George OLson wrote:
I get this line from ifconfig just below the ipv4 line, which I assume means that I am still checking ipv6: inet6 addr: fe80::4a5b:39ff:fef3:7692/64 Scope:Link
James, I am keeping what you wrote in mind, but it is a little beyond my understanding at this point in my learning. So I will store that email for the future when I have a better grasp on the whole thing.
Any address that starts with fe80 is what's called a link local address, which every IPv6 capable device has and is based on the MAC address. It's used only for communications within the local network for computers, routers and other devices to announce their presence etc. For example, a router will advertise itself with the link local address and computers will use that address for sending stuff to the router. As for IPv6, it's generally transparent for most things and behaves the same way as IPv4. It's main benefit is the much larger address space, but has other features that improve router performance, enable better security etc. An excellent reference is IPv6 Essentials from O'Reilly. I run IPv6 on both home and work networks. Also, with the exhaustion of IPv4 addresses, you can expect to see more about IPv6 and it's something everyone should learn about. All modern operating systems now support it and it's beginning to appear in consumer grade routers etc. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org