TABLE OF CONTENTS The KAME network software has been regarded as a rock-solid, working reference to Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) by network engineers. As the Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) source code of the BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution) operating systems greatly helped people understand how the Internet protocol works, and as [Ste94] greatly helped people understand the BSD s networking implementation, we aim in this book to describe IPv6, from its specification to operation, using the KAME software implementation.
In this chapter, we present general background information and set the context for subsequent chapters. We begin with a brief history of IPv6 and the KAME project. We then introduce the general network layer architecture of the BSD operating systems on which KAME is built, for the benefit of those readers who are not familiar with these systems. An overview of the entire KAME implementation follows, on top of the base knowledge. Finally, we describe a BSD specific data structure called mbuf, with additional notes on KAME extensions made to mbuf, which is frequently referenced in code narrations throughout this book.
The rapid growth of the Internet significantly amplified the IPv4 address exhaustion problem in many regions around the world(*). The continued expansion of the Internet as a result of the desire for ubiquitous connectivity, from countless small handheld devices such as network sensors, cell phones, PDAs and laptop computers, to home appliances or automobiles, has led to the demand for unique addresses,...
