An IP (Internet Protocol) address is a unique identifier for a node or host connection on an IP network.
An IP address is a 32 bit binary number usually represented as 4 decimal values, each representing 8 bits, in the
range 0 to 255 (known as octets) separated by decimal points. This is known as "dotted decimal" notation.
It is sometimes useful to view the values in their binary form.
140 .179 .220 .200
Every IP address consists of two parts, one identifying the network and one identifying the node.
The Class of the address and the subnet mask determine which part belongs to the network address and
which part belongs to the node address.
There are 5 different address classes. You can determine which class any IP address is in by
examining the first 4 bits of the IP address.
- Class A addresses begin with 0xxx, or 1 to 126 decimal.
- Class B addresses begin with 10xx, or 128 to 191 decimal.
- Class C addresses begin with 110x, or 192 to 223 decimal.
- Class D addresses begin with 1110, or 224 to 239 decimal.
- Class E addresses begin with 1111, or 240 to 254 decimal.
Addresses beginning with 01111111, or 127 decimal, are reserved
for loopback and for internal testing on a local machine; [You can test this:
you should always be able to ping 127.0.0.1, which points to yourself]
Class D addresses are reserved for multicasting; Class E addresses are reserved
for future use. They should not be used for host addresses.
Now we can see how the Class determines, by default, which part of the IP
address belongs to the network (N, in blue)
and which part belongs to the node (n, in red).
- Class A -- NNNNNNNN.nnnnnnnn.nnnnnnnn.nnnnnnnn
- Class B -- NNNNNNNN.NNNNNNNN.nnnnnnnn.nnnnnnnn
- Class C -- NNNNNNNN.NNNNNNNN.NNNNNNNN.nnnnnnnn
In the example, 22.214.171.124 is a Class B address so by default the Network part of the address
(also known as the Network Address) is defined by the first
two octets (140.179.x.x) and the node part is defined by the last 2 octets (x.x.220.200).
In order to specify the network address for a given IP address, the node section is set to all "0"s. In our example,
126.96.36.199 specifies the network address for 188.8.131.52. When the node section is set to all "1"s, it specifies a broadcast that is sent to all hosts on the network. 184.108.40.206 specifies the example broadcast address. Note that this is true regardless of the length of the node section.
There are three IP network addresses reserved for private networks. The addresses
are 10.0.0.0, Subnet Mask 255.0.0.0, 172.16.0.0, Subnet Mask 255.240.0.0,
and 192.168.0.0, Subnet Mask 255.255.0.0. These addresses are also notated
10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, and 192.168.0.0/16; this notation
will be explained later in this tutorial. They can be used by anyone setting up
internal IP networks, such as a lab or home LAN behind a NAT or proxy server or
a router. It is always safe to use these because routers on the Internet by default
will never forward packets coming from these addresses. These addresses are defined
in RFC 1918.
January 29, 2007
Copyright © 1996-2007 by Ralph
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