IPv6 Subnetting Tutorial for Beginners: How to Calculate Subnetting in IPv6

Do you want to learn how to successfully divide an IPv6 IP network into subnets that will be manageable make your work easier? Then you are on the right page as this article has been written to discuss IPv6 subnetting.

IPv6 Subnetting

When you purchase an IP network, you are actually given a monotonous IP block with all of the IP addresses lumped into the block. You are expected to divide the IP network into blocks in other to ensure efficient performance and management provided the IP block is large and not just one with a few IP addresses.

Not only would you do this for IP addresses you buy or lease – you will also do that if you are a network administrator saddled with the responsibility of maintaining a WAN network. This article will focus majorly on how to carry out subnetting on IPv6. If you want to learn how to do that for IPv4 IP networks, you can also check out our article on IPv4 subnetting.

Unlike in the case of IPv4, IPv6 has not been widely accepted, but a good number of organizations are using them – they are quite popular for use in IoT devices too. Unlike in the case of IPv4 IP addresses that are not many enough to meet the demands for IP addresses, IPv6 IP addresses are represented as 128 bits and are more than enough to cater for all of the devices that would ever need public IP addresses. If you have a block of IPv6 IPs, this article will show you how to carry out subnetting on it.

 


What is IPv6 Subnetting?

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IPv6 subnetting is simply the process of carrying out subnetting on the IPv6 IP network. What then is IP subnetting? IP subnetting is the process of dividing an IP network into smaller units of subnetworks or simply subnets.

For each subnet from the large IP network, an IP address is reserved as the subnet IP address and another one for the broadcast subnet address. One thing you will come to like about subnetting is that IPs are logically divided, and as such, you could tell the subnet an IP address belongs to.

One downside to subnets is that if a few users in the subnets are identified as spam, it could affect other members. Take, for instance, IP quality tools and web services that could block a subnet because a few users and other users will be affected.


Why Carry out IPv6 Subnetting?

For experienced network administrators, IPv6 subnetting is incredibly important. However, some newbies would wonder why they would need to divide an IP network into units in other to use them. If you are one such person wondering why the need for IP subnetting, then some of the reasons have been discussed below for you.

  • Divide Network into Manageable Units

Divide Network into Manageable Units

Dealing with a large block of IP addresses is not always easy – you will find it difficult during troubleshooting, and the whole trouble isn’t worth it when you can simply divide it into units and make it easy to identify and fix problems faster. While you can deal with smaller networks, when they grow, you will need to divide them into subnets.

  • Reduce Network Traffic

Network Traffic reduction

IP subnetting can help you reduce traffic congestion and network traffic which would lead to an improvement in the network performance. This is achieved when the subnets create smaller broadcast domains which will lead to less broadcast traffic at the network boundaries.


How to Calculate Subnetting in IPv6

Now that you know what IP subnetting is and why you would need it to keep your network manageable and help improve performance, we can then move into the real deal – calculating subnetting in IPv6.

Calculating subnetting is not an easy task, considering the parameters you will have to take into consideration. However, the model can be simplified, and calculations done easily using a subnetting calculator with support for IPv6 IPs.

IPv6 Subnet Calculator

  • Enter the IPv6 IP address network in the input field. You can see an example in the screenshot above. You can change the prefix length to any of the supported prefix lengths.
  • Click on the calculate button, and the tool will carry out the subnetting for you.
  • The interface will change and be updated with the result. It will look like the below.

IPv6 Subnet result

  • From the result, you get to know the total number of IP addresses possible, the network, and the IP range. If you want to make a change to the IP details you entered, you can click on the clear button.
Conclusion

Subnetting is incredibly useful, and as a network admin, there comes a time when you will need it, especially when your network grows, and you will want to divide it into manageable units and improve network performance. If you ever get to that level and need to carry out subnetting, you can use the methods highlighted in the article above.


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