What is an IPv6 WHOIS
The IPv6 Lookup tool tells you WHOIS is the real owner of an IPv6 Address. Owner details include their name, company, organization, country, city, latitude, longitude, ASN number, and ASN Details. Other information includes the IPv6 network ranges, Reverse IPv6 Lookup, Expanded IPv6 Address, and Compressed IPv6 Address
What is IPv6?
IPv6 is the internet protocol version 6, which is the most revised version of the internet protocol. IPv6 or IP6 is also referred to IPng (Internet Protocol next generation).
The reason behind that revision is that the IPv4, which is the still most used version of IP, can no longer provide the number of IP addresses required.
IPv4 was deployed in the early 1980s and is still primarily used. The transition from IPv4 to IPv6 takes decades. Because today, more and more devices require an internet connection. And you cannot connect to the internet without your IP address.
Due to the increase in demand for IP addresses, IPv4 is unable to meet the current requirement. Currently, IPv4 can supply 4.2 billion IP addresses, while IPv6 can provide 340 undecillion (36 zeros). That means the IPv6 address offers 1,028 times more addresses than IPv4.
Example of IPv6 address
The IPv6 address contains eight groups of four hexadecimal digits. Each group is separated by a colon(:).
An example of an IPv6 address is 2001:4860:4860:0000:0000:0000:0000:8888
The above one is an expanded IPv6 form of one of Google's DNS servers. You can also compress the IPv6 and use that form.
Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) vs. Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4)
With time IPv6 increases its adoption. Google maintains public statistics for IPv6 that show the percentage of all traffic to Google sites over IPv6 rather than IPv4.
The improved and revised version of the internet protocol IPv6 contains many essential features compared to IPv4. The primary ones are
- Increased address space: the IPv4 address size is 32-bit, which allows it to provide approximately 4.2 billion IP addresses. Compared to that, the IPv6 address size is 128-bit, which will enable it to provide about 340 undecillion (36 zeros) IP addresses. You can use IPv4 and IPv6 for the foreseeable future and convert your IPv4 to IPv6 using IPv4 to IPv6 Online Converter. But cannot be used as a Public IP address.
- Improved header: the IPv6 header has been simplified. All the unnecessary information has been moved to the bottom of the header. Even though the IPv6 address is four times longer than the IPv4 address, the IPv6 header is only double in size as the IPv4.
- Faster forwarding/routing: as all the essential information is on the top. That allows the routers to perform quick routing decisions.
- Anycast support: IPv6 supports anycast mode of routing. That means multiple machines can share the same IP address. Once the packet is sent from the host via anycast, the router ensures that it should be delivered to the nearest machine. That reduces the latency. Whereas IPv4 supports unicast, broadcast, and multicast.
- Improved mobility: the IPv6 users can use their mobile devices at different geographic locations without changing their IP addresses.
- Internet Protocol Security: in IPv4, it's optional, but in IPv6, it's mandatory.
- Speed: generally, there is no significant difference between IPv4 and IPv6 address speeds. But some network engineers are of the view that IPv6 is might be faster than IPv4 in some situations.
Note: Use the traceroute online tool to test the connection and latency between two predetermined points.
What data IPv6 Lookup tool provides?
The IPv6 Lookup tool provides as much information as possible about a given IPv6 address. That information is obtained from the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) to which the IP address belongs.
The IPv6 provides information:
- The contact information of an IPv6 address owner.
- The information about the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) which assigns the given IPv6 address.
- The autonomous system(AS) number and its registration information.
- The assigned owner, contact information, IPv6 location, registered date, and the abuse reporting details.
- The total number of IPv6 Addresses allocated in the block(s) assigned to an IPv6 owner.
- Additionally, this tool also provides information about
- Compressed IPv6 Address
- Expanded IPv6 Address
- IPv6 to Hostname or IPv6 reverse DNS
Some useful IP6 tools are IPv6 Compatibility Checker, IPv6 Range to CIDR, What is my IPv6
Who gives public IP addresses?
Globally, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is in charge of the IP addresses. The authority is responsible for
- Managing and maintaining the information of IP addresses.
- Root zone management in DNS.
- ASNs allocation
- Control of Internet Protocol-related symbols and Internet numbers.
IANA assigns the ASNs to the regional internet registries (RIR). Each IP address that surfaces globally is managed by one of the five RIRs operating within the globe's specific region.
These five RIRs are
- African Network Information Centre (AfriNIC): IP Addresses Administrator for Africa.
- American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN): IP Addresses Administrator for the United States, Canada, and several Caribbean and North Atlantic islands.
- Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC): IP Addresses Administrator for Asia, Australia, and their neighboring countries.
- Latin America and Caribbean Network Information Centre (LACNIC): IP Addresses Administrator for Latin America and parts of the Caribbean region.
- Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre (RIPE NCC): IP Addresses Administrator for Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia.