(A LOT OF) new web addresses created

(you know Gore had something to do with this...)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2270472,00.html

340,282,366,920,938,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 new web addresses created by internet chiefs . . . so we won’t run out of space soon, then

By Jonathan Richards

TO THE lay observer it seems like an infinite network of computers, servers and cables stretching around the globe.
But the worldwide web is filling up. So quickly, it turns out, that programmers have had to devise a new one.

Of the internet addresses available, more than three quarters are already in use, and the remainder are expected to be assigned by 2009. So, what will happen as more people in developing countries come online? The answer is IPv6, a new internet protocol that has more spaces than the old one: 340,282,366,920,938,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000 spaces, in fact. “Currently there’s four billion addresses available and there are six billion humans on Earth, so there’s obviously an issue there,” said David Kessens, chairman of the IPv6 working group at RIPE, one of five regional internet registries in charge of rolling it out.

Every device that is connected to the internet — websites, computers and mobile phones — needs an “internet address” to locate it on the network.

When the internet was developed in the 1980s, programmers had no idea how big it would become. They gave each address a “16-bit” number, which meant that the total number of available addresses worked out at about four billion (2 to the power of 32).

But as use grew, it became clear that the old protocol, IPv4, wasn’t big enough, so a new one was written based on “32-bit numbers”. That increased the number of available addresses to 340 undecillion, 282 decillion, 366 nonillion, 920 octillion, 938 septillion — enough for the foreseeable future, Mr Kessens said.

(snip)

“The big change is going to be in peer-to-peer services like gaming and file-sharing, which are going to become much easier to use,” Mr Kessens said.

Several service providers, including AOL and Yahoo!, have applied for space on the new network, and IPv6 is in use in some countries, including the Netherlands. But the big “driver” is likely to be the release next year of the new version of Microsoft Windows, Vista, which is understood to contain some IPv6-only applications. The US Government has told departments to make their systems “IPv6-ready” by 2008.

(snip)

link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2270472,00.html

** Title of article edited by Admin to prevent page format problems.

it's four sets of 16 bit numbers separated by dots.

So, something like 193.168.72.14

in which none of those numbers can be greater than 255 or lower than zero (since it's 16 bits).

So, we have 256 possibilities in each of the four sections, giving us 4*2^16, or 2^32, or just over 4 billion combinations. And a few combinations are not allowed - like 0.0.0.0 or 1.1.1.1, just because the internet needs a few numbers all to its self for managing overhead things.

2**8 = 256, which is the maximum number of values in each number of the IPv4 standard.

At least, technical things.

My mind is gone tonight. I don't know what the hell I was thinking.

The IPv4 address were a fullword, which is four (4) 8-bit bytes (4*8=32) or 2**32, = 32 bits. That's why you see IP addresses often expressed as n.n.n.n where n is 0 to 255 x'FF FF FF FF', a fullword.

IPv6 address are 128 bits, or four fullwords, or two double words. That works out to 2**128 ~ 3.4*10**38, which is 340,282,366,920,938,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000


I would guess the "16 bit" came from 16 bit mainframe and unix processors that were around at the time IPv4 came into play. They have since evolved into 32 and 64 bit processors.

'Tis better to laugh than cry.

Been testing it off and on myself with the home network (Sun server).

Of course - if the wars keep going on ip v4 will continue to work just fine...

RFC 2460

LBN?