1

I am an undergraduate student where I decided to develop a firmware that would eliminate the security vulnerabilities that exist within the current technologies used. such as tunneling, translation and dual stack.

To do this I need to understand the packet transporting/routing differences between IPv4 and IPv6 in-order to provide a viable solution. But I couldnt find any resource that would compare these two protocols via diagrams and structures. I was hoping if I could assistance with some resources that i could use to better understand the differences of these two protocols.

I would like to first focus on the differences in IPsec.

  • i know that IPsec is added to the Packet on the Network layer of the OSI model. But how does the IPv4 and IPv6 differ from one another when it comes to IPsec?
  • how is the security info is added to both of these at start and removed from at the destination?
Improve this question
12
  • so basically your question is how can I find an introduction to ipv6 and how fits into the OSI model? This question is too broad... is there any way you could break your question into a much smaller scope?
    – Mike Pennington
    Sep 4, 2013 at 14:32
  • @MikePennington yesss.. that was exactly my idea..okey I will try break this down into smaller pieces :)
    – Hasitha Shan
    Sep 4, 2013 at 14:38
  • 1
    @MikePennington .. The areas I want to focus is on the layer three and layer one.. how the IPsec is applied to IPv6 at layer 3 and how IPv6 packets r routed without performing the NAT :)
    – Hasitha Shan
    Sep 4, 2013 at 14:40
  • if you could be specific about IPv6 routing and NAT operations that are unclear it would help get a better answer to your question.
    – Mike Pennington
    Sep 4, 2013 at 14:44
  • 1
    I'm going to answer with a hyperlink to a good overview of IPSec (IPv4 & IPv6)
    – Mike Pennington
    Sep 5, 2013 at 8:12

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
2

IPv4 and IPv6 "coexist" the same as Appletalk and IPX. That is "completely oblivious to each other". While they both start with eye-pee, and share a packet format (at the most basic level), beyond the version number in the IP header, they are completely alien to each other. Study how IPv4 works, then study how IPv6 works. They are far more different than their names suggest.

(I've worked with this stuff for decades, but I cannot point you to any single book (or webpage) that can give you everything you need to know. We're not assembling Ikea furniture here.)

Improve this answer
2
  • Hi Ricky, apologies for the unclear question... see his edit 3 for specifics of what the OP wants...
    – Mike Pennington
    Sep 4, 2013 at 20:59
  • Hey thank you for your time and reply :) and me too apologize for the unclear question :) but i have edited it with a more specific scope :)
    – Hasitha Shan
    Sep 4, 2013 at 21:18
0

There are differences in the headers between IPv4 and IPv6 but IPv6 still resides at layer 3 in the OSI model just like IPv4.

Improve this answer
2
  • Thank you for the reply :) very much appreciate it.. and if we take the layer one..the IPv4 performs NAT which is not required by IPv6.. how does this process happen?
    – Hasitha Shan
    Sep 4, 2013 at 14:41
  • 3
    IPv4 also doesn't require NAT. NAT is a hack that was introduced long after IPv4 was developed. And please look up what layer one means...
    – Sander Steffann
    Sep 4, 2013 at 20:35
0

No need for special firmware if you're trying to implement IPv6. People just need to accelerate the move to IPv6. How exactly do you think adding lines of code is going to eliminate security vulnerabilities? IPv4 and IPv6 are already in pretty much everything you buy these days. And IPSEC is built into the IPv6 protocol, but configuration is still required...IPSEC doesn't just happen magically.

The DNS64/NAT64 combination is excellent for allowing IPv6 hosts on a network to reach IPv4 hosts on the Internet. That's how T-Mobile does it for millions of customers. This problem has already been solved.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.