IPv6 Stuff

How Will IPV6 Change Internet Multimedia Streaming
By David Childers

Communication between networked computers requires a system for providing specific addresses to all attached devices. This allows computers to exchange information with connected devices and guarantees that the correct networked computer will receive the requested information. Providing a guaranteed delivery address alleviates flooding the network with spurious data to ensure the delivery of multimedia data to the correct computer.

Ipv4 is the current Internet Protocol, which was designed in 1981. This protocol uses a 32 bit address system, which provides approximately 4.2 billion unique addresses. The current growth of devices connected to the Internet is rapidly depleting the number of available network addresses. To help conserve network addresses, devices connected to the Internet through routers are treated as part of a sub-network with special addresses. Network address translation is needed to link the router subnets with the primary network connection.

Ipv6 is the next generation Internet Protocol which was formulated in 1996. It uses a 128 bit address system, which will provide a tremendous number of network addresses. ( 2 to the 128th power ) The updated Internet Protocol supports mandatory network security features that include IP encryption and authentication. A new information format for data packets was also designed, which reduces the processing time for header data contained in the packets. Sub-networks for devices attached to routers or network address translation will no longer be required.

The process of encoding or streaming of multimedia will not be affected using the improved Internet Protocol. The primary goal of this improved Internet Protocol is to increase the network address capacity for connected devices and provide enhanced network communication security.

The initial requirement for integration of Ipv6 network support is the adoption and implementation of this new Protocol by all Internet service providers. This will require the firmware upgrade and configuration of all network routers.

The next requirement will be the need for each device connected to the Internet to be made compatible for supporting the improved Internet Protocol. This compatibility will require the modification of the operating system module that supports network communications.

The last requirement is for the multimedia server software to be modified to support this updated Internet Protocol. This will be essential for the delivery of data to the correct network destination.

Users can experiment with this improved Internet Protocol support using one of several free service providers. These providers create network tunnels to specially configured routers that allow computers to interact using the improved Internet Protocol. Users can find a current list of Ipv6 providers using the Google search engine.

The use of Ipv6 will not affect the process of delivering streaming multimedia. It will provide a greater number of network addresses, with incorporated security enhancements. Computers and devices operating behind network routers will not be required to translate addresses from subnets to the primary network. This will speed up data delivery and prevent the need for computer users to configure office or home network routers.

David Childers is the webmaster of http://www.scvi.net, The Winamp TV, NullSoft Video information website and http://www.scenicradio.com. Your Internet Source For Rock And Reel, Internet Television.

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Engineers Need to Feel the Pain of IPv6 Failure
By Adrian Bedford

Network engineers should be forced to explore a world without IPv4 to expose the lack of preparation for when the Internet exhausts its current space.

The current technologies keeping the global network running are predicted to run dry within two years; Businesses are being urged to switch to the next generation of Internet numbering known as IPv6. Without doing so, communications growth could stagnate.

But it is the network engineers who must drive such a switch and convince their bosses of the economic drive to do so.

A member of the European RIPE IPv6 Working Group has suggested exposing these engineers to a world where the existing technology doesn’t exist, forcing them to sink or swim.

Shane Kerr of the Internet Systems Consortium suggested attendees at the upcoming RIPE Meeting in Lisbon, Portugal face an extended IPv4 switch off.

“Perhaps we should begin preparing ourselves for the future IPv4 world by simulating various levels of IPv4 exhaustion,” he told the working group mailing list. “We should disable IPv4 for access to the meeting itself, as this is the first problem that new entrants to the Internet will have.”

Those opposed to throwing everything behind IPv6 take-up have already suggested ways to extend the life of the existing technology. One such move is known as network address translation (NAT) where a network operator splits a single address into tiny sub networks. This works something like where single electricity supplies can be split to feed a number of devices.

“People are already accustomed to living behind NAT with their laptops,” Kerr noted. “They might be a little more annoyed when Google Maps won’t work because there aren’t enough ports to handle all the simultaneous open connections.”

The next RIPE Meeting takes place in Lisbon at the start of October. A major focus will be IPv6 deployment. Attendees will discuss IPv4 exhaustion and IPv6 deployment.

Adrian Bedford

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