Posted on 09/24/2008 10:04:00 AM PDT by rjsimmon
So, along with ammo, fresh water, dry socks, gold coins, matches, lamp oil, duct tape, tarps, canned goods & an opener...I need to start stocking up on Internet Addresses, too?
Gee Whiz, Algore! My bunker is getting full; pretty soon there won’t be any room for ME in there, LOL!
If only it was that simple. The two schemes are basically incompatible. In order to switch to IPv6, everyone on the Internet has to switch at the same time.
IPv6 was designed by a committee. It's a nice setup, but the committee failed to take into account any implementation procedures. They just designed it and then dropped it on the floor.
Even if everyone agreed to switch on the same day there are thousands and thousands of devices that are too old to support IPv6. There are probably millions of devices that officially support IPv6 but implement it incorrectly, something that you won't know until you actually bring it up with IPv6 addresses.
IPv6 was designed to be compatible to IPv4.
Sort of. But not really.
The addressing scheme is an extension to IPv4. Instead of an IP address that has xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx, you will have XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:XXXX
There are a special set of addresses that will understand XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx but not all devices will necessarily support it as the RFC does not require it.
Additionally, while the addressing scheme MAY be somewhat compatible, there are a host of issues regarding compatibility that were never addressed by the design committee.
For instance:
1. A router with the drivers in Read Only Memory. While IPv6 support may be available, in order to implement it on the device the device will have to be taken apart, the ROM shipped back to the manufacturer and re-burned.
2. A router that was built without IPv6 support and the manufacturer either will not provide upgrade software or is out of business.
3. A router that doesn't have enough memory to process the routing tables for the larger address space.
"Vint Cerf, the “father of the internet”"
What? I thought it was Algore.
Cordially,
Unfortunately, this has nothing to do with URLs.
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