|
Summary: TCP/IP currently has a limit of 4 billion IP addresses, and that's not enough. IPv6 blows away this limitation. I have a new notebook with Windows Vista Home Premium installed. I noticed when I view Network Properties, I see that Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IP v6) has been selected as well as TCP/IP v4. What is TCP/IP v6? Do I need it to search the web? You don't need it yet, but someday you will. How soon? Good question. Why? Because 4 billion isn't a big enough number. • IP, or "Internet Protocol", is best recognized by the way it assigns "IP addresses" to devices on the internet. An IP version 4 address, the current common technology, is a 32 bit number, represented by 4 numbers separated by periods. 207.46.197.32 is an example of an IP address (this one, assigned to the domain microsoft.com). A 32 bit number can represent up to 4 billion different IP addresses. In reality the number is somewhat less, since some numbers and digits have reserved meanings. As it turns out, 4 billion isn't enough. Because of the way that IP addresses are assigned and used, I've heard we may "run out" of IP addresses in several years. Enter IP version 6, or IPv6. IP version 6 introduces many additional features, but the most notable one is that an IPv6 address is 128 bits long instead of 32. While that seems like it's only 4 times larger, it's not. It represents 3.4×1038 different IP addresses. Put another way:
"We're not likely to run out of IPv6 addresses any time
soon."
(That's 4 billion times 4 billion times 4 billion times 4 billion - where "4 billion" is in computer terms using powers of 2, or 4,294,967,296.) When you start seeing them, you'll see IPv6 addresses as groups of 4 hexadecimal digits separated by colons. 2001:0db8:85a3:08d3:1319:8a2e:0370:7334 is a valid IPv6 address. It turns out they've also created some shorthand so all IPv6 addresses, while still 128 bits in length, may not be represented by a string quite that long. We're not likely to run out of IPv6 addresses any time soon. Will you be forced to switch? Someday, maybe. The good news is that for now it's pretty transparent, and you probably won't be affected for some time. There actually is some IPv6 traffic on the internet already, using techniques to coexist with the IPv4 traffic. The fact that you're seeing an IPv6 protocol available within Windows is actually good news, because it means that one major part of the infrastructure of the internet - millions and millions of Windows based PCs - are ready to go. But for now, I'd just leave it enabled and otherwise ignore it. Related:
Article 11306 | Posted March 26, 2007 |
Popular & Hot How do I make a new MSN Hotmail account? How do I delete history items from my Google tool bar? My desktop Recycle Bin has disappeared - why, and how do I get it back? I accidentally deleted my Recycle Bin in Vista - how do I get it back? New & Important How can I get the old Windows Live Hotmail back? Internet Safety: How do I keep my computer safe on the internet? Are free email services worth it? Would you please recover my password? My account has been hacked or I've forgotten it.
Stay Informed Archives Advertisers |
•
I recently had this appear in my wireless network connection properties.
Posted by: Clay at July 16, 2007 5:06 PMNow on a fresh reboot the TCPSVCS.exe takes over the computer and bogs it to no speed and just shy of over heating. I have shortcuted the task manager to my desktop so I can open it with a click and end process. This gives relief but what am I supposed to do to allow it to run?
Any thoughts Thanks Clay.