Introduction
This book is a straightforward discussion of the concepts, principles, and processes of Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) and how it is supported by the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista operating systems. Note that this book does not contain programming code-level details of the IPv6 protocol for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista, such as structures, tables, buffers, or coding logic. These details are highly guarded Microsoft intellectual property that is of interest only to a relative handful of software developers. However, this book does contain details of how the Microsoft implementation of IPv6 in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista works for described processes and how to modify default behaviors with Netsh.exe tool commands and registry values.
The purpose of this book is to provide an educational vehicle that will enable you to learn IPv6 to a fair level of technical depth—the terms, the addresses, the protocols, and the processes. This book is not intended to be a breezy marketing overview of IPv6 and how it “provides integrated and interoperable technologies to enable exciting new scenarios for personal and enterprise computing.” I will leave that type of documentation to those who are much better at it than I am. The bottom line is that I am a protocols and processes person. My main concern and interest is how the protocols work and what one sees on the wire (what packets are exchanged), and these topics account for the bulk of this book.
Note The contents of this book reflect the Internet standards for IPv6 and the feature set of the IPv6 protocol for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista as of Release Candidate 0 (RC0) of Windows Server 2008. For information about changes in Internet standards and the IPv6 protocol for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista past Windows Server 2008 RC0, see the Microsoft Windows IPv6 Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/ipv6.
Direct from the Source: Why This Book Is Relevant
A global debate is currently in session regarding IPv6. The debate is not intense, but its frequency seems to be increasing at many technical conferences. Some are claiming that IPv6 has been under development for more than 10 years and no deployments of significance have occurred. Network Address Translator (NAT) and Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) are referenced as an indication that IPv4 will not be exhausted until some distant future date. However, the evidence at http://www.potaroo.net/tools/ipv4 and http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac123/ac147/archived_issues/ipj_8-3/ipj_8-3.pdf now suggests that the IPv4-only nature of the Internet will soon come to an end. At the time of printing this edition, recent announcements by two of the five Regional
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xxxviii Introduction
Internet Registries (RIRs) (which you can read about at http://lacnic.net/ipv6/en/ and http://www.arin.net/announcements/20070521.html) have requested that enterprises begin planning for IPv6. This is important because the Internet registries are dispassionate third parties in any technology debate. The RIRs have a problem to solve: maintain a large pool of unique addresses to meet the demand of Internet expansion. As IPv4 addresses are depleted from this reserve, IPv6 is the only viable alternative. This book should give you an understanding of IPv6 technology and the components that make it work. In light of the current trends, this will be essential knowledge for anyone who is involved in next-generation networks.
Ben Schultz
IPv6 Program Manager
Who Should Read This Book
This book is intended for the following audiences:
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Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista networking consultants and planners This |
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group includes anyone who will be planning for an eventual IPv6 migration with |
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Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista. |
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Microsoft Windows network administrators This group includes anyone who |
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manages an IPv4-based network and wants to gain technical knowledge about IPv6 and |
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its implementation in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista. |
■Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers (MCSEs) and Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCTs) Regardless of the eventual IPv6 content for Microsoft Official Curriculum (MOC) courseware for Windows Server 2008, this book can be a standard reference for MCSEs and MCTs for IPv6 technology.
■General technical staff Because this book is mostly about IPv6 protocols and processes, independent of its implementation in Windows Server 2008, general technical staff can use this book as an in-depth primer on IPv6 technologies.
■Information technology students This book originated as courseware for internal Microsoft software developers, testers, and program managers and retains its capability to be a textbook for IPv6 courses taught at an organization or educational institution.
What You Should Know Before Reading This Book
This book assumes a foundation of networking knowledge that includes basic networking concepts, widely used networking technologies, and sound knowledge of the TCP/IP suite. Wherever possible, I try to facilitate the reader’s transition to IPv6 by comparing it with the corresponding feature, behavior, or component of IPv4.
Introduction xxxix
For a firm foundation of knowledge of the TCP/IP protocol suite, I cannot recommend a better resource as a prerequisite for this book than Windows Server 2008 TCP/IP Protocols and Services by Joseph Davies (Microsoft Press, 2008). Like this book, this resource is mostly about implementation-independent protocols and processes. As the author of this resource, I may be a bit biased. However, this book was written with Windows Server 2008 TCP/IP Protocols and Services in mind and builds upon it. In fact, this book and Windows Server 2008 TCP/IP Protocols and Services are written as companion volumes. I recommend that Windows Server 2008 TCP/IP Protocols and Services be part of your standard TCP/IP reference library, whether you use Microsoft software or not.
Organization of This Book
Because IPv6 is a replacement for the Internet layer of the widely used TCP/IP protocol suite, there were no convenient sublayers with which to organize the material. Instead, I have ordered the chapters so that they build upon each other in a logical fashion. For example, it is difficult to understand Neighbor Discovery processes without first understanding IPv6 addressing, the IPv6 header, and Internet Control Message Protocol for IPv6 (ICMPv6), and it’s almost impossible to understand IPv6 transition technologies without first understanding IPv6 addressing, Neighbor Discovery processes, name resolution, and routing.
Appendices of This Book
This book contains the following appendices:
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Appendix A: Link-Layer Support for IPv6 A discussion of link-layer encapsulation |
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of IPv6 packets for typical local area network (LAN) and wide area network (WAN) |
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technologies. |
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Appendix B: Windows Sockets Changes for IPv6 A description of the enhancements |
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to Windows Sockets to support both IPv6 and IPv4 at the same time. |
■Appendix C: IPv6 RFC Index A listing of the RFCs and Internet drafts for IPv6 that are the most relevant to the IPv6 implementation in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista at the time of this book’s publication. This appendix is not designed to be an exhaustive list and will certainly be obsolete at some level soon after this book is printed.
■ Appendix D: Testing for Understanding Answers At the end of each chapter is a “Testing for Understanding” section with a series of review questions pertaining to the material in the chapter. This appendix provides answers to those review questions.
■Appendix E: Setting Up an IPv6 Test Lab This appendix answers the question, “How do I get it going so that I can play with it?” By using the instructions in this appendix, you can take five computers and create an IPv6 test lab to test address autoconfiguration, routing, and name resolution. At the end, you are left with a working IPv4 and IPv6 or IPv6-only network with which you can experiment on your own.
xl Introduction
■Appendix F: Mobile IPv6 An in-depth discussion of Mobile IPv6, a protocol that allows an IPv6 host to change locations and addresses while maintaining existing transport layer connections.
■Appendix G: IPv6 Reference Tables A reprinting of the most relevant IPv6 tables of IPv6 protocol field values and other parameters.
About the Companion CD-ROM
The companion CD-ROM included with this book contains the following:
■eBook form of this book Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) version of this book, which allows you to view it online and perform text searches.
■Network Monitor captures Throughout the book, packet structure and protocol processes are illustrated with actual IPv6 packets displayed using Microsoft Network Monitor 3.1, a frame capturing and viewing program (also known as a network sniffer) provided for free by Microsoft. The display of the frames within the capture files depends on the version of Network Monitor you are using. Some capture files cannot be viewed by versions of Network Monitor prior to version 3.1. You can install Network Monitor 3.1 from a link on the companion CD-ROM or from http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/ ?LinkID=92844. For the latest information about Network Monitor, see the Network Monitor blog at http://blogs.technet.com/netmon/.
■IPv6 RFCs and Internet drafts The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Request for Comments (RFCs) and Internet drafts for IPv6 that are referenced in the chapters and appendices of the book and for understanding the IPv6 implementation in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista.
■Training slides A set of Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 files that can be used to teach IPv6 using this book. For more information, see “A Special Note to Teachers and Instructors.” To view the training slides, you need Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 or later or the PowerPoint Viewer 2003. You can install PowerPoint Viewer 2003 from http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=59771.
Digital Content for Digital Book Readers If you bought a digital-only edition of this book, you can enjoy select content from the print edition’s companion CD. Visit http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=105451 to get your downloadable content. This content is always up-to-date and available to all readers.
The CD that accompanies the print edition of this book is not available with this eBook edition, although select CD content is available for download at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=105451.