IPv6 Packet: what you need to know.

Article Details


Completion Time: 20 min
Difficulty: Intermediate
Subject: Computer Network Technologies and services


This article is following my last article IPv6 Address Insider’s Guide. In this article we will see the IPv6 Packet Format and its components.
IPv6 is born to replace IPv4. The IPv6 packet Header is more simple than IPv4 one.
technologies white paper0900aecd8054d37d 03 300x202 IPv6 Packet: what you need to know.

1. IPv6 Packet Format

ipv6packet 300x84 IPv6 Packet: what you need to know.

The IPv6 packet has a fixed size standard header (4 bytes). The standard header is followed by zero or more extension headers and The Upper layer (Data unit protocol).

2. IPv6 Packet headers

Now let’s focus on the Standard header.
IPv6 Packet1 237x300 IPv6 Packet: what you need to know.

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  1. Version is the version of the protocol. The value is 6 and the size is 4 bits.
  2. Traffic Class is used to handle different traffic class packet and their priorities. The size is 8 bits
  3. Flow label is used for packet labeling and traffic flow. The size is 20 bits
  4. Next Header is used to announce the next header type. The size is 8 bits
  5. Hop Limit is a time to live number for the packet. It is decremented at each node. The packet is discarded when the value is decremented to zero. The size is 8 bits

Every extension header has a type and can appear in a specific order.

Presentazione senza titolo 6 300x169 IPv6 Packet: what you need to know.

  1. Hop by hop Options Header is about optional information which can must be read by every node.
  2. Routing Options Header is used by IPv6 source to list 1 or more intermediate node to visit on the way to the packet destination
  3. Fragment Header is used by the IPv6 source node (only) to send a packet larger than the Path MTU.
  4. Destination Options Header is about optional information which must be read by final destination or intermediate destinations
  5. Authentication Header provides Authentication , integrity and anti-replay protection.
  6. Encapsulating Security Payload Header provides confidentiality, integrity and authentication of the encapsulated payload.
  7. No next Header indicates that there are no more headers after this one.

This article just provides some important stuff to know about IPv6 packet. For a better understanding give a look to the reference list.

3. Links and Literature

  1. Oraclr article
  2. ipv6.com article
  3. tutorialspoint article
  4. Cisco article and images
  5. rfc 2460

4. Thank you

Support my challenge, support my blog. Please Share this article if you found it useful. Thank you.


 IPv6 Packet: what you need to know. IPv6 Packet: what you need to know.

Precedente IPv6 Address Insider's Guide

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