An IPv6-IPv4 compatibility aggregatable global unicast address format for incremental deployment of IPv6 nodes within IPv4

• US 20010040895A1
• Filed: 12/01/2000
• Published: 11/15/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: SRI International, Inc.
• Original Assignee: SRI International, Inc.
• Inventors: Templin, Fred Lambert
• Application Number:
  US09/728,253
• Publication Number:
  US 20010040895A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/604 Address structures or formats
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/03 by updating link state protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/251 between different IP versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2557 Translation policies or rules
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/161 Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/162 involving adaptations of sockets based mechanisms secure socket layer H04L63/168
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/167 Adaptation for transition between two IP versions, e.g. between IPv4 and IPv6 translation of Internet protocol [IP] addresses H04L61/2503
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/00 Wireless network protocols or protocol adaptations to wireless operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/14 Backbone network devices

Abstract

Described is an IPv6-IPv4 compatibility global aggregatable unicast address format that enables incremental deployment of IPv6 hosts and routers within predominantly IPv4 based networks. A globally aggregatable IPv6 address prefix is associated with an IPv4 node having an IPv4 address and deployed in the network. The IPv4 node is configured with an IPv6-IPv4 compatibility address that includes a prefix portion and an interface identifier portion. The prefix portion contains the IPv6 address prefix associated with the IPv4 node and the interface identifier portion contains the IPv4 address. Packets addressed to the IPv6-IPv4 compatibility address of the IPv4 node are routed across IPv6 infrastructure using the IPv6 prefix portion or tunneled across IPv4 infrastructure using the IPv4 address embedded in the interface identifier portion.

Claims

1. An address format for achieving address compatibility between a previous version and a new version of Internet Protocol (IP), comprising:

a prefix address portion containing a globally aggregatable IP address prefix; and

an interface identifier portion concatenated to the prefix portion and containing an embedded IP address assigned according to the previous IP version, the concatenation of the prefix address portion and the interface identifier portion forming an address that is compatible with the new IP version and enables packets to be routed to addresses assigned according to the previous IP version.

2. The address format of

claim 1

wherein the interface identifier portion includes a type field that indicates whether the interface identifier portion contains an embedded IP address assigned according to the previous IP version.

3. The address format of

claim 1

wherein the address embedded in the interface identifier portion can be globally non-unique.

4. The address format of

claim 1

wherein the prefix address portion enables routing nodes to route packets to a particular node having an IP address that is the same as the embedded IP address through nodes communicating according to the new version of IP to that particular node.

5. The address format of

claim 1

wherein the address formed by concatenating the prefix address portion and the interface identifier portion enables routing nodes to tunnel packets sent to a particular node assigned that address through one or more nodes operating according to the previous version of Internet Protocol.

6. A method for enabling incremental deployment of Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) in a network having Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) nodes, comprising:

associating a globally aggregatable IPv6 address prefix with an IPv4 node having an IPv4 address and being deployed in the network;

configuring the IPv4 node with an IPv6-IPv4 compatibility address that includes a prefix portion containing the IPv6 address prefix and a interface identifier portion containing the IPv4 address of the IPv4 node.

7. The method of

claim 6

further comprising routing a packet addressed to the IPv4 node configured with the IPv6-IPv4 compatibility address across IPv6 infrastructure using the IPv6 prefix portion.

8. The method of

claim 6

further comprising tunneling a packet addressed to the IPv4 node configured with the IPv6-IPv4 compatibility address across IPv4 infrastructure using the IPv4 address embedded in the interface identifier portion.