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The Internet of Things

The internet of things is a scenario which objects or devices connect each other without any human interaction. This scenario was issued in 1991 by implementing internet. In 20th century by developing nanotechnology and computer science, experts start focusing more about internet of things. Many famous companies in IT change their business plane to develop their research in internet of things. They also have huge progress in it. By using internet of things scenario IT companies have main effect in developing in other industries like the medical and healthcare systems, energy management, building and home automation.

Many famous IT companies like Microsoft, CISCO and IBM. They create many solutions based on Internet of thing, For illustration, Microsoft Company engineers believe that Internet of Things is flexible and it helps converged between devices, it also consider: reducing hardware costs, more machine are talking to each other, Software is more advanced than ever, The economic benefits are huge.

Although experts in IT solve many problems by using internet of things scenario, but there is a serious problem, how we can manage this huge network. By using IPv4 topology scientists found out they will face the lack of IP amount problem. Therefore they create new version of IP topology which is IPv6 topology. By using IPv6 topology we can administer it reliably, efficiently and securely.

Definition of IPv6

IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version 6) is the latest level of the Internet Protocol (IP) and is now included as part of IP support in many products including the major computer operating systems. IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) is a set of specifications from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) that's essentially an upgrade of IP version 4 (IPv4). The basics of IPv6 are similar to those of IPv4 -- devices can use IPv6 as source and destination addresses to pass packets over a network, and tools like ping work for network testing as they do in IPv4, with some slight variations. The most obvious improvement in IPv6 over IPv4 is that IP addresses are lengthened from 32 bits to 128 bits. This extension anticipates considerable future growth of the Internet and provides relief for what was perceived as an impending shortage of network addresses. IPv6 also supports auto-configuration to help correct most of the shortcomings in version 4, and it has integrated security and mobility features.

IPv6 features include:

Supports source and destination addresses that are 128 bits (16 bytes) long.

Requires IPSec support.

Uses Flow Label field to identify packet flow for QoS handling by router.

Allows the host to send fragments packets but not routers.

Doesn't include a check sum in the header.

Uses a link-local scope all-nodes multicast address.

Does not require manual configuration or DHCP.

Uses host address (AAAA) resource records in DNS to map host names to IPv6 addresses.

Uses pointer (PTR) resource records in the IP6.ARPA DNS domain to map IPv6 addresses to host names.

Supports a 1280-byte packet size (without fragmentation).

Moves optional data to IPv6 extension headers.

Uses Multicast Neighbor Solicitation messages to resolve IP addresses to link-layer addresses.

Uses Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) messages to manage membership in local subnet groups.

Uses ICMPv6 Router Solicitation and Router Advertisement messages to determine the IP address of the best default gateway.

History of IPv6

The transition from Internet Protocol v4 to v6 is the biggest infrastructure shift in the Internet since the network was founded. Proposed in 1995 and adopted as a workable protocol in 1999, Internet Protocol version 6 was designed to support the Internet’s rampant growth. It promised to boost the number of Internet addresses from 4.3 billion to (3.4x1038) about 670 quadrillion addresses per square millimetre of the Earth's surface! IPv6 also offers a tighter security through packet-level encryption and stepped-up authentication, along with the ability for routers to better manage traffic flow through such features as packet labeling. The header format would be improved, enabling traffic management features such as "fast lanes," or fatter channels for bigger content.

Benefits /comparison between IPv6 and IPv4

Feature

IPv6

IPv4

Easier management of networks

IPv6 networks provide auto configuration capabilities. They are simpler, flatter and more manageable, especially for large installations.

Networks must be configured manually or with DHCP. IPv4 has had many overlays to handle Internet growth, which demand increasing maintenance efforts.

End-to-end connective integrity

Direct addressing is possible due to vast address space - the need for network address translation devices is effectively eliminated.

Widespread use of NAT devices means that a single NAT address can mask thousands of non-routable addresses, making end-to-end integrity unachievable.

Unconstrained address abundance

3.4 x 1038 = 340 trillion trillion addresses - about 670 quadrillion addresses per square millimetre of the Earth's surface.

4.29 x 109 = 4.2 billion addresses - far less than even a single IP address per person on the planet.

Platform for innovation and collaboration

Given the numbers of addresses, scalability and flexibility of IPv6, its potential for triggering innovation and assisting collaboration is unbounded.

IPv4 was designed as a transport and communications medium, and increasingly any work on IPv4 is to find ways around the constraints.

Integrated interoperability and mobility

IPv6 provides interoperability and mobility capabilities which are already widely embedded in network devices.

Relatively constrained network topologies restrict mobility and interoperability capabilities in the IPv4 Internet.

Improved security features

IPSEC is built into the IPv6 protocol, usable with a suitable key infrastructure.

Security is dependent on applications - IPv4 was not designed with security in mind.

IPV6 Structure

The IPv6 protocol component includes Internet Control Message Protocol version 6 (ICMPv6), Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD), and Neighbor Discovery. IPv6 has different protocols, so IPv6 is not able to communicate with IPv4. (Microsoft 2003)

Feature of IPv6

“Fixed length = 40 bytes = no HL field = more efficient

Fewer fields = more efficient

No header error checking = more efficient

Fragmentation fields removed = more efficient

Streamlined, extensible (via extension header – coming up)

Aligned on 64-bit boundaries (image drawn in 32 bit scale for ease of reading)

Fixed 40-byte (Base) Header length” (Spence 2009, Prevention section)

The next header consists of three categories: IPv6 Header

Upper Layer Protocol

Extension Headers

IPv6 and extension Headers are two new features in IPv6.

IPv6 Addressing

IPv6 address is 128 bits or 16 bytes long which is four times longer than IPv4. IPv6 addresses are represented in hexadecimal separated with colon.

