To IP and Beyond - Literature review Example

?TO IP AND BEYOND To IP and Beyond Affiliation Background of Case It was the Department of Defense (DoD) that developed both TCP(Transmission Control Protocol) and IP (Internet Protocol) as a research project which was initiated to establish connection between a wide variety of networks developed by a number of different vendors into a huge network of networks (the "Internet"). Moreover, TCP/IP took many years to be successfully tested and developed and this process sustained for a number of years. Finally, a version 2 of TCP was documented and published in March 1977. And soon after 4 months in August 1977, a major crisis happened in the development of TCP/IP’s development (The TCP/IP Guide, 2005; Polenin, 2012; Gilbert, 1995). Additionally, it is believed to be a biggest success for the reason that it successfully provided a small number of fundamental capabilities and services that everyone required at that time. In this scenario, some of the well-known applications and services that were supported by these protocols included remote logon, file transfer, and electronic mail (email) to a large number of users as well as server systems. In fact, a number of different systems located in a small building or office can employ TCP/IP (in conjunction with additional protocols) on a single local area network (LAN). Basically, this is a combination of two protocols, in which the internet protocol (IP) was established to fulfill a need for consistency of distinctiveness. Hence, the development of this protocol allowed all computers across the earth to share data and information the same way. In fact, it is the most affordable method to make a universal network (The TCP/IP Guide, 2005; Polenin, 2012; Gilbert, 1995). In addition, the IP part of the protocol allows effective routing from one location of a building to the organization’s central network, afterward to provincial networks, and ultimately to the worldwide Internet. As it was developed by DOD so it was intended to be used to provide support and services in battlefield. In view of the fact that on the battleground a communication medium or network will be used to maintain damage, hence the DOD developed TCP/IP to be vigorous and without human intervention recovers from any phone line or terminal breakdown. In this scenario, this design facilitated them to construct a very large network with less central management. Though, due to the computerized processing, there was a chance that a wide variety of network issues can go uncorrected and unidentified for long periods of time. On the other hand, the development of TCP was aimed at providing the connection-oriented communication. In this scenario, the basic purpose of this development was to provide a way for information distribution and communication in which a computer is able to set up an instant link to a server prior to additional communication takes place. However, if a computer does not establish a connection to a server, a server will pay no attention to that computer's request (The TCP/IP Guide, 2005; Polenin, 2012; Gilbert, 1995). The Evolution of TCP/IP In today’s ever-increasing global environment, businesses as well as people heavily rely on the capability to get access to certain data and information and sharing it with others. In fact, this wonderful capability has a serious impact on the advancements of technology and developments of innovations in the world. Without a doubt, governments play a significant role in instigating the development of innovations and latest technologies to improve the quality of communication tools that can support better communication with the intention of speeding up the dispersion of change in the world. In this scenario, the history of TCP/IP can be traced back to the 1960's when a government firm known as the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) was looking for a technology or way for sharing data and information with group mates at remote locations. At that time, their basic aim was to design and implement a technique that could all them to distribute data electronically. Afterward, this idea allowed them to build a most effective technology known as packet switching, which supported the distribution of data and information through ordinary telephone lines (Young, 2012; Kahn, 2005; Espina & Baha, 2009; TechiWarehouse, 2012). Until 1969, this communication technique has emerged to what was recognized as ARPAnet. Basically, ARPAnet is the initial recognized communication technology of computer databases of its type. After some time, the project of ARPAnet was taken over by the United States Department of Defense with the intention of making more improvements. Thus, U.S. DOD started performing experiments