IPv4 has been around since the early 1980's. It was the first version of the Internet Protocol (IP) to exist. The concept of IPv4 uses a 32-bit IP address, which can allow up to 4,294,967,296 unique addresses. IPv4 is the predominant transport mechanism for layer 3 traffic, and it is used to connect devices end to end across the Internet. IPv4 Routers are extremely important because they are responsible for forwarding information across networks.

Testing Solutions for IPv4

The IPv4 consortium is devoted to extensively testing many routing devices, along with their ability to interoperate with each other. The consortium tests devices including:

• Routers
• Routing Switches
• Software Routers
• Switches

Benefits of an IPv4 Membership

With a membership in IPv4 you will have access to testing your device to the following conformance test suites:

• BGP - Border Gateway Protocol
• DVMRP - Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol
• IGMP - Internet Group Management Protocol
• IS-IS - Intermediate System to Intermediate System
• OSPF - Open Shortest Path First
• OSPF-NSSA - Open Shortest Path First Not-So-Stubby Area
• PIM-SM - Protocol Independent Multicast - Sparse Mode
• RIP - Routing Information Protocol
• TCP - Transmission Control Protocol
• VRRP - Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol

Also with a membership you will be able to test your device to the following MPLS Protocols:

• LDP - Labeled Distribution Protocol
• PWE3 - Martini Draft Pseudeowire
• RSVP-TE - Resource Reservation Protocol for Traffic Engineering
• VPLS - Virtual Private LAN Service