Comparison of IPv4 and IPv6

The following table compares the key differences between IPv4 and IPv6.

Note

This information may not reflect IPv6 support in the current release.

Table 1. IPv4 and IPv6 key differences compared
Feature	IPv4	IPv6
Address length	32 bits	128 bits
IPsec support	Optional	Required
QoS support	Limited	Improved
Fragmentation	Hosts and routers	Hosts only
Minimum MTU packet size	576 bytes	1280 bytes
Checksum in header	Yes	No
Options in header	Yes	Yes
Link-layer address resolution	ARP (broadcast)	Multicast neighbor discovery messages
Multicast membership	IGMP	Multicast Listener Discovery
Router discovery	Optional	Optional
Uses broadcasts	Yes	No
Address configuration	Manual, DHCP	Automatic, DHCP