on this project. These experiments included the use of electro-magnetic (EM) communications technologies. Additionally, by performing experiments on various technologies such as radio, satellite and what has appeared to be recognized as computer networks based on packet switching. On the other hand, with the development and improvement of packet switching based networks there emerged a need for modern and sophisticated standards and protocols with the intention of covering the reliability of the data and information being distributed (Young, 2012; Kahn, 2005; Espina & Baha, 2009; TechiWarehouse, 2012). In this scenario, the primary Network Control Program (NCP) that was used by U.S.DOD for its ARPAnet project was believed to be a great deal more unbalanced and as a result insufficient for existing and upcoming government use. In order to make this project a success there was a dire need for the development of a more vigorous, secure, and steady architecture for government use which took the DOD toward the development of enhanced transmission protocols. In this scenario, TCP/IP emerged as a result of a widespread struggle for the advancements and the development of a modern and enhanced protocol for the distribution of data and information. However, in order to make this environment more successful there was a dire need for the implementation of more sophisticated standards and protocols. In fact, a TCP/IP offered a collective group of rules and regulations that facilitated the DOD to join different computer systems with each other. Additionally, the proper adoption of TCP/IP started in the mid 1970's (Young, 2012; Kahn, 2005; Espina & Baha, 2009; TechiWarehouse, 2012). In 1980's the Department of Defense had completely stopped making use of the unique NCP protocol and adopted TCP/IP as the only protocol for the establishment of the ARPAnet government sponsored network. In addition, the formal discontinuance and more implementation of this protocol gave the birth of the internet. After some time, these basic editions of TCP/IP had further improved and got better and incorporated the capability to be linked with government networks. This process is known as internetworking. Without a doubt, the development of this internetworking or "internet" features took the additional advancements and participation of further government organizations, and research and educational sectors. In 1980's, the information technology started capturing the attention of the business organizations and the majority of business organizations started spending large amounts of assets and resources in developing and implementing technology for renovating their infrastructures. On the other hand, the development of modern computer processors known as microprocessor as well as a disk operation system (DOS) technology, there emerged latest trends where the markets of personal computer started expanding into the home market (Young, 2012; Kahn, 2005; Espina & Baha, 2009; TechiWarehouse, 2012). Because of effective support from government organizations, research and educational sectors, and ultimately business organizations as well as the customers became regular users of TCP/IP technology. Hence, considering the worth of this innovative technology and ever-increasing need and demand in the business and industrial sectors, business organizations started offering exploring and additional advancements for this networking protocol. Without a doubt, extensive support and facilities from the government organizations improved the process of implementation and modernization for TCP/IP based networks. Moreover, the development of personal computers (PCs)) as a helpful and attractive machine for government agencies, educational institutions, business organizations, and personal usage, accelerated the demand of TCP/IP in the marketplace, which ultimately caused a massive increase in the need and demand to receive and send data and information. As business organizations were looking for a way which could allow them to join their computers and TCP/IP was an excellent technology for fulfilling this requirement, facilitating local area networks to reproduce (Young, 2012; Kahn, 2005; Espina & Baha, 2009; TechiWarehouse, 2012). With the increase in demand for sharing data and information there was a need for more connections. However, older versions of TCP/IP did not support so many connections. As there were billions of people who were using the Internet using this protocol thus, in order to deal with this demand there was a need for the development of protocols that could manage the maximum number of connections. As a result, Internet Protocol version 6 appeared. This version of IP supports maximum internet connections and users. Birth of TCP/IP v 6 The