Checkpoint: TCP/IP LAN Plan
1. An IPv6 address is made up of how many bits?
a. 32
b. 48
c. 64
d. 128
e. 256
The answer to this question is d. Ipv6 address has 128 bits which is better than Ipv4 which has only 32 bit addresses. If I understand it with Ipv4 the amount of addresses will soon run out. With Ipv6 as stated in the book unless every star in the universe were assigned an address it is unlikely to run out of addresses. With Ipv4 it was stated that there are only 4 billion possible addresses. With Ipv6 there are 3.4x10^38 or 34 followed by 37 zeroes. Ipv6 resolves some problems found in Ipv4 such as limited addresses, security, sometimes complicated setup and quality of service (QoS). QoS describes the ability of a network to prioritize data packets based on the type of information. Ipv6 makes the handling of special packets easier to implement, such as applications that use video or audio. Whereas Ipv4 uses a dotted decimal in 8 bit sections, Ipv6 uses a hexadecimal format in 16 bit sections. At first I was a bit confused over what this meant and looking at the address example further confused me. Then after further reading I discovered that each 16 bit section was ended with a colon. It was explained that there are three sections to the address they are public topology, a site topology, and an interface identifier. If I am right then the address giving in the book would break down like this: 2001:DB8:0:0:0:2ed3:340:ab
The first 3 16 bit sections 2001:DB8:0: represent the public topology, internet backbone or service provider.
The next 16 bit section 0: represents the site topology such as a business or local ISP.
The last 64 bits or four 16 bit sections 0:2ed3:340:ab represent interface identifier which is derived from the MAC address on the host’s NIC. This is the unique host address (Tomsho, 2011). Am I correct in my understanding?
2. The subnet