Overview of IPv6

Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) is the next-generation method for specifying Internet Protocol addresses. IPv4, the previous version, enabled 32-bit IP addresses, which permitted the specification of 2 32 addresses. All IPv4 address blocks are assigned.

IPv6 enables the specification of 128-bit IP addresses, which supports the specification of 2 128 addresses. This expanded specification allows the use of device-specific IP addresses for the ever-growing set of connected devices. Other features:

  • Extra flexibility in allocating addresses
  • Efficiency for routing traffic
  • Eliminates the primary need for network address translation (NAT)

While IPv6 is supported on all major operating systems, IPv6 does not implement native interoperability features with IPv4. Typically, interoperability of the two network that is addressing schemes requires a dual network stack (a stack for each).

Note: The Unica Discover Network Capture Application can be configured to capture IPv6 only, IPv4 only, and mixed IPv6 and IPv4, and IPv6 with embedded IPv4.
Note: IPv6 with embedded IPv4 cannot be inserted into the DNCA Web Console, but you can insert these values in the dcx-conf.xml file. The DNCA is able to use these addresses.