development of TCP/IP and the Internet has serious impact on all the fields of life such as business, engineering, healthcare, manufacturing, entertainment, communication and news and so on. Though, these uses and revolutions are usually business oriented, and some of them have a small number of academic applications such as customer service, e-mail and virtual updates to software, new online multimedia and technology updates. These innovations and developments in technologies allowed the researchers and scientists to build a network model that can offer high level capabilities and high data rate. As a result, modern versions of IPV4, with acknowledgment of IPV6 and internet2 have been created (Hasenstein, 1997; Hinden R., 2003). The research and developments on the internet protocol can be traced back to the 1960s; at that time computing environment and technology was not so much supportive as it is at the present time. However, the internet users were also much lesser than today. However, these networks were formed using the telecommunications lines in order to support communication. In addition, high level networks were not as influential, rapid, and error-free as they are in the present day. Additionally, the data and information those were distributed over the internet encompassed smaller data packets, and there was need for distributing them in instantaneously. However, with the passage of time, number of internet users and demands on the internet started to increase, hence the scientists and network developers searched for the ways to build a contemporary and state-of-the-art internet protocol by using the features of the existing technology. As a result, IPv4 was created (Hasenstein, 1997; Blumenthal & Clark, 2001; Hinden R., 2003). Basically, the internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) is the most modern version of Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) that was created to enhance the functionalities and capabilities of IPv4. Additionally, IPv4 has been very commonly used and is still largely utilized. However, the basic reason that caused the creation of IPv6 was the less address space availability of IPv4 which is reduced due to increased number of users and machines connected to the Internet. In this scenario, IPv6 was at first launched in December 1998 and it was developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). In addition, the IETF has established and distributed an internet standard pattern that is RFC 2460, which outlines the specification of this new version of the internet addressing (Hasenstein, 1997; Blumenthal & Clark, 2001; Hinden R., 2003). One of the most attractive features of IPv6 is that it contains a very large internet address space as compared to the IPv4. Additionally, it supports a 128 bit internet address; on the other hand IPv4 supported simply 32 bits to represent the internet address. In this scenario, this address space can be used to support approximately 2128 or 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 (3.4 ? 1038) possible addresses”. In addition, this expansion allowed the flexibility in allocating addresses and routing traffic (Deering & Hinden, 1999; Ballani, Francis, & Ratnasamy, 2006; Microsoft, 2005). Moreover, while designing the IPv6 it was considered that it must be able to resolve the problem of address allocation and network renumbering at the same time as changing internet connectivity providers. Additionally, in the design of this protocol the size of the subnet was standardized by establishing the amount of the host identifier section of an internet address in 64-bits. In addition, the current design of IPv6 incorporates various security features (Hinden R., 2003; Hinden R. M., 1996; Microsoft, 2005; Microsoft, 2005; Deering & Hinden, 1999). The basic structure of the IPV-6 packet is given below: IPV 6 Diagram Figure 1- IPV-6 Packet Structure Source[http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2003/12/30/ipv6.html] Resulting Impact The majority of people are interested in adoption of the next-generation internet protocol version 6 and internet2, which is aimed at replacing the highly successful IPv4. Though, IPv6 is effective in dealing with the problems of IPv4 but there are certain challenges as well associated with this transition. In fact, the transition to IPv6 seems quite accepted, though it would not be simple (Moore, 2003; The SCO Group, 2004; IPv6 Portal, 2009). This section outlines some of important causes that hinder the implementation of the IPv6 network addressing technology: Interoperability issues In case of implementation of IPv6 it is expected that we will not be able to access the various servers such as CNN servers or the Google servers or our corporate web servers. This type of problem in called the interoperability issue. The basic reason behind this problem is that the majority of the internet servers are currently do not communicate with the clients using public IPv6 addresses (Bernstein, 2009). IPv6 incompatibility One of the flaws in IPv6 design is that IPv6 network addressing will be used as an alternative to the IPv4 address space at the same time as it is not designed as an extension of the IPv4 address space. Thus, IPv6 based networks will not allow public IPv6 addresses to transmit packets or communicate with public IPv4 network addresses (Bernstein, 2009). IPv6 is not an Extension but an Upgrading Software As discussed above this network technology still in held on the subject of its absolute adoption to marketplace because it was designed and launched as upgrading software instead of an extended version. In this scenario, if an organization wants to adopt this network technology then it will need to put additional effort to implement as well as support a public IPv6 address (Bernstein, 2009). IPv4 Router Cannot Be Upgraded to IPv6 If any network equipment cannot be upgraded, we will need to buy IPv6 ready equipment. In fact, the majority of the IPv4 network routers cannot be upgraded to IPv6 network structure (Bernstein, 2009; Oracle Corporation, 2010). Present ISPs Do Not Support IPv6 IPv6 network services are not supported by the current ISPs. In this scenario, if an organization wants to implement IPv6 they will need to hire an additional ISP to offer a second line for IPv6 network communications from their site. On the other hand, this solution can be much more costly to implement (Bernstein, 2009; Oracle Corporation, 2010). References Ballani, H., Francis, P., & Ratnasamy, S. (2006). A measurement-based deployment proposal for IP anycast. Internet Measurement Conference Proceedings of the 6th ACM SIGCOMM conference on Internet measurement (pp. 231-244). Rio de Janeriro, Brazil : ACM New York, USA. Bernstein, D. J. (2009). The IPv6 mess. Retrieved December 10, 2012, from http://cr.yp.to/djbdns/ipv6mess.html Blumenthal, M. S., & Clark, D. D. (2001). Rethinking the design of the Internet: the end-to-end arguments vs. the brave new world. ACM Transactions on Internet Technology (TOIT) Volume 1 Issue 1, pp. 70-109 . Deering, S., & Hinden, R. (1999). Internet Protocol, Version 6 (IPv6) Specification. Retrieved December 03, 2012, from Network Working Group: http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2460.txt Espina, D., & Baha, D. (2009). The present and future of TCP/IP. Retrieved December 08, 2012, from http://www.idt.mdh.se/kurser/ct3340/ht09/ADMINISTRATION/IRCSE09-submissions/ircse09_submission_24.pdf Gilbert, H. (1995). Introduction to TCP/IP . Retrieved December 07, 2012, from http://www.yale.edu/pclt/COMM/TCPIP.HTM Hasenstein, M. (1997). History. Retrieved December 02, 2012, from hasenstein.com: http://www.hasenstein.com/linux-ip-nat/diplom/node3.html Hinden, R. (2003, January 03). IP Version 6 (IPv6). Retrieved December 03, 2012, from Sun.com: http://playground.sun.com/ipv6/ Hinden, R. M. (1996). IP next generation overview. Communications of the ACM Volume 39 Issue 6, pp. 61-71. IPv6 Portal. (2009). The Migration from IPv4 to IPv6. Retrieved December 03, 2012, from http://www.cu.ipv6tf.org/literatura/chap12.pdf Kahn, B. (2005). Evolution of the TCP/IP stack. Retrieved December 09, 2012, from http://bpastudio.csudh.edu/fac/lpress/471/hout/tcpiphist.htm Microsoft. (2005, January 21). IPv6 address space. Retrieved December 03, 2012, from Microsoft.com: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc781652(WS.10).aspx Moore, K. (2003). Dubious Assumptions about IPv6. Retrieved December 03, 2012, from http://www.cs.utk.edu/~moore/opinions/ipv6/dubious-assumptions.html Oracle Corporation. (2010). Common Problems When Deploying IPv6. Retrieved December 09, 2012, from http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/816-4554/ipv6-troubleshoot-2?a=view Polenin, M. (2012). Why Were TCP IP Protocols Developed? Retrieved December 09, 2012, from eHow.com: http://www.ehow.com/facts_5542102_were-tcp-ip-protocols-developed.html TechiWarehouse. (2012). History of TCP/IP. Retrieved December 07, 2012, from http://techiwarehouse.com/engine/78645cd0/History The SCO Group. (2004). Porting IPv4 applications to IPv6. Retrieved December 04, 2012, from http://uw714doc.sco.com/en/SDK_netapi/sockC.PortIPv4appIPv6.html The TCP/IP Guide. (2005, September 20). TCP/IP Overview and History. Retrieved December 05, 2012, from http://www.tcpipguide.com/free/t_TCPIPOverviewandHistory-2.htm Young, N. (2012). The Evolution of TCP/IP to IPv6. Retrieved December 07, 2012, from http://home.comcast.net/~nyoungiic/ny_portfolio/documents/tcpip_paper.pdf Read More