IPv6 Core Protocols Implementation

IPv6 is the future of the Internet, literally. Our current Internet runs on IPv4 (Internet protocol version four). The problem with IPv4 is that site addresses are running out, and fast. IPv6 (Internet protocol version six) has a vastly larger amount of addresses. Along with this upgrade in size, security is made much more robust and mobile devices will now have there own IP addresses. This book is clearly needed today, if not yesterday. Currently widely deployed in Asia, IPv6 is about to become the standard globally and no other book offers a complete IPv6 code walk-through. Civilian government agencies in the US must comply to IPv6 standard by June 2008 and the number of companies and operating systems that are IPv6 ready is growing rapidly. These authors have created a book that helps designers and developers create a smooth transition to this protocol featuring the leading software set, KAME (means turtle in Japanese). The KAME software set is preferred among those researchers now developing and deploying IPv6. This book will be the first and only book to offer a line-by-line code walk through and in depth discussion about implementation. This is the authoritative reference text on KAME and IPv6! IPv6 was introduced in 1994 and has been in development at the IETF for over 10 years. It has now reached the deployment stage. KAME, the de-facto open-source reference implementation of the IPv6 standards, played a significant role in the acceptance and the adoption of the IPv6 technology. The adoption of KAME by key companies in a wide spectrum of commercial products is a testimonial to the success of the KAME project, which concluded not long ago. This book is the first and the only one of its kind, which reveals all of the details of the KAME IPv6 protocol stack, explaining exactly what every line of code does and why it was designed that way. Through the dissection of both the code and its design, the authors illustrate how IPv6 and its related protocols have been interpreted and implemented from the specifications. This reference will demystify those ambiguous areas in the standards, which are open to interpretation and problematic in deployment, and presents solutions offered by KAME in dealing with these implementation challenges. About the Authors Qing Li is a senior architect at Blue Coat Systems, Inc. leading the Qing holds multiple US patents. Qing is a contributing author of the book titled "Handbook of Networked and Embedded Control Systems" published in June 2005. He is the author of the embedded systems development book titled "Real-Time Concepts for Embedded Systems" published in April 2003. Tatuya Jinmei Ph.D. is a research scientist at Corporate Research & Development Center, Toshiba Corporation. He had been a core developer of the KAME project since the launch of the project through its conclusion. In 2003, he received the Ph.D. degree from Keio University, Japan, based on his work at KAME. Keiichi Shima is a senior researcher at Internet Initiative Japan Inc. He was a core developer of the KAME project from 2001 to the end of the project and developed Mobile IPv6/NEMO Basic Support protocol stack. He is now working on the new mobility stack (the SHISA stack) for BSD operating systems. This book covers a snapshot version of KAME dated April 2003 based on FreeBSD 4.8. It includes extensive line-by-line code listings with meticulous explanation of their rationale and use for the KAME snapshot implementation, which is generally applicable to most recent versions of the KAME IPv6 stack including those in recent releases of BSD variants. Numerous diagrams and illustrations help in visualizing the implementation. In-depth discussion of the standards provides intrinsic understanding of the specifications. Two CD-ROMs are filled with the complete KAME IPv6 protocol stack and FreeBSD software.