World IPv6 Day

World IPv6 day (June 8, 2011) is a global test of IPv6, a version of the Internet Protocol designed to succeed IPv4. As a test of IPv6, major web companies enabled IPv6 on their primary websites for a 24‑hour period.

In their most recognizable form, IPv4 addresses contains 32 bits in the format aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd, where each “octet”  may be any value 0 to 255. An example of an IPv4 address is 6.28.73.153, which happens to be an address for Fort Huachuca, Arizona. (I have no connection to Fort Huachuca, though. The numbers 6 and 28 are perfect numbers, 73 is the Chuck Norris of numbers, and 153 is my favorite number for reasons I’ve explained before.)

By contrast, IPv6 addresses contain 128 bits in the format ssss:tttt:uuuu:vvvv:wwww:xxxx:yyyy:zzzz, where each group contains four hexadecimal digits. An example of an IPv6 address is 1597:1729:2357:4096:6174:8008:9261:9999. (It is left as an exercise for the reader to determine why each of those four-digit numbers is interesting.) An even better example might be abba:acdc:dead:deaf:babe:face:fade:bead.

The switch to IPv6 addresses is a practical one; some parts of the world have already exhausted their allocations of IPv4 addresses, and most other regions are expected to exhaust their allocations within a few years.

Mathematically, there are some good questions that can be asked about the potential impact of switching from IPv4 to IPv6:

• How many IPv4 addresses are possible?
• How many IPv6 addresses are possible?
• What is the ratio of the number of possible IPv6 addresses to possible IPv4 addresses?

These questions might be especially good for a unit on exponents.

My original and sophomoric contribution to World IPv6 Day…

If they ever need a commissioner of Internet Protocol, who would be the best candidates?

• I. P. Freely
• I. P. Daly
• I. P. Offtin
• I. P. Ondaseet
• I. P. Threetimezanite
• I. P. Indaportapotty

And since I’ve already started down this path…

You’re so stupid, you have to study for a urine test.