IPV6:

Its major goals were:

1. Support billions of hosts, even with inefficient address allocation.

2. Reduce the size of the routing tables.

3. Simplify the protocol, to allow routers to process packets faster.

4. Provide better security (authentication and privacy).

5. Pay more attention to the type of service, particularly for real-time data.

6. Support multicasting by allowing scopes to be specified.

7. Make it possible for a host to roam without changing its address.

8. Allow the protocol to evolve in the future.

9. Permit the old and new protocols to coexist for years.

  The Version field is always 6 for IPv6 (and 4 for IPv4).
 The Differentiated services field (originally called Traffic class) is used to distinguish
the class of service for packets with different real-time delivery requirements.
 The Flow label field provides a way for a source and destination to mark groups of
packets that have the same requirements and should be treated in thesame way by the
network .Flows are an attempt to have it both ways: the flexibility of a datagram network
and the guarantees of a virtual-circuit network.
 The Payload length field tells how many bytes follow the 40-byte header. The name was
changed from the IPv4 Total length field because the meaning was changed slightly: the
40 header bytes are no longer counted as partof the length (as they used to be).
 The Next header field is that there can be additional (optional) extension headers. This
field tells which of the (currently) six extension headers, if any, follow this one. If this
header is the last IP header, the Next header field tells which transport protocol handler
(e.g., TCP, UDP) to pass the packet to.
 The Hop limit field is used to keep packets from living forever. It is, in practice, the
same as the Time to live field in IPv4, namely, a field that is decremented on each hop.
 Next come the Source address and Destination address fields

Extension Headers
 IPv6 introduces the concept of (optional) extension headers. These headers can be
suppliedto provide extra information, but encoded in an efficient way.
 Six kinds of extension headers are defined at present, as listed in Fig. 5-57.
 Each one is optional, but if more than one is present they must appear directly after the
fixed header, and preferably in the order listed.
 Some of the headers have a fixed format; others contain a variable number of variable-
length options.
 For these, each item is encoded as a (Type, Length, Value) tuple.
 The Type is a 1-byte field telling which option this is. The Type values have been
chosen so that the first 2 bits tell routers that do not know how to process the option what
to do. The choices are: skip the option; discard the packet; discard the packet and send
back an ICMP packet; and discard the packetbut do not send ICMP packets for multicast
addresses (to prevent one bad multicastpacket from generating millions of ICMP reports).
 The Length is also a 1-byte field. It tells how long the value is (0 to 255bytes).
 The Value is any information required, up to 255 bytes.
 The hop-by-hop header is used for information that all routers along the path must
examine. So far, one option has been defined: support of datagrams exceeding 64 KB.
 The format of this header is shown in Fig. 5-58. When it is used, the Payload length
field in the fixed header is set to 0.

 The next 2 bytes indicate that this option defines the datagram size (code 194) and that
the size is a 4-byte number. The last 4 bytes give the size of the datagram. Sizes less than
65,536 bytes are not permitted and will result in the firstrouter discarding the packet and
sending back an ICMP error message.
 Datagrams using this header extension are called jumbograms. The use of jumbograms
is important for supercomputer applications that must transfer gigabytes ofdata efficiently
across the Internet.
 The destination options header is intended for fields that need only be interpreted at the
destination host
 The routing header lists one or more routers that must be visited on the way to the
destination. The format of the routing header is shown in Fig. 5-59.
  Routing type field gives the format of the rest of the header. Type 0 says that a reserved
32-bit word follows the first word, followed by some number of IPv6 addresses.
 Finally, the Segments left field keeps track of how many of the addresses in the list have
not yet been visited. It is decremented every time one is visited. When it hits 0, the packet
is on its own with no more guidance about what route to follow.
 The fragment header deals with fragmentation similarly to the way IPv4 does.
 The header holds the datagram identifier, fragment number, and a bit telling whether
more fragments will follow.
 The authentication header provides a mechanism by which the receiver of a packet can
be sure of who sent it.
 The encrypted security payload makes it possible to encrypt the contents of a packet so
that only the intended recipient canread it.

Internet Control Protocols

In addition to IP, which is used for data transfer, the Internet has several companion control
protocols that are used in the network layer. They include ICMP, ARP, and DHCP.

