When asked to question to “explain the various methods that allow IPv4 and IPv6 networks to interact” I would first like to explain the Internet Protocols responsibilities. The Internet Protocol is overall responsible for the transmission of network packets. It preforms this responsibility according to Wikipedia.org by, “addressing host interfaces, encapsulating data into datagrams (including fragmentation and reassembly) and routing datagrams from a source host interface to a destination host interface”. A More thorough explanation can be found at https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/network-layer/internet-protocol/.

Duel stacking of IPv4 and IPv6 utilizes both Internet Protocols within a network to allow maximum compatibility for the transmission of packets between devices, this is also known as a basic hybrid network. IPv6 can also tunnel through an IPv4 network. It preforms this by using the RIP protocol and the BGP protocol to transfer traffic through a pre-existing IPv4 network. Furthermore, this is an example of a nested hybrid network, which is overall a IPv4 network that can accommodate between IPv4 and IPv6. Finally, a true hybrid network has no specific Internet Protocol version but can support all the internet protocols within the network.

As stated above, duel stacking of IPv4 and IPv6 utilizes both Internet Protocols within a network to allow maximum compatibility for the transmission of packets between devices. Therefore, both IPv4 and IPv6 would be utilized within this network and coexist. To continue, IPv6-over-IPv4 tunneling is preformed by using RIP and BGP to transfer traffic through a preexisting IPv4 network. According to ibm.com, “IPv6 or IPv4 hosts and routers can tunnel IPv6 datagrams over regions of IPv4 routing topology by encapsulating them within IPv4 packets.”.

The Intra Site Automatic Tunneling Address Protocol (ISATAP) is defined in RFC 5214 as, “automatic tunneling of IPv6 packets in IPv4 for ISATAP nodes within sites that observe the security considerations, including host-to-router, router-to-host, and host-to-host automatic tunneling in certain enterprise networks and 3GPP/3GPP2 wireless operator networks.”. Furthermore, ISATAP networks are made up of two or more Ipv4 subnets. These subnets are than assigned an IPv6 subnet, a host, and a router. The ISATAP address is a 64-bit address created from a 64-bit unicast prefix.

The 6t04 tunneling mechanism is defined in RFC 6343 as, “a technique for automatic tunneling of IPv6 over IPv4, intended for situations where a user may wish to access IPv6-based services via a network that does not support IPv6”. There are two different versions of 6t04 tunneling, Router 6t04 and Anycast 6t04. Both operate similarly as stated in RDC 6343, “if its external global 32-bit IPv4 address is V4ADDR, the site automatically inherits the IPv6 prefix 2002:V4ADDR::/48.”. RFC 6343 also states, “The prefix 2002: V4ADDR::/48 will be used and delegated for IPv6 service within the user site.”. After the router acknowledges the packet it will than route that packet properly.

Finally, the Teredo tunneling system a is defined in RFC 4380. The Teredo tunneling system transmits packets over UDP with a listening port of 3544. The Teredo tunneling system consists of a client, server, and relay. The address of the client consists of a 32-bit prefix similarly to the Teredo server however with a 16-bit flag stating the type and NAT (network address translation). To conclude, all traffic within the network is sent over the Teredo server and router.

When asked to formulate an innovative solution for IPv6 deployment and list the activities required there are many things to list. First and foremost, most companies already have an inventory or log of all machines/computers/networking equipment on file. It would be important to go over this inventory and see what would need upgrading/change in order for an IPv6 network to be viable and best preform within the company/organization. As I stated in units nine discussion regarding IPv6 deployment, “I would need to evaluate what hardware and software would be best for the deployment I have in mind. There are several factors to consider within the hardware section, the first that comes to mind would be the speeds and overall hardware limitations the router/modem offers. DOCSIS 3.0 or DOCSIS 3.1 would be ideal.”. Regrading software there are some limitations as well. Some software does not yet accept a IPv6 network, and it would be important to upgrade the software or figure out a solution before deployment similarly to what I said above. It would be ideal to slowly migrate towards an IPv6 network by utilizing a dual stack gateway, slowly upgrading devices and software in need.

References

IBM Knowledge Center. (n.d.). IBM Knowledge Center. https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/ssw_aix_71/network/tcpip_ipv6_tunnel.html

RFC 4380 - Teredo: Tunneling IPv6 over UDP through Network Address Translations (NATs). (n.d.). RFC 4380. https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4380

RFC 5214 - Intra-Site Automatic Tunnel Addressing Protocol (ISATAP). (n.d.). RFC 5214. https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5214

RFC 6343 - Advisory Guidelines for 6to4 Deployment. (n.d.). RFC 6343. https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6343

Wikipedia contributors. (2021, March 7). Internet Protocol. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Protocol