The Ipv6 Datagram Flow Label Field The flow label is included in IPv6 in order for it to operate in a connection-oriented manner for sending the IPv6 datagram.

The Ipv6 Datagram Flow Label Field

Its size is 20 bits and “may be used by a host to label those packets for which it is requesting special handling by routers within a network” (Stallings and Case, 2013, p. 239). According to Forouzan (2013), “In its simplest form, a flow label can be used to speed up the processing of a packet by a router.

In its more sophisticated form, a flow label can be used to support the transmission of real-time audio and video” (p. 676).

Routers that support flow labels typically have a flow label table that it consults each time it receives a packet with a flow label to know how to process the packet (Forouzan, 2013).

The Ipv6 Datagram Flow Label Field

An interesting observation about flow label tables is that they are not automatically populated from the flow labels themselves, but rather from other means (Forouzan, 2013).

There are many various applications for the flow label. A flow label allows for the router to quickly route the packet using just the flow label table rather than consulting its forwarding table or implementing its routing algorithm to know the packet’s next destination (Forouzan, 2013).

Jaeggli (2018) discussed how major operating systems set the flow label to non-zero values; Ethernet, switches, routers, and other devices have implemented the flow label for scalability and as an addition to a hash component.

The Ipv6 Datagram Flow Label Field

Compatible and Mapped Addresses

Compatible addresses are addresses of 96 bits of zero in the IPv6 address followed by the 32 bit IPv4 address. According to Oracle (2010), “The compatible format is used to represent an IPv6 node.

This format enables you to configure an IPv6 node to use IPv6 without having a real IPv6 address.” Compatible addressing is used when a computer using IPv6 sends a message to another IPv6 computer (Forouzan, 2013)…

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