IPv6 History and related RFCs
The IPv4 was first developed in the 1970s, and the RFC 791 (IPv4) functionality was published in 1981. Because of the rapid expansion of the internet, IPv4 address space has been getting consumed over the years after 1990's.
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) started working on a new protocol from 1994, which is going to replace IPv4.
IPv6 RFCs
Following are the major RFCs related with IPv6.
Click the following link to learn about RFC, if you are not sure what an RFC (Request for Comments) is.
• The Recommendation for the IP Next Generation Protocol (RFC 1752), was published in 1995.
• IPv6 Address Allocation Management (RFC 1881) was published in 1995.
• A Compact Representation of IPv6 Addresses (RFC 1924) was published in 1996
• RIPng for IPv6 (RFC 2080) was published in January 1997.
• Internet Protocol, Version 6 (IPv6) Specification (RFC 2460) was published in December 1998.
• Basic Socket Interface Extensions for IPv6 (RFC 2553) was published in March 1999.
• Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) for IPv6 (RFC 2710) was published in October 1999
• Router Renumbering for IPv6 (RFC 2894) was published in August 2000
• Extensions to IPv6 Neighbor Discovery for Inverse Discovery Specification (RFC 3122) was published in June 2001
• Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv6 (DHCPv6) (RFC 3315) was published in July 2003.
• IPv6 Global Unicast Address Format (RFC 3587) was published in August 2003.
• IPv6 Prefix Options for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) version 6 (RFC 3633) was published in 2003. RFC 3633 was later updated with RFC 6603 in 2012.
• Stateless Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Service for IPv6 (RFC 3736) was published in April 2004.
• Mobility Support in IPv6 (RFC 3775) was published in June 2004.
• Multicast Listener Discovery Version 2 (MLDv2) for IPv6 (RFC 3810) was published in June 2004
• IPv6 Flow Label Specification (RFC 3697) was published in March 2004.
• Deprecating Site Local Addresses (RFC 3879) was published in September 2004.
• SEcure Neighbor Discovery (SEND) (RFC 3971) was published in March 2005.
• IPv6 Scoped Address Architecture (RFC 4007) was published in March 2005.
• Instructions for Seamoby and Experimental Mobility Protocol IANA Allocations (RFC 4065) was published in July 2005.
• Unique Local IPv6 Unicast Addresses (RFC 4193) was published in October 2005.
• Multicast Router Discovery (RFC 4286) was published in December 2005.
• IP Version 6 Addressing Architecture (RFC 4291) was published in February 2006.
• IPv6 Node Requirements (RFC 4294) was published in April 2006.
• Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMPv6) for the Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) Specification (RFC 4443) was published in March 2006.
• IPv6 Node Information Queries (RFC 4620) was published in August 2006.
• Multiprotocol Extensions for BGP-4 (RFC 4760) was published in January 2007.
• Neighbor Discovery for IP version 6 (RFC 4861) was published in September 2007.
• IPv6 Stateless Address Autoconfiguration (RFC 4862) was published in September 2007.
• Extended ICMP to Support Multi-Part Messages (RFC 4884) was published in April 2007.
• Privacy Extensions for Stateless Address Autoconfiguration in IPv6 (RFC 4941) was published in September 2007.
• OSPF for IPv6 (RFC 5340) was published in July 2008.
• Mobile IPv6 Fast Handovers (RFC 5568) was published in July 2009.
• IAB Thoughts on IPv6 Network Address Translation (RFC 5902) was published in July 2010.
• Evolution of the IP Model (RFC 6250) was published in May 2011.
• Issues with IP Address Sharing (RFC 6269) was published in June 2011.
• Mobility Support in IPv6 (RFC 6275) was published in July 2011.
• Design Considerations for Faster-Than-Light (FTL) Communication (RFC 6921) was published in April 2013.
Written by Jajish Thomas.
Last updated on 1st September, 2023.
