Editing IPv6 (section)

==Main features==
[[File:IPv6 address terminology-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.2|Glossary of terms used for IPv6 addresses]]

IPv6 is an [[Internet Layer]] protocol for [[Packet switching|packet-switched]] [[internetworking]] and provides end-to-end [[datagram]] transmission across multiple IP networks, closely adhering to the design principles developed in the previous version of the protocol, [[IPv4|Internet Protocol Version 4]] (IPv4).

In addition to offering more addresses, IPv6 also implements features not present in IPv4. It simplifies aspects of address configuration, network renumbering, and router announcements when changing network connectivity providers. It simplifies packet processing in routers by placing the responsibility for packet fragmentation in the end points. The IPv6 [[subnetwork|subnet]] size is standardized by fixing the size of the host identifier portion of an address to 64 bits.

The addressing architecture of IPv6 is defined in {{IETF RFC|4291}} and allows three different types of transmission: [[unicast]], [[anycast]] and [[multicast]].<ref name="Rosen kernel networking">{{Cite book|title=Linux Kernel Networking: Implementation and Theory|first=Rami|last=Rosen|publisher=Apress|date=2014|isbn=9781430261971|location=New York|oclc=869747983}}</ref>{{rp|210}}