IMCP—The Internet Control Message Protocol

 The operation of the Internet is monitored closely by the routers. When something
unexpected occurs during packet processing at a router, the event is reported to the sender
by the ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol).
 ICMP is also used to test the Internet.
 ICMP message type is carried encapsulated in an IP packet. The most importantones are
listed in Fig. 5-60.
 The DESTINATION UNREACHABLE message is used when the router cannotlocate
the destination or when a packet with the DF bit cannot be delivered becausea ‘‘small-
packet’’ network stands in the way.
 The TIME EXCEEDED message is sent when a packet is dropped because its TtL
(Time to live) counter has reached zero. This event is a symptom that packetsare looping,
or that the counter values are being set too low.
 The PARAMETER PROBLEM message indicates that an illegal value has
beendetected in a header field. This problem indicates a bug in the sending host’s
IPsoftware or possibly in the software of a router transited.
 The SOURCE QUENCH message was long ago used to throttle hosts that weresending
too many packets. When a host received this message, it was expected toslow down.
 The REDIRECT message is used when a router notices that a packet seems tobe routed
incorrectly. It is used by the router to tell the sending host to update to abetter route.
 The ECHO and ECHO REPLY messages are sent by hosts to see if a given destination
is reachable and currently alive. Upon receiving the ECHO message,the destination is
expected to send back an ECHO REPLY message.
 The TIMESTAMP REQUEST and TIMESTAMP REPLY messages are similar,
except that the arrival time of the message and the departure time of the reply arerecorded
in the reply. This facility can be used to measure network performance.
 The ROUTER ADVERTISEMENT and ROUTER SOLICITATION messages
areused to let hosts find nearby routers. A host needs to learn the IP address of atleast one
router to be able to send packets off the local network.
Address Resolution Protocol [ARP]

 Address Resolution Protocol [ARP] is a network layer protocol that is used to convert IP
address intoMAC address. Network interface cards (NICs) each have a hardware address
or MAC addressassociated with them. Applications understand TCP/IP addressing, but
network hardware devices (such as NICs) do not.
 For example, when two Ethernet cards are communicating, they have no knowledge of
the IP addressbeing used. Instead, they use the MAC addresses assigned to each card to
address data frames.
 TheARP was designed to provide a mapping from the logical 32-bit TCP/IP addresses to
the physical 48-bit MAC addresses.
 ARP resolves IP addresses used by TCP/IP-based software to media access control
addresses usedby LAN hardware.

This process is as follows:-

 When a host tries to interact with another host, an ARP request is initiated. If the IP
address is for the local network, the source host checks its ARP cache to find out the
hardware address of the destination computer.
 If the correspondence hardware address is not found, ARP broadcasts the request to all
the local hosts.
 All hosts receive the broadcast and check their own IP address. If no match is discovered,
the request is ignored.
 The destination host that finds the matching IP address sends an ARP reply to the source
host along with its hardware address, thus establishing the communication. The ARP
cache is then updated with the hardware address of the destination host.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)

 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a protocol for 𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑡i𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦

assigning IP addresses to devices throughout a network, and of re-assigning those
addresses as they are no longer needed by the device that used them.
 It provides an effective alternative to manually assigning IP addresses to every client.
Apart from eliminating the manual effort of creating and maintaining a list of IP address
assignments for network devices, DHCP also provides a measure of 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡ion against
the 𝑚i𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠 that can arise when theprocess of IP addressing is manual.
When a DHCP client boots, the following basic steps occur:
1. The DHCP client loads a minimal version of TCP.
2. It then broadcasts an 𝐼𝑃𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡 packet (a "DHCPDISCOVER"
packet). This packet includes the MAC address of the DHCP client, and may
contain other configuration information as well. The DHCPDISCOVER packet
issent to a specific TCP port number that is recognized as that used by DHCP
servers. The packet causes all DHCP servers receiving it to offer an IP addressthat
theclient can use, with a "DHCPOFFER" packet.
3. The DHCP client then selects the first offer it receives and broadcasts another
packet (a "DHCPREQUEST" packet) requesting that it can keep the IP address it
has on offer. DHCP clients can also arbitrate between offers from numerous
 DHCP servers in a number of other ways that are outside the scope of this
discussion.
4. The DHCP server that offered the selected IP address then starts the client's IP
address lease. It also broadcasts an acknowledgement to the client, sending a
"DHCPACK" packet. Other DHCP servers with outstanding lease offers for that
client will also receive the acknowledgement packet andwithdraw their offers
atthis point.
5. When a DHCP client is finished with its IP address, it can release that addressto
let it be made available again to the pool of IP addresses in the DHCP servers'
scope. This is done with a "DHCPRELEASE" packet. Alternatively, the address
may be retained and re-established the nexttime that device re-joins the network.

Label Switching and MPLS

MPLS adds a label in front of each packet, and forwarding is based on thelabel
rather than on the destination address. Making the label an index into an
internaltable makes finding the correct output line just a matter of table
lookup.Using this technique, forwarding can be done very quickly. This
advantage was the original motivation behind MPLS, which began as proprietary
technologyknown by various names including tag switching.

Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)

 Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is a link-state routing protocol. OSPF is another Interior
Gateway Protocol.
 It is designed to be run as an Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) to a single Autonomous
System (AS).
 The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) group was formed in 1988 to design an IGP
basedon the Shortest Path First (SPF) algorithm for use in the Internet.
 OSPF was created because in the mid1980s, the Routing Information Protocol (RIP) was
not capable of serving large, heterogeneousinternetworks.
 OSPF being a SPF algorithm scales better than RIP.
 As a link state routing protocol, OSPF contrasts with RIP and IGRP, which are
distancevector routingprotocols.
  Routers running the distance vector algorithm send all or a portion of their routing tables
inrouting update messages, but only to their neighbor’s

 OSPF Basic Operation OSPF is a very complex routing protocol but its fundamental
operation is quite simple.

The steps of operation might be pictured as follows:

1. Each router sends so called ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑡𝑠 out of all OSPF-enabled interfaces. This way,
the OSPF-enabled router discovers directly connected routers which also run OSPF. If
certain parameters in the hello packets match between the neighboring routers, they
formtherelationship called ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑j𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦.
2. Then, each router exchanges packets called 𝐿i𝑛𝑘𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒𝐴𝑑𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑡i𝑠𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 (LSAs) with its
neighbors (adjacent routers). In OSPF terminology the word link is the same as the
interface. LSAs contain details such as: addresses/network masks configured on the links
(interfacesrunning OSPF of course), the metric, the state of the link (which is its relation
to the rest of the network), and list of neighbors connected to the link.
3. Each router stores the LSAs in its Link State Database (LSDB). These LSAs are hen
flooded (advertised) to all OSPF neighbors. As a result of the LSA flooding, all routers in
the area have identical LSDBs. An analogy would be having the same road map of a
given country which all drivers use. Their journey's starting point is different but the map
is still thesame.
4. Each router runs 𝐷ij𝑘𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎′𝑠 algorithm to select the best path from this topological
database (LSDB). This way, each router creates loop free graph indicating the shortest
(best) path to each network/subnet advertised. The best paths end up in the routing table.
BGP—The Exterior Gateway Routing Protocol

 Border Gateway Protocol [BGP] The Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is the routing
protocol used to exchange routing information across the Internet.
 It makes it possible for ISPs to connect to each other and for end-users to connect to more
than one ISP.
 BGP is the only protocol that is designed to deal with a networkof theInternet's size, and
the only protocol that can deal well with having multiple connectionsto unrelated routing
domains.
 BGP first became an Internet standard in 1989. The current version, BGP4 was
adoptedin1995.

What is BGP?

 The Border Gateway Protocol is an inter-Autonomous System routing protocol. BGP is a

standardized exterior gateway protocol (EGP), as opposed to RIP, OSPF, and EIGRP
which are interior gateway protocols.
 BGP Version 4 (BGPv4) is the current standard deployment. BGP is an example of
𝑃𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑉𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 routing protocols.
 BGP was not built to route within an AutonomousSystem (AS), but rather to route
between AS’s.
 BGP maintains a separate routing table basedonshortest AS Path and various other
attributes, as opposed to IGP metrics like distance or cost.
 BGP is the routing protocol of choice on the Internet. Essentially, the Internet is a
collectionof interconnected Autonomous Systems.
 BGP Autonomous Systems are assigned an Autonomous System Number (ASN), whichis
a 16-bit number ranging from 1 – 65535.
 A specific subset of this range, 64512 – 65535, has been reserved for private (or internal)
use.
 BGP utilizes TCP for reliable transfer of its packets, on port 179.
BGP Message Types There are ƒ𝑜𝑢𝑟 possible message types used with BGP:

1. 𝑂𝑃𝐸𝑁: It is the first message to open a BGP session, transmitted when a linktoa BGP
neighbor comes up. It contains AS number (ASN) and IP address of the router whohassent the
message.

2. 𝑈𝑃𝐷𝐴𝑇𝐸: Message contains routing information, including path attributes. It

containsNetwork Layer Reachability Information (NLRI), listing IP addresses ofnew usable
routes as well as routes that are no longer active or viable and including both the
lengthsandattributes of the corresponding paths.

3. 𝑁𝑂𝑇𝐼𝐹𝐼𝐶𝐴𝑇𝐼𝑂𝑁: It is the final message transmitted on a link to a BGP neighbor

beforedisconnecting. It usually describes atypical conditions prior to
terminatingtheTCPconnection, and provides a mechanism to gracefully close a connection
betweenBGPpeers.

4. 𝐾𝐸𝐸𝑃 − 𝐴𝐿𝐼𝑉𝐸: It is a periodic message between BGP peers to inform neighbor that the
connection is still viable by guaranteeing that the transmitter is still alive.