Introduction
Internet Protocols are the set of rules which are use in addressing the packets of data so that they can travel across networks to arrive at the correct destination. Internet protocol facilitates the exchange of data between two different computers.
Data to be transfer through the internet is divide up into small pieces refer to packets. Each packet is recognize by IP information which also helps the routers send the packets to the right place.
Internet protocol is very useful and crucial also because the entire web service is running on these internet protocols. These protocols are the medium between two different systems to connect with each other. Without these protocols, using the Internet to transfer data between two devices is not possible.
The First Major Protocol
In the 1970s, the first major Internet Protocol was invented. This protocol was IPv4(Internet Protocol Version 4). This protocol was originally design to use as an isolated military network. After its successful use in the military area, it was then adapted for public use as well. The address of IPv4 was 32 bit because in the 1970s, 32-bit was the biggest register find in any common processors. But there were a large number of limitations in the IPv4. These limitations were:-
- There were a large number of devices that were connect up to the internet throughout the world due to which there was a lack of address spaces and the size of the address space was exhausting.
- Due to the insufficient size of the IPv4, it was not accommodating additional parameters which were leading to weak protocol extensibility.
- Security was one of the major limitations of IPv4. There was no limit to the information hosted on the network.
- Service support for IPv4 was also very poor. There was no information regarding the bandwidth placement and delays need for the smooth operation of the network were also not support by.
- 50% of all addresses were reserved for the United States of America because that was the place where the Internet was born.
- Due to the increase in the number of servers connected to the internet, the number of IPv4 routers also increased. These IPv4 routers started consuming a great amount of memory and resources on Internet routers.
Due to the above-listed limitations, it was clear that a day will come when IPv4 address space will run out. IPv4 will not last forever. Hence to overcome the limitations, a better and new version of Internet Protocol IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) was build.
What is IPv6 In IoT?
Before going on IPv6, there might be a question in your mind that if IPv6 In IoT is the updated version of IPv4, then where is IPv5?
Well, the answer to your question is that the Internet Engineering Task Force(IETF) who build IPv4 decide to skip IPv5 as it will also eventually run out of addresses. Hence they decided to directly jump on IPv6 where there will be nothing to worry about running out of IP addresses again.
IPv6 is the most latest version of the Internet Protocol. Devices that use the Internet are recognized by their own IP addresses so that Internet Communication can work. IPv6 In IoT identifies these devices so that they can be located through the Internet easily.
IPv4
IPv4 has 32-bit addressing which is able to support about 4.5 billion devices.
But because of the large number of laptops, computers, smartphones, and the Internet of Things devices, it was proved that more addresses are required for the devices.
IPv6 was created in 1998 which uses 128-bit addressing. It supports approximately 350 trillion trillion devices. The addressing method of IPv6 includes eight groups of four hexadecimal digits, while the IPv4 addresses used to have four sets of one to three digits numbers.
Advantages of IPv6 in the Internet of Things
- IoT is a vast field of technology. This field includes a large number of devices and their working is mainly focused via the Internet. IPv6 is capable of giving out various IP addresses to these IoT devices so that they can be easily recognized on the Internet and can work efficiently to transfer data from one IoT device to another.
- IPv6 networks have auto-configuration capabilities which are quite simple and can be managed easily in larger installations. With the help of this feature of IPv6, configuration effort and deployment cost in the field of IoT reduces drastically.
- IPv6 is capable of sending large data packets simultaneously to conserve bandwidth. With the help of fast transmission of data due to IPv6 In IoT, devices used in IoT will also be able to interact with each other.
- IPv6 provides far better security than IPv4. It provides confidentiality, authenticity, and data integrity as well. This security given by IPv6 is of utmost importance to IoT because of its high dependency on Network.
- IPv6 In IoT has a highly efficient multicast communication feature that eliminates the requirement for routine broadcast messaging. This improvement helps in preserving the battery life of IoT devices by reducing the number of packets processed.
- IPv6 provides multiple addresses to devices. Its routing mechanism is also distributed in a better way than IPv4. With the help of this feature, programmers will have the liberty to assign IoT end-device addresses that are consistent with their own applications and network practices.
Conclusion
There are a large number of advantages of IPv6, hence it is quite necessary to switch from IPv4 to IPv6 as soon as possible. IPv4 is still being used but at the same time a large population of the world is advancing to shift towards IPv6 as well, so it is quite certain that IPv4 will be cycled out completely soon.
field of IoT also has number of advantages but shifting of IoT deployments will be a challenge. The IoT industry will have to replace their Terminal and Ethernet servers since the previous networks were IPv4 compatible only. But the advantages that IPv6 is providing to the IoT industry, this much change is worth it.
Written By: Utkarsh Pathak
Reviewed By: Vishal Rathod
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