IPv6 is the next-generation Internet protocol designed by the IETF as a replacement for IPv4. Most of today's Internet uses IPv4, which has been remarkably resilient in spite of its age; however, it is beginning to have problems in various features areas. . . .
IPv6 is the next-generation Internet protocol designed by the IETF as a replacement for IPv4. Most of today's Internet uses IPv4, which has been remarkably resilient in spite of its age; however, it is beginning to have problems in various features areas.

Its most visible shortcoming is the growing shortage of IPv4 addresses needed by all the new devices connecting to the Internet. Other limitations are in such areas as QoS, security, autoconfiguration, and mobility.

As a result, the IETF defined IPv6 to fix the problems in IPv4, and added many enhancements to cater the future Internet. This article addresses the problems in IPv4 that lead to the design of IPv6, presenting the IPv6 design philosophies and IPv6 features, as well as a technical tutorial to enable IPv6 support on your Linux machines.

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