Local IPv6 Address Generator

About RFC 4193 Complaint IPv6 Local Address Range Generator

Local IPv6 Address Generator tool generates a local IPv6 address by getting Global ID and Subnet ID as input and outputs the various parameters required for an IPv6 address. This tool proves helpful when using IPv6 on your local computer.

IPv6 range

IPv6 address range is so huge. It's of 128-bit size. This means it can provide 340 undecillion (36 zeros) unique IP addresses. The exact numbers are 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456. As compared to IPv4 addresses, the IPv6 offers 1,028 times more addresses. Therefore, almost all the devices on the internet can get an IP address. 

How to produce the RFC 4193 complaint local IPv6 addresses?

Theoretically, it wouldn't be essential to have private IPv6 addresses like IPv4 addresses (192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x).

However, unless you do not receive an IPv6 address range from your ISP, you may want "private" IPv6 addresses for internal networks, testing purposes, etc.

IPv6 Address Generator helps users generate a local IPv6 address range for use in your local environment. This tool does not generate IPv6 addresses other than local IPv6 address ranges. This tool proves very helpful when using IPv6 on your local machine.

In IPv6, should use a particular "Unique Unicast" IP range of fc00::/7 as per RFC4193.

The official definition looks like this:

| 7 bits |1|  40 bits   |  16 bits  |          64 bits           |
+--------+-+------------+-----------+----------------------------+
| Prefix |L| Global ID  | Subnet ID |        Interface ID        |
+--------+-+------------+-----------+----------------------------+

In practice, such an address will always start with "fd" because the 8th (L) bit must be one.

The "Global ID" and "Subnet ID" must be random to ensure uniqueness.

To produce RFC 4193 complaint local IPv6 addresses, perform the following steps.

• Open the IPv6 Local Address Range Generator.
• Enter the Global ID: Any valid alphanumeric string of 10 characters consists of 0123456789abcdef.
• Enter the Subnet ID: Any valid alphanumeric string of 4 characters consists of 0123456789abcdef.
• Click on the "Calculate" button. 
• The tool provides you the Prefix / L, Global ID, Subnet ID, Network, CIDR, IPv6 Address Format, Start Range, End Range, and Block Size.

Future of IPv6

Without any doubt, currently, our internet system is based on two Internet Protocols, IPv4 and IPv6. But it does not make any sense to rely on both protocols. IPv4 is the old-dated version designed in the 1970s by a U.S. government organization that wanted new, lower-layer protocols because the existing layers had become functionally inadequate.

On the other hand, IPv6 is the latest version of internet protocols covering the drawbacks present in IPv4. Its new, fresh, and designed with a clean slate approach. Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and many ISPs and MNOs, have already adopted that protocol version. ICANN demands that all new TLDs must be IPv6-capable. In addition, the hosting companies are also implementing free IPv6 services. Therefore, without any doubt, the future belongs to IPv6.

With the IPv6 deployment up to the 50% mark, the IPv4 prices are dropping. The Internet Society recommends that enterprises sell off their current non-use IPv4 addresses to support the IPv6 development. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has implemented this. According to an announcement on GitHub, the university decided that 8 million of its IPv4 addresses were in the non-use section and could be sold without affecting current or future needs since it also holds 20 nonillion IPv6 addresses.

However, IPv4 will always prevail, which is surely the beauty of Internet Protocols.