IPv6 Hosting
All networking devices are utilizing IP addresses. IPv4, being the most popular IP solution, has ballooned exponentially in recent years. Many groups have told the exact date when IPv4 will be used up. Because of the fast growing up networking service, it has necessitated the adoption of IPv6. IPv6 is by far the only perfect protocol intended to support this growth via the use of expanded IP addresses.
IPv6 Introduction & Hosting
IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) is a revision of the Internet Protocol (IP) developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). IPv6 is intended to succeed IPv4. IPv6 was developed to deal with the long-anticipated problem of IPv4 running out of addresses. IPv6 has a length of 128 bit which means there're total of 2128, or approximately 3.4×1038 addresses. It’s a big number that almost capable of serving each grid of sand on the earth and still several times amount remains! In theory, IPv6 will ensure every internet device gets one or more static IP addresses, it greatly reduced the cost for every online business.
The key features with IPv6
- Larger Address Capacity (approximately 340 undecillion or 3.4 x 1038 addresses)
- IP Security (IPSec) implementation for all networks utilizing IPv6
- Simplified Packet Header for Routing Efficiency
- Enhanced Support Options for Mobile Computing Devices
- Enabling of More Advanced Communication & Collaboration Applications
- Ability to Transmit a Packet to Multiple Destinations in a Single Send Operation
How is IPv6 Different from IPv4?
IPv6 perfectly solved the lack of resource from IPv4 and actually provided more than what we need in the next 100 years. Does that mean everything is good with this solution and IPv4 is out of date? Absolutely not, there is a long way to go for IPv6 if you take a further look at it.
IPv6 is composed with 128 bit address which means it’s very long. Take a sample address for instance “4aae:17a1:1a23:45:179:a8ff:12fe:cf67”. As we see, it’s very hard for people to remember such address. On the other hand, the 32 bit IPv4 address is 100% Arabic number based and very short, for example the “192.168.1.1” can be remembered by everybody. Also, the IPv6 uses colon to separate the eight groups of four hexadecimal digits while IPv4 uses comma, there will be some time for people to be used to this change. Generally, the IPv6 is more complex than IPv4 and might give end user management problems. It’s good solution in the long run, but IPv4 is definitely more user friendly.
Best IPv6 Hosting Provider
According to an online survey, IPv6 shares around 0.2% total internet traffic at the moment, means it’s not yet popularly used or supported by service providers. In real web hosting service, IPv4 is still the main player. Because most shared hosting are cpanel based but cpanel is not yet implemented the IPv6 support officially, so if we look for IPv6 support we have to give up cpanel as well as shared hosting option. In that case, VPS or dedicated server with IPv6 support is the only choice for people.
Cpanel IPv6 implement update: http://cpanel.net/ipv6_implementation_update/
Recommended VPS hosting with IPv6 support: Liquidweb.com
Shared Hosting with IPv6 support: he.net