Teredo tunneling facts for kids

Teredo is a special way for computers to connect to the internet, especially when they need to talk to newer parts of the internet. Imagine the internet is like a big city with different kinds of roads. Some roads are old (called IPv4), and some are new and wider (called IPv6). Teredo helps computers that only know how to use the old IPv4 roads to still reach places on the new IPv6 roads. It does this by creating a "tunnel" through the old roads.

This system is different from some others because it works well even when your internet connection uses something called a NAT (Network Address Translator). A NAT is like a special gatekeeper that helps many devices in your home or school share one internet connection. Teredo is built into Windows XP and newer versions of Windows, and it's turned on by default in Windows Vista and later. If you use Linux or Unix computers, there's a program called Miredo that does the same job.

Teredo got its name from a sea creature called "Teredo navalis," which is also known as a shipworm. This worm is famous for making holes or "tunnels" in wooden ships, just like Teredo the protocol makes a tunnel for internet traffic!

How Teredo Addresses Work

A Teredo address looks a bit long and complicated, like this: 2001:0:4136:e378:8000:63bf:3fff:fdd2. But this long address actually contains important information about your computer's connection.

Parts of a Teredo Address

This special address has different parts that tell us things like:

• The Teredo server: This is a computer that helps set up the tunnel. In our example, the server's address is 65.54.227.120.
• Your computer's IPv4 address: This is the regular internet address your computer uses on the older IPv4 network. For instance, it could be 192.0.2.45.
• The UDP port number: This is like a specific door number on your computer that Teredo uses to send and receive information. An example is 40000.

These parts are all packed into one IPv6 address, allowing your computer to communicate across different parts of the internet.

Why Teredo is Useful

Teredo was created to help the internet smoothly move from IPv4 to IPv6. Even though IPv6 is newer and has many advantages, not all parts of the internet or all devices have switched over yet.

Bridging Old and New Internet

• Connecting to IPv6 from IPv4: Teredo allows computers that are still mainly using IPv4 to access websites and services that only use IPv6. Without it, these computers might not be able to reach those parts of the internet.
• Working with NAT: Many homes and businesses use NAT devices. Teredo is designed to work correctly with these devices, making it a practical solution for many users.

It acts like a temporary bridge, ensuring that everyone can access the entire internet, no matter which version of the internet protocol their computer primarily uses.

See also

In Spanish: Teredo (informática) para niños