Difference Between IPv4 and IPv6|Which is Better?

1.Index

• What is an IP address?
• What is IPv4?
• What is IPv6?
• Difference Between IPv4 and IPv6
• Which is Better

2.What is an IP address?

Before understanding the difference between IPv4 and IPv6 first we need to understand what IP really is.We will explain it in a very easy way.

In simple language we can say that an IP address is a network address which is assigned to every device functioning right now.Using this IP address only the Internet is able to know from where the data(emails,photos and videos) is coming and to where it is needed to be send.IP addresses are also used set standards on how the data must be sent or in what way it must be sent.It also sets standards which defines in what way the data must be sent and every device have to follow these standards.

This modern technology lets you send any type of data to any destination in the world without worrying about sending it to wrong person or getting stolen in between while transmission.

Let's take a real life example :-

Suppose you are in Delhi and you want to send a letter to Mumbai.So what's you're going to do.You will write your own address(Delhi) on the envelope and also the address of the receiver(Mumbai) and send it to the post office.Now, how post office would be able to know from where the letter has arrived and to where it must be send.As  the address of both the sender and receiver is written then the post office will easily send that letter to the receiver's address(Mumbai).

So, here Delhi is the IP address of sender's device and Mumbai is the IP address of receiver device.Here post office is acting as Internet.According to today's technology an IP address is not permanent for any device as it changes from time.We will explain this later.
If you want to study IP address more deeper click here!

3.What is IPv4?

45.189.37.241

Above mentioned figure is an example of IPv4 address which is known as Internet Protocol version 4.Today's generation devices are using this version of IP address.It was introduced in 1981 and developed by US Department of Defense Agency.This address has 32 bits and there are total of 4,294,967,296 IPv4 addresses.As 588,514,304 addresses are reserved for MNCs so 3,706,452,992 IP addresses are available for public use.

As the time is passing this version is becoming obsolete as the available IP addresses under this version are less than the devices available in the world.So it is not possible to assign every device an static IP address.So this version uses the concept of dynamic IP address under which the IP address assigned to the devices changes from time to time.If you want a static IP address then you have to pay for it.Big companies like Google and Disney also has static IP address.

But Dynamic IP address is not the permanent solution for insufficient IP addresses.As the time passes this method is also going to struggle because of increase in more and more devices.
If you want to know about the classes of IP addresses click here!

4.What is IPv6?

So to tackle the problems of IPv4 IP address IPv6 was introduced.It was introduced by Internet Engineering Task Force(IETF) in 1998.This version is considered the next generation protocol as it supports 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 (2^128) IP addresses which is more than enough according to the present requirement.

FE80:CD00:0000:0CDE:1257:0000:211E:729C

They are 128 bits in length containing hexadecimal characters.As both IPv4 and IPv6 have same architecture that means majority of transport layers which are working on IPv4 addresses can also function on IPv6 addresses. IPv6 addresses solves the which we are facing right now as it contains sufficient amount of IP addresses which are required in present situation.But the problem is that this version is still in developing stage.That's why this version is not fully implemented in all the networks.But slowly this version is coming into existence and this would be our future.
If you don't know about hexadecimal numbers click here!

5.Difference Between IPv4 and IPv6

Basis of Difference	IPv4	IPv6
Size of IP address	32-Bit IP Address.	128 Bit IP Address.
Addressing method	IPv4 is a numeric address, and its binary bits are separated by a dot (.)	IPv6 is an alphanumeric address whose binary bits are separated by a colon (:). It also contains hexadecimal.
Configuration	You have to configure a newly installed system before it can communicate with other systems.	In IPv6, the configuration is optional, depending upon on functions needed.
Number of classes	IPv4 offers five different classes of IP Address. Class A to E.	lPv6 allows storing an unlimited number of IP Address.
Fragmentation	Fragmentation is done by sending and forwarding routes.	Fragmentation is done by the sender.
Network Configuration	Networks need to be configured either manually or with DHCP.	IPv6 support autoconfiguration capabilities.
Security	IPv4 was not designed with security in mind.	IPSec(Internet Protocol Security) is built into the IPv6 protocol, usable with a proper key infrastructure.
Packet fragmentation	Allows from routers and sending host	Sending hosts only
Compatibility with mobile devices	It is not suitable for mobile devices	It is suitable for mobile devices.
Example	12.244.233.165	2001:0db8:0000:0000:0000:ff00:0042:7879

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6.Which is Better?

After observing the table it looks like IPv6 is performing much better than IPv4.But in my opinion IPv6 is still in developing stage and many faults could be found while its working.But IPv4 is more matured and refined version on which we can trust.So according to the current situation IPv4 is still the best version but for the future reference we need IPv6 and it will improve in future.