Limitations of IPv4 Addresses

The  IPv4 address is defined by IETF RFC 791.  RFC 791 was published in 1981. The initial design of IPv4 did not anticipate the growth of the internet and this created many issues, which proved IPv4 need to be changed. Through the years, IPv4 has been updated to address new challenges. However, IPv4 has still some major issues which are listed below.

Shortage of IPv4 Addresses

The IPv4 addressing uses 32-bit address space. This 32-bit address space is further classified into A, B, C, areD and E classes. These classes have a limited number of unique public IPv4 address which is approximately 4 billion. while there are, the increasing number of new IP-enabled devices, always-on connections, and the potential growth of less-developed regions have increased the need for more addresses.

Security Related Issues

As we discussed earlier that IPv4 was published in 1981 and the present network security issues were not projected that time. Internet Protocol Security is a protocol suite which enables network security. Internet Protocol Security provides security for IPv4 packets, but it is not built-in.

Address configuration related issues

Networks and also the internet is increasing day by day and many new computers and other devices are using IP. The configuration of IP addresses should be simple.

Internet routing table expansion

A routing table is used by routers to make the best path for communication. Because the number of servers connected to the Internet increases which also increase the number of a route. These IPv4 routes use a memory and processor resources on Internet routers.

Lack of end-to-end connectivity

NAT is a technology generally implemented within IPv4 networks. NAT makes possible to provide a way for multiple devices to share a single public IPv4 address. This can be difficult for technologies that require end-to-end connectivity. Because the public IPv4 address is shared and the IPv4 address of an internal network host is hidden.