As its said before IPv4 has 4 billion address and no doubt that this is a large number when it was first deployed but we all do know that internet is growing bigger and bigger so as the ip address which in turn fills out the 4 billion address space. So, there is on other way but to shift to IPv6 which has a large number of address and capabilities.

Mean-while you can test your IPv6 compatibility here at http://www.test-ipv6.com. I had done my test on my collage computer and it is incompatible :( but my home system is compatible :(

My  lap are in compatible.

So, this is it. Do share your views, comments, and knowledge here by commenting and as i said before i tried to be simple in this post so if you think that i missed any important point about saying then please tell me through your comments.