Performance analysis of IPv4 versus IPv6 in a simple campus network

Abstract

We present in this thesis a simulation study comparing the use of IPv4 versus IPv6 in campus networks. The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) has been simulated in the above said networks to investigate IPv4 versus IPv6 throughput, end-to--end packet delay via Ethernet connection and response time. Video Conferencing is also simulated in the above mentioned network and investigation of end-to-end delay and Packet delay variation is carried out.

The OPNET Modeler has been used to carry out the simulation of the IPv4/IPv6 on simple campus networks. The results obtained from OPNET simulation of FTP show that an IPv4 network gives a better throughput than IPv6 network. The IPv4 network has more delay and the IPv6 network shows better response time. Similarly results obtained from the OPNET simulation of video conferencing show that variation in packet delay for IPv6 networks is larger and the packet end-to-end delay is larger for IPv4 networks.

Interestingly, even though IPv4 and IPv6 networks show variations in their performance, the differences are quite small, and for typical users may be insignificant.