21DA:00D3:0000:2F3B:02AA:00FF:FE28:9C5A

IPv6 addressing can be more r simplified by removing the foremost zeroes.

21DA:D3:0:2F3B:2AA:FF:FE28:9C5

In IPv6 there are three types of addresses:

Unicast

Multicast

Anycast

Anycast is a new feature in IPv6. It classifies multiple interfaces and sends the packets to a single and the nearest of the several services in a group. Overall, it is a ccommunication that occurs between a single sender and the nearest of a group of receivers.

End-to-end IPv6 Packet Delivery Process

Sending host process

Router forwarding process

Receiving host process

IPv6 Routing

IPv6 uses local routing table to forward packets on a network. Within the routing table, there is stored information about IPv6 network prefix.

The routing table is used to determine:

The next-hop address: It is the destination address, it delivers packets directly, and the destination address is on a local link.

The next-hope interface: It is used to identify the physical interface and it forwards the packets to destination or to the next router.

Definition of IP (internet protocol) - The Internet Protocol (IP) is the principal communications protocol in the Internet protocol suite for relaying data grams across network boundaries

Definition of IPV6 – it is the latest version of the Internet Protocol (IP), the communications protocol that provides an identification and location system for computers on networks and routes traffic across the Internet.

Definition of IPV4 – it is the fourth version in the development of the Internet Protocol (IP) Internet, and routes most traffic on the Internet.

How efficient is IPv6 network

IPv6 reduces the size of routing tables and makes routing more efficient and hierarchical. IPv6 allows ISPs to aggregate the prefixes of their customers' networks into a single prefix and announce this one prefix to the IPv6 Internet. In addition, in IPv6 networks, fragmentation is handled by the source device, rather than the router, using a protocol for discovery of the path's maximum transmission unit (MTU)

Privacy

IPv6 supports globally unique IP addresses by which the network activity of each device can potentially be tracked.The design of IPv6 intended to re-emphasize the end-to-end principle of network design that was originally conceived during the establishment of the early Internet. In this approach each device on the network has a unique address globally reachable directly from any other location on the Internet

How secure is IPv6 ?

Is it secure enough to use in our daily lives? Yes it can be used and it is one of the most widely used networks. A widely assumed benefit of ipv6 is IPSEC support as ipv6 supports I0SEC for transport encryption which makes it secure. Another security feature is discovery of secure neighbour which makes it more and more secure.

Support in major o.s.

All major operating system have ipv6 .not only all os have ipv6 but their support is on default. This means that for most people ipv6 is possible to use with any operating system.

Examples of OS which support ipv6

Microsoft windows since windows vista and server 2008

apple os x since 10.2 jaguar

linux sice kernel 2.6.12

All in all ipv6 network is a reliable and efficient as ipv6 is supported by most of the operating system available in market, however there are some limitations in security, like it does not support IPsec (internet protocol security) properly, which is an important security feature .Basically it cannot prevent attacks on layers above the network layer in the network protocol stack.

References

Creating the Internet of Your Things. (2015). Company brochure: Available online. Retrieved 2015 from http://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/server-cloud/internet-of-things.aspx

Cisco Company. (2015). Internet of Things. Retrieved 2015, from http://www.cisco.com/web/solutions/trends/iot/overview.html

IBM Company. (2015). Internet of things Foundation. Retrieved 2015, from http://www-03.ibm.com/software/products/en/internet-of-things-foundation

IPv6now. July 2007. Fundamental Benefits of IPv6. Retrieved April 2, 2015 from http://www.ipv6now.com.au/primers/benefits.php

IPv6now. July 2007. An Internet Protocol Primer. April 2, 2015, from http://www.ipv6now.com.au/primers/IPv6Primer.php

Readwrite. June 6, 2012. The Tortured History of Internet Protocol v6. Retrieved April 2,2015 , from http://readwrite.com/2012/06/06/the-tortured-history-of-internet-protocol-v6

Microsoft. March 28, 2003. How IPv6 Work. Retrieved April 2, 2015, from https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc781672%28v=ws.10%29.aspx

Wikipedia Commons. Decmber 7, 2014. IPv6 header rv1. Retrieved April, 2015, from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IPv6_header_rv1.png

Cisco. July 22, 2011. Implementing IPv6 Addressing and Basic Connectivity. Retrieved from http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/ios/ipv6/configuration/guide/12_4t/ipv6_12_4t_book/ip6-addrg_bsc_con.html#wp1038821

IPv6. (n.d.). Retrieved April 8, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPv6

(n.d.). Retrieved April 9, 2015, from http://ipv6.com/articles.html

Welcome to IoT6.eu. (n.d.). Retrieved April 9, 2015, from http://iot6.eu

Benefits Of IPv6 - Network Computing. (n.d.). Retrieved April 9, 2015, from http://www.networkcomputing.com/networking/six-benefits-of-ipv6/d/d-id/1232791?Figure 1: The IPv4 and IPv6 headers. Adapted from IPv6 Internals, by I. V. Beijnum,

2005, The Internet Protocol Journal - Volume 9, Number 3. Copyright 2005 by Apress.Figure X: IPv6 Packet. Adapted from technet.microsoft.com, March 28, 2003, Retrieved April 2, 2015, from https://technet.microsoft.com/enus/library/cc781672%28v=ws.10%29.aspx#w2k3tr_ipv6_how_chuqThe Copyright 2005 by Microsoft. Figure X: IPv6 Packet. Adapted from technet.microsoft.com, March 28, 2003, Retrieved April 2, 2015, from https://technet.microsoft.com/enus/library/cc781672%28v=ws.10%29.aspx#w2k3tr_ipv6_how_chuqThe Copyright 2005 by Microsoft.