Wed, 23 April 2008
Intro: Amazon launched the Kindle in the United
States in November 2007. Demand for the Kindle has been high with long
waiting lists. We finally got our hands on one and review the Kindle in
this podcast.
Show Questions: Can you give us some basic specs on the Kindle?
What about external storage, battery life and ports or connectors?
How do you navigate?
Does the ruler do anything else?
What's Whispernet? How do you get content on the Kindle?
Can you get content from other sources? What file formats does the kindle support? Are there other ways to read pdf's? Can you view pictures? What else can you do? I'm always reading things and making notes to include in blogs or other documents - is there a way to do this? How does the dictionary work? What are some of the experimental extras - does it allow web browsing?? I've heard about a question ask and answer feature - can you describe that? Can you play music on it? Any other observations? |
Thu, 3 April 2008
Intro: Two weeks ago we gave an overview of IPv6. This week we take a look at some of the technical details for this protocol.
Mike: Gordon, a couple of weeks ago we discussed Ipv6 - can you give us a quick review - what's the difference between IPv4 and IPv6? The most obvious distinguishing feature of IPv6 is its use of much larger addresses. The size of an address in IPv6 is 128 bits, which is four times the larger than an IPv4 address. A 32-bit address space allows for 232 or 4,294,967,296 possible addresses. A 128-bit address space allows for 2 28 or 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 (or 3.4x1038) possible addresses. In the late 1970s when the IPv4 address space was designed, it was unimaginable that it could be exhausted. However, due to changes in technology and an allocation practice that did not anticipate the recent explosion of hosts on the Internet, the IPv4 address space was consumed to the point that by 1992 it was clear a replacement would be necessary. With IPv6, it is even harder to conceive that the IPv6 address space will be consumed. Mike: It's not just to have more addresses though, is it? It is important to remember that the decision to make the IPv6 address 128 bits in length was not so that every square inch of the Earth could have 4.3x1020 addresses. Rather, the relatively large size of the IPv6 address is designed to be subdivided into hierarchical routing domains that reflect the topology of the modern-day Internet. The use of 128 bits allows for multiple levels of hierarchy and flexibility in designing hierarchical addressing and routing that is currently lacking on the IPv4-based Internet. Mike: Is there a specific RFC for IPv6? The IPv6 addressing architecture is described in RFC 2373. Mike: I know there is some basic terminology associated with IPv6. Can you describe Nodes and Interfaces as they apply to IPv6? A node is any device that implements IPv6. It can be a router, which is a device that forwards packets that aren't directed specifically to it, or a host, which is a node that doesn't forward packets. An interface is the connection to a transmission medium through which IPv6 packets are sent. Mike: How about some more IPv6 terminology - can you discuss Links, Neighbors, Link MTUs, and Link Layer Addresses? A link is the medium over which IPv6 is carried. Neighbors are nodes that are connected to the same link. A link maximum transmission unit (MTU) is the maximum packet size that can be carried over a given link medium, and is expressed in octets. A Link Layer address is the "physical" address of an interface, such as media access control (MAC) addresses for Ethernet links. Mike: Can you give a brief ouline in address syntax? IPv4 addresses are represented in dotted-decimal format. This 32-bit address is divided along 8-bit boundaries. Each set of 8 bits is converted to its decimal equivalent and separated by periods. For IPv6, the 128-bit address is divided along 16-bit boundaries, and each 16-bit block is converted to a 4-digit hexadecimal number and separated by colons. The resulting representation is called colon-hexadecimal. The following is an IPv6 address in binary form:
00100001110110100000000011010011000000000000000000101111001110110000001010101010000000001111111111111110001010001001110001011010
The 128-bit address is divided along 16-bit boundaries:
0010000111011010
0000000011010011 0000000000000000 0010111100111011
0000001010101010 0000000011111111 1111111000101000
1001110001011010
Each 16-bit block is converted to hexadecimal and delimited with colons. The result is:
21DA:00D3:0000:2F3B:02AA:00FF:FE28:9C5A
IPv6 representation can be further simplified by removing the leading zeros within each 16-bit block. However, each block must have at least a single digit. With leading zero suppression, the address representation becomes:
21DA:D3:0:2F3B:2AA:FF:FE28:9C5A
Mike: I know there are lost of zeros in IPv6 addresses - can you discribe zero compression notation? Some types of addresses contain long sequences of zeros. To further simplify the representation of IPv6 addresses, a contiguous sequence of 16-bit blocks set to 0 in the colon hexadecimal format can be compressed to “::?, known as double-colon. For example, the link-local address of FE80:0:0:0:2AA:FF:FE9A:4CA2 can be compressed to FE80::2AA:FF:FE9A:4CA2. The multicast address FF02:0:0:0:0:0:0:2 can be compressed to FF02::2. Zero compression can only be used to compress a single contiguous series of 16-bit blocks expressed in colon hexadecimal notation. You cannot use zero compression to include part of a 16-bit block. For example, you cannot express FF02:30:0:0:0:0:0:5 as FF02:3::5. The correct representation is FF02:30::5. To determine how many 0 bits are represented by the “::?, you can count the number of blocks in the compressed address, subtract this number from 8, and then multiply the result by 16. For example, in the address FF02::2, there are two blocks (the “FF02? block and the “2? block.) The number of bits expressed by the “::? is 96 (96 = (8 – 2)(16). Zero compression can only be used once in a given address. Otherwise, you could not determine the number of 0 bits represented by each instance of “::?.
Mike: IPv4 addresses use subnet masks - do IPv6 addresses?
No - a subnet mask is not used for IPv6. Something called prefix length notation is supported. The prefix is the part of the address that indicates the bits that have fixed values or are the bits of the network identifier. Prefixes for IPv6 subnet identifiers, routes, and address ranges are expressed in the same way as Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) notation for IPv4. An IPv6 prefix is written in address/prefix-length notation. For example, 21DA:D3::/48 is a route prefix and 21DA:D3:0:2F3B::/64 is a subnet prefix. Mike: I know there are three basic types of IPv6 addresses - can you give a brief description of each? 1. Unicast – packet sent to a particular interface
A unicast address identifies a single interface within the scope of the
type of unicast address. With the appropriate unicast routing topology,
packets addressed to a unicast address are delivered to a single
interface. To accommodate load-balancing systems, RFC 2373 allows for
multiple interfaces to use the same address as long as they appear as a
single interface to the IPv6 implementation on the host.
2. Multicast - packet sent to a set of interfaces, typically encompassing multiple nodes
A multicast address identifies multiple interfaces. With the
appropriate multicast routing topology, packets addressed to a
multicast address are delivered to all interfaces that are identified
by the address.
3. Anycast
– while identifying multiple interfaces (and typically multiple nodes)
is sent only to the interface that is determined to be “nearest? to the
sender.
An anycast address identifies multiple interfaces. With the appropriate
routing topology, packets addressed to an anycast address are delivered
to a single interface, the nearest interface that is identified by the
address. The “nearest? interface is defined as being closest in terms
of routing distance. A multicast address is used for one-to-many
communication, with delivery to multiple interfaces. An anycast address
is used for one-to-one-of-many communication, with delivery to a single
interface.
In all cases, IPv6 addresses identify interfaces, not nodes. A node is identified by any unicast address assigned to one of its interfaces. Mike: What about broadcasting? RFC 2373 does not define a broadcast address. All types of IPv4 broadcast addressing are performed in IPv6 using multicast addresses. For example, the subnet and limited broadcast addresses from IPv4 are replaced with the link-local scope all-nodes multicast address of FF02::1. Mike: What about special addresses? The following are special IPv6 addresses:
Unspecified Address
The unspecified address (0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 or ::) is only used to
indicate the absence of an address. It is equivalent to the IPv4
unspecified address of 0.0.0.0. The unspecified address is typically
used as a source address for packets attempting to verify the
uniqueness of a tentative address. The unspecified address is never
assigned to an interface or used as a destination address.
Loopback Address
The loopback address (0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1 or ::1) is used to identify a
loopback interface, enabling a node to send packets to itself. It is
equivalent to the IPv4 loopback address of 127.0.0.1. Packets addressed
to the loopback address must never be sent on a link or forwarded by an
IPv6 router.
Mike: How is DNS handled? Enhancements to the Domain Name System (DNS) for IPv6 are described in RFC 1886 and consist of the following new elements:
Host address (AAAA) resource record
IP6.ARPA domain for reverse queries Note: According to RFC 3152, Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) consensus has been reached that the IP6.ARPA domain be used, instead of IP6.INT as defined in RFC 1886. The IP6.ARPA domain is the domain used by IPv6 for Windows Server 2003. The Host Address (AAAA) Resource Record: A new
DNS resource record type, AAAA (called “quad A?), is used for resolving
a fully qualified domain name to an IPv6 address. It is comparable to
the host address (A) resource record used with IPv4. The resource
record type is named AAAA (Type value of 28) because 128-bit IPv6
addresses are four times as large as 32-bit IPv4 addresses. The
following is an example of a AAAA resource record:
host1.microsoft.com IN AAAA FEC0::2AA:FF:FE3F:2A1C
A host
must specify either a AAAA query or a general query for a specific host
name in order to receive IPv6 address resolution data in the DNS query
answer sections.
The IP6.ARPA Domain The
IP6.ARPA domain has been created for IPv6 reverse queries. Also called
pointer queries, reverse queries determine a host name based on the IP
address. To create the namespace for reverse queries, each hexadecimal
digit in the fully expressed 32-digit IPv6 address becomes a separate
level in inverse order in the reverse domain hierarchy.
For example, the reverse
lookup domain name for the address FEC0::2AA:FF:FE3F:2A1C (fully
expressed as FEC0:0000:0000:0000:02AA: 00FF:FE3F:2A1C) is:
C.1.A.2.F.3.E.F.F.F.0.0.A.A.2.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.C.E.F.IP6.ARPA.
The DNS support described in RFC 1886 represents a simple way to both map host names to IPv6 addresses and provide reverse name resolution. Mike: Can you discuss transition from IPv4 to IPv6? Mechanisms for transitioning from IPv4 to IPv6 are defined in RFC 1933. The primary goal in the transition process is a successful coexistence of the two protocol versions until such time as IPv4 can be retired if, indeed, it's ever completely decommissioned. Transition plans fall into two primary categories: dual-stack implementation, and IPv6 over IPv4 tunneling. More Info Mechanisms for transitioning from IPv4 to IPv6 are defined in RFC 1933. There are two primary methods. Dual Stack Implementation The
simplest method for providing IPv6 functionality allows the two IP
versions to be implemented as a dual stack on each node. Nodes using
the dual stack can communicate via either stack. While dual-stack nodes
can use IPv6 and IPv4 addresses that are related to each other, this
isn't a requirement of the implementation, so the two addresses can be
totally disparate. These nodes also can perform tunneling of IPv6 over
IPv4. Because each stack is fully functional, the nodes can configure
their IPv6 addresses via stateless autoconfiguration or DHCP for IPv6,
while configuring their IPv4 addresses via any of the current
configuration methods.
IPv6 Over IPv4 Tunneling
The
second method for implementing IPv6 in an IPv4 environment is by
tunneling IPv6 packets within IPv4 packets. These nodes can map an IPv4
address into an IPv4-compatible IPv6 address, preceding the IPv4
address with a 96-bit "0:0:0:0:0:0" prefix. Routers on a network don't
need to immediately be IPv6-enabled if this approach is used, but
Domain Name System (DNS) servers on a mixed-version network must be
capable of supporting both versions of the protocol. To help achieve
this goal, a new record type, "AAAA," has been defined for IPv6
addresses. Because Windows 2000 DNS servers implement this record type
as well as the IPv4 "A" record, IPv6 can be easily implemented in a
Windows 2000 environment.
Mike: we've only touched on some of the IPv6 details - where can people get more information? I'm hoping to run a session at our summer conference July 28 - 31 in Austin, TX - we've currently got faculty fellowships available to cover the cost of the conference. See www.nctt.org for details. References - Content for this academic podcast from Microsoft sources: All Linked Documents at Microsoft Internet Protocol Version 6 (note: excellent and free online resources): http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/network/bb530961.aspx Understanding IPv6, Joseph Davies, Microsoft Press, 2002 ISBN: 0-7356-1245-5 Sample Chapter at: http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/books/sampchap/4883.asp#SampleChapter |