Development of a Graduate Course on the Transition to Internet Protocol Version 6

Abstract

Internet and mobile connectivity has grown tremendously in the last few decades, creating an ever increasing demand for Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. The pool of Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) addresses, once assumed to be more than sufficient for every person on this planet, has reached its final stages of depletion. With The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority’s (IANA) global pools depleted, and four of the five Regional Internet Registries (RIR) pools down to the their last /8 block, the remaining addresses will not last very long. In order to ensure continuous growth of the internet in the foreseeable future, we would need a newer internet protocol, with a much larger address space. Specifically, with that goal in mind the Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) was designed about two decades ago. Over the years it has matured, and has proven that it could eventually replace the existing IPv4. This thesis presents the development a graduate level course on the transition to IPv6. The course makes an attempt at understanding how the new IPv6 protocol is different than the currently used IPv4 protocol. And also tries to emphasize on the options existing to facilitate a smooth transition of production networks from IPv4 to IPv6