Quantifying the performance degradation of IPv6 for TCP in windows and Linux networking

Implementing IPv6 in modern client/server operating systems (OS) will have drawbacks of lower throughput as a result of its larger address space. In this paper we quantify the performance degradation of IPv6 for TCP when implementing in modern MS Windows and Linux operating systems (OSs). We consider Windows Server 2008 and Red Hat Enterprise Server 5.5 in the study. We measure TCP throughput and round trip time (RTT) using a customized testbed setting and record the results by observing OS kernel reactions. Our findings reported in this paper provide some insights into IPv6 performance with respect to the impact of modern Windows and Linux OS on system performance. This study may help network researchers and engineers in selecting better OS in the deployment of IPv6 on corporate networks.