IPv6 Subnetting

IPv6 subnetting is similar to IPv4 in that binary values of 1 are used to indicate network address
bits, but there are differences in how the subnet mask appears and which bits should be used to
create subnets.

IPv6 Notation
All IPv6 addresses are made up of 128 binary digits, represented by 8 hexadecimal segments,
where each segment is comprised of 16 of those 128 digits. For example, the binary notation
would be broken up like this:
0000000000000000.0000000000000000.0000000000000000.0000000000000000.0000000000000000.00000000000
00000.0000000000000000.0000000000000000

Since 216 = 65536, it would be cumbersome to write these addresses in decimal notation. It was
decided that hexadecimal would be used to represent each 16 bit binary address segment. Each
hexadecimal digit is made up of 4 binary digits, so each 16 bit binary address segment is
represented by a 4 digit hexadecimal number. For example:

Binary Hexadecimal
0000000000000000 0000
1101010011011011 D4DB
1111111111111111 FFFF

Therefore, the 128 bit binary address

1111111111111111.1111111111111111.1111111111111111.1111111111111111.1111111111111111.1111111111111111.1
111111111111111.1111111111111111

would be represented by 8 hexadecimal segments, each separated by colons (like so)

FFFF:FFFF:FFFF:FFFF:FFFF:FFFF:FFFF:FFFF

Subnetting IPv6
Like IPv4, an IPv6 address has a portion that identifies the network segment, and a portion used
for host addressing. Unlike IPv4, an IPv6 address has a dedicated subnetting portion. Here's how
the ranges are divided in IPv6:

Network Address Range:

In IPv6, the first 48 bits are for Internet routing.
0000000000000000.0000000000000000.0000000000000000.0000000000000000.0000000000000000.00000000000
00000.0000000000000000.0000000000000000

Subnetting Range:
The 16 bits from the 49th to the 54th are for defining subnets.
0000000000000000.0000000000000000.0000000000000000.0000000000000000.0000000000000000.00000000000
00000.0000000000000000.0000000000000000

Host Address Range:

The last 64 bits are for host addressing.
0000000000000000.0000000000000000.0000000000000000.0000000000000000.0000000000000000.00000000000
00000.0000000000000000.0000000000000000

Therefore, the first 64 bits of the address are used for network addressing and the last 64 bits
identify the host. Due to this standardized format, subnetting is actually easier in IPv6 once you
get used to it. As with IPv6, first determine the number of desired subnets and then figure out
the power of 2 that is greater than or equal to that number. For example:

Number of desired subnets = 60

Power of 2 greater than or equal to 60 = 26 = 64

The number used as the exponent in the above calculation (6) is the number of bits that must be
borrowed. The subnet range of our IP address would be modified to this:

1111110000000000

which translates into FC00 in hexadecimal. That would make our full IPv6 subnet mask for our
address range look like this:

1111111111111111.1111111111111111.1111111111111111.1111110000000000.0000000000000000.00000000000000
00

OR

FFFF:FFFF:FFFF:FC00:0:0:0:0

Assume we have a beginning network address of FEDC:CF:0:0:0:0:0:0 and need to create 32

subnets. The following steps show how to modify the beginning address appropriately.

Number of desired subnets = 32

Power of 2 greater than or equal to 32 = 25 = 32
Modify the subnet range to use 5 bits for subnetting = 1111100000000000 or F800
New network address range = FEDC:CF:0:0:0:0:0:0 - FEDC:CF:0:F800:0:0:0:0
 IPv6 Subnetting Exercises
The following exercises were extracted from the larger document entitled IPv6 Tutorial which
is included in the assignments folder for your use.

Subnetting an IPv6 Address

An ISP network contains 5 segments where each segment has 4 routers each. The IPv6 address
prefix allocated is 2001:00AA:0:0:0:0:0:0. Create a smaller subnet of the allocated block space
based on each scenarios requirements.

Scenario 1:
Take the existing address that has been assigned and subnet it into at least 28 network segments.

How many bits must be used in the subnetting range of the address to create the
appropriate number of subnets?

What will the modified address range be?

Scenario 2:
Take the existing address that has been assigned and subnet it into at least 48 network segments.

How many bits must be used in the subnetting range of the address to create the
appropriate number of subnets?

What will the modified address range be?

Scenario 3:
Take the existing address that has been assigned and subnet it into at least 68 network segments.

How many bits must be used in the subnetting range of the address to create the
appropriate number of subnets?

What will the modified address range be?

Scenario 4:
Take the existing address that has been assigned and subnet it into at least 88 network segments.

How many bits must be used in the subnetting range of the address to create the
appropriate number of subnets?

What will the modified address range be?