Understanding the IPv6 Header

Upper-Layer Checksums

The current implementation of TCP, UDP, and ICMP for IPv4 incorporates into their checksum calculation a pseudo-header that includes both the IPv4 Source Address and Destination Address fields. This checksum calculation must be modified for TCP, UDP, and ICMPv6 traffic sent over IPv6 to include IPv6 addresses. Figure 4-19 shows the structure of the new IPv6 pseudo-header that must be used by TCP, UDP, and ICMPv6 checksum calculations. IPv6 uses the same algorithm as IPv4 for computing the checksum value.

Figure 4-19 The structure of the new IPv6 pseudo-header.

The IPv6 pseudo-header includes the Source Address field, the Destination Address field, an Upper Layer Packet Length field that indicates the length of the upper-layer PDU, and a Next Header field that indicates the upper-layer protocol for which the checksum is being calculated.