IPv6 Addresses and Ranges

An IPv6 address is made of 8 groups of 16-bit hexadecimal values separated by colons as in 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334.

IPv6 addresses can be abbreviated by omitting leading zeroes in 16-bit values and by replacing each group of consecutive zeroes by a double colon. As such, 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334 is equivalent to 2001:db8:85a3::8a2e:370:7334.

An IPv6 address range must conform to one of the following forms: