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IPV6 Compression

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Written by Admissions Team
Updated over 3 months ago

IPv6 Compression review w/answer key

IPv6 compression allows us to represent lengthy IPv6 address in a more compact form by omitting leadings zeroes within each block and using a double colon (::) to represent consecutive zeros.

Leading Zero Compression

Leading zeros within each 16-bit block can be omitted

Example: 2001:0db8:0000:0042:0000:8a2e:0370:7334

compressed: 2001: db8: 0: 42: 0:8a2e: 370:7334

Consecutive Block Compression

Consecutive 16-bit blocks of all zeros, can be replaced with a double colon ::

Only use this once per address

Example: 2001:0db8:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:7334

compressed 2001: db8: :7334

Examples to practice with

Test your knowledge by compressing the following IPv6 address:

  1. Example: 2001:0db8:0000:0000:0000:0000:1428:57ab

  2. Example: fe80:0000:57ab:0000:1c4a:0f7c:abcd:1234 /

  3. Example: 3a00:0f80:0000:0000:0000:5a1b:0023:fa01

  4. Example: 2001:0da8:0000:0000:0000:0000:0b12:0456

  5. Example: 1234:5678:0000:0000:0db8:0000:0000:abcd

Answer Key

  1. Example: 2001:0db8:0000:0000:0000:0000:1428:57ab compressed 2001: db8: :1428:57ab/

  2. Example: fe80:0000:57ab:0000:1c4a:0f7c:abcd:1234 compressed fe80: 0:57ab: 0:1c4a: f7c:abcd:1234/

  3. Example: 3a00:0f80:0000:0000:0000:5a1b:0023:fa01 compressed 3a00: f80: :5a1b: 23:fa01/

  4. Example: 2001:0da8:0000:0000:0000:0000:0b12:0456 compressed 2001: da8: : b12: 456/

  5. Example: 1234:5678:0000:0000:0db8:0000:0000:abcd compressed 1234:5678: : db8: 0: 0:abcd

In example 5 we are only able to use consecutive block compression one time but can still omit leading zeros in the other consecutive 16-bit blocks of all zeros

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