IP ADDRESS

Compiled by :

S. Agarwal
Lecturer & Systems Incharge
St. Xavier’s Computer Centre
St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata.
IP ADDRESS :
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.
Example: 140.179.220.200
It is sometimes useful to view the values in
their binary form.
140 . 179 . 220 . 200
10001100 . 10110011 . 11011100 . 11001000
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.
The network address uniquely identifies each
network. every machine on the same network shares
that network address as part of its IP address. In the
IP address 130.57.30.56, for example, the 130.57. is
the network address.
The node address is assigned to, and uniquely
identifies, each machine on a network. the part of
the address must be unique because it identifies a
particular machine—an individual, as opposed to a
network, which is a group. This number can also be
referred to as a host address. In the sample IP
address 130.57.30.56, the .30.56 is the node
address.
ADDRESS CLASSES

The designers of the Internet decided to create classes of

networks based on network size. For the small number of
networks possessing a very large number of nodes, they
created the rank Class A network. At the other extreme is
the Class C network, reserved for the numerous networks
with a small number of nodes. The class distinction for
networks in between very large and very small is
predictably called a Class B network. How one would
subdivide an IP address into a network and node address is
determined by the class designation of one's network.
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.
Class Leftmost bits Start address Finish address

A 0xxx 0.0.0.0 127.255.255.255

B 10xx 128.0.0.0 191.255.255.255

C 110x 192.0.0.0 223.255.255.255

D 1110 224.0.0.0 239.255.255.255

E 1111 240.0.0.0 255.255.255.255

Now we can see how the Class determines, by default,
which part of the IP address belongs to the network (N) and
which part belongs to the node (n).

•Class A -- NNNNNNNN.nnnnnnnn.nnnnnnn.nnnnnnn
•Class B -- NNNNNNNN.NNNNNNNN.nnnnnnnn.nnnnnnnn
•Class C -- NNNNNNNN.NNNNNNNN.NNNNNNNN.nnnnnnnn

In the example, 140.179.220.200 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, 140.179.0.0 specifies the network

address for 140.179.220.200.

When the node section is set to all "1"s, it specifies

a broadcast that is sent to all hosts on the network.

140.179.255.255 specifies the example broadcast

address. Note that this is true regardless of the
length of the node section.
 Decimal
Lea
Range of
ding Maximum
First Maximum
Class Format Bit Nodes Per
Byte of Networks
Patt Network
Network
ern
Address

A Net.Node.Node.Node 0 1-127 127 16,777,216

B Net.Net.Node.Node 10 128-191 16,384 65,534

C Net.Net.Net.Node 110 192-223 2,097,152 254

RESERVED IP ADDRESSES
Network address of all ones Interpreted to mean 'all networks'

Reserved for loop back tests. Designates the local

Network 127 node and allows that node to send a test packet to
itself without generating network traffic.

Address Function

Network address of all zeros Interpreted to mean 'this network'

Node address of all zeros Interpreted to mean 'this node'

Interpreted to mean 'all nodes' on the specified

Node address of all ones network, for example, 128.2.255.255 means 'all
nodes' on network 128.2 (Class B address)

Entire IP address set to all Used by the RIP protocol to designate the default
zeros route.

Broadcast to all nodes on the current network: (same

entire IP address set to all ones as 255.255.255.255) sometimes called an 'all ones
broadcast'
Subnetting
Subnetting an IP Network can be done for a variety
of reasons, including organization, use of different
physical media (such as Ethernet, FDDI, WAN,
etc.), preservation of address space, and security.
The most common reason is to control network
traffic. In an Ethernet network, all nodes on a
segment see all the packets transmitted by all the
other nodes on that segment. Performance can be
adversely affected under heavy traffic loads, due to
collisions and the resulting retransmissions. A
router is used to connect IP networks to minimