What is Checksum?

A check sum is basically a value that is computed from data packet to check its integrity. Through integrity, we mean a check
on whether the data received is error free or not. This is because while traveling on network a data packet can become
corrupt and there has to be a way at the receiving end to know that data is corrupted or not. This is the reason the checksum
field is added to the header. At the source side, the checksum is calculated and set in header as a field. At the destination
side, the checksum is again calculated and crosschecked with the existing checksum value in header to see if the data packet
is OK or not.

IP header checksum
IP header checksum is calculated over IP header only as the data that generally follows the IP header (like ICMP, TCP etc)
have their own checksums. Now, to calculate the IP header algorithm one must know the basic header structure of IP
protocol. So here is a basic format of how IP header looks like :

NOTE: To have a good understanding of the IP header fields, refer to: IP Protocol Header Fundamentals
So, as far as the algorithm goes, IP header checksum is : 16 bit one’s complement of the one’s complement sum of
all 16 bit words in the header

Why there is no checksum field in IPv6 packet structure?is it that reliablity is low
in IPv6?

The decision to eliminate the checksum springs from the fact that it is already computed at layer 2, which is sufficient in view of the error rate of current

networks. Better performance is thus achieved, as the routers no longer need to re-compute the checksum for each packet. On the debit side,
eliminating the checksum means that there is no protection against the errors routers can make in processing packets. However, these errors are not
dangerous for the network, as they cause only the packet itself to be lost if there are fields with invalid values (e.g., nonexistent addresses).
What Is IPSec and How Does It Work?
IPSec is an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard suite of protocols that provides
data authentication, integrity, and confidentiality as data is transferred between communication
points across IP networks. IPSec provides data security at the IP packet level. A packet is a
data bundle that is organized for transmission across a network, and it includes a header and
payload (the data in the packet). IPSec emerged as a viable network security standard because
enterprises wanted to ensure that data could be securely transmitted over the Internet. IPSec
protects against possible security exposures by protecting data while in transit.

Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP, defined in RFC 4861) is an important protocol in IPv6. Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP) is based
on ICMPv6 and is used to identify the relationships between different neighboring devices in an IPv6 network. Many important functions of IPv6 like
resolving MAC address of an IPv6 Address (in IPv4, ARP is used for this), Router Discovery etc., are now performed using Neighbor Discovery
Protocol (NDP).