Imagine trying to cram a growing population into a city with a limited number of addresses—eventually, you’ll run out of them. That’s exactly what has happened with IPv4, the internet’s original addressing system. With every website, smartphone, laptop, smart TV, and IoT device needing an IP address to connect to the internet, we’ve officially exhausted all 4.3 billion IPv4 addresses!

Moreover, the demand for connectivity is only skyrocketing. Thanks to 5G, IoT, and the BYOD culture, the number of devices per person has exploded. The average internet user today owns at least three to five connected devices, and that number is climbing. Businesses, smart cities, and cloud-based applications are driving this surge, making the need for a new, scalable internet more urgent than ever.

The internet is running out of space—here’s why IPv6 is the future

Enter IPv6—the next-generation IP designed to solve the problem. As the internet continues to expand at an unprecedented pace, the depletion of IPv4 addresses has made the transition to IPv6 not just inevitable, but necessary.
As of 2025, nearly 40% of the global internet traffic is already running on IPv6, with countries like India, Germany, and the United States leading the charge. Major ISPs, cloud providers and tech giants like Google, Facebook, and Netflix have embraced IPv6 to ensure faster, more secure, and future-proof connectivity.

What does IPv6 mean for you, your devices, and the future of the internet? Let’s dive into a complete breakdown of IPv6 addressing’s structure, type, and vast address space.

What is IPv6? How many bits are in IPv6? How many IPv6 addresses exist?

IPv6 is the next-generation IP, designed to replace IPv4 and support the ever-growing number of connected devices. It provides a 128-bit address space, allowing for an astronomical number of unique addresses. Here’s a complete breakdown of how IPv6 addresses are structured and allocated.

Address length: IPv6 addresses are 128 bits long, compared to
IPv4’s 32 bits.

Format: Addresses are written in hexadecimal format, divided into eight groups of 16-bit blocks, and separated by colons (:).

Example of an IPv6 address: 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334
To simplify, leading zeros in each block can be omitted:
2001:db8:85a3::8a2e:370:7334
(:: represents consecutive zeros)

Total addresses: IPv6 provides 340 undecillion, or 3.4 × 10³⁸, unique addresses. With enough to assign trillions of addresses per person on earth, the adoption of IPv6 ensures we never run out of IP addresses.

What are the main benefits of IPv6?

Key benefits of IPv6 include:

Unlimited address space: With 340 undecillion unique addresses, IPv6 allows every device to have a publicly routable address.

No more Network Address Translation (NAT): NAT in IPv4 compensates for limited IPs by enabling multiple devices in a private network to share a single public IP. IPv6 removes this need, allowing direct, end-to-end connectivity for simpler, more efficient networking.

Built-in security: IPv6 natively supports IP security (IPsec) for encrypted and secure communications.

Improved performance: IPv6 reduces network latency with efficient packet processing.

While IPv6 brings significant improvements, it also demands a more sophisticated approach to IP address management (IPAM). Organizations can no longer rely on spreadsheets or manual IP tracking; they need smart IPAM solutions to ensure efficiency, security, and seamless operations.

A smart approach to IPAM provides tight integrations with the other two core network services, DNS and DHCP, simplifying IPv6 address allocation, automating subnet management, and ensuring seamless tracking across complex networks.

 

Why do you need DDI Central’s smart IPAM for efficient administration of IPv6 addresses?

Managing IPv6 networks is vastly different from IPv4. With trillions of possible addresses in a single subnet, traditional IP tracking methods are ineffective. Here’s why a smart IPAM system is crucial for handling the complexities of IPv6 efficiently:

1. IPv6 complexity demands precise planning

• IPv6 addresses are long and difficult to manage manually (e.g., 2001:db8::ff00:42:8329).
• Unlike IPv4, IPv6 follows a hierarchical addressing model, requiring careful subnet structuring to ensure efficiency and scalability.
• Poorly planned IPv6 allocations lead to wasted subnets, inefficient routing, and chaotic network structures. Planning IPv6 scopes prevents costly reconfiguration and ensures a stable network foundation.
• Thoughtful subnet planning enhances security, simplifies management, and supports scalability, making long-term maintenance easier.
• DDI Central’s built-in subnet calculator streamlines IPv6 planning and allocation, ensuring optimal address distribution and eliminating unnecessary fragmentation.
• Smart IPAM automates address assignments, reducing human errors and maximizing efficient subnet utilization.

2. Automated provisioning with a layered approach for efficient network segmentation

• Dynamic allocation of IPv6 addresses through programmable DHCPv6 ensures efficient and conflict-free assignment.
• DHCPv6 policy based automations enable admins to defines who or what receives which IP address, under what subnet, DNS server, zone name, and network configurations.
• Reduces manual intervention while improving accuracy and efficiency.

3. Automated IP life cycle and lease management

• Smart IPAM maintains a detailed history of automated lease assignments, renewal, and expiration tracking.
• Lease history analytics allow IT teams to track an IP address’s evolution over time and its associated Dynamic DNS (DDNS) zone record relationships.
• Prevents address conflicts and optimizes utilization.

4. Supernets for hierarchical scope organization

• Unlike IPv4, IPv6 follows a hierarchical addressing model, requiring precise subnet structuring to ensure efficient routing and scalable address allocation.
• DDI Central’s smart IPAM introduces nested supernets to logically organize IPv6 address scopes in a hierarchical order for better scalability and manageability.

5. Advanced DHCP lease and DNS query analytics of leased IPs

• Real-time DHCP lease analytics provide insights into how addresses are allocated and used.
• DNS query analytics behind a leased IP help admins track domain resolution trends and potential security threats like DDoS attacks.
• Provides detailed statistics for network troubleshooting and optimization.

6. IP monitoring, utilization thresholds, and MAC address mapping

• Smart IPAM enables proactive IP monitoring, alerting administrators when utilization thresholds are exceeded.
• Provides IP-MAC mapping, enabling network admins to track IP addresses linked to physical devices for security tracking.
• Helps prevent unauthorized IP usage and improves network efficiency.

7. Rich visual analytics and user-friendly interface

• Smart dashboards provide comprehensive graphical insights into IPv6 inventory and network performance.
• A pared-back UI ensures user-friendly administration without overwhelming complexity.
• Allows for quick decision-making by providing a clear overview of network health and IP assignments.

Efficient IPv6 administration with DDI Central

With IPv6 adoption accelerating, managing this next-gen network without smart IPAM isn’t just challenging—it’s a digital disaster waiting to happen. Organizations in the journey of digital transformation need automation, visibility, and scalability into their IP address space to ensure secure, efficient, and resilient IPv6 deployments. The question isn’t if you need smart IPAM, but how soon you can implement it to stay ahead.

This is where ManageEngine DDI Central comes in. As a full-stack DDI solution tightly integrating DNS, DHCP, and IPAM, DDI Central streamlines IPv6 administration, eliminating the complexities of address management. By automating provisioning, tracking, and analytics, it helps IT teams craft a cohesive network strategy that is secure, scalable, and future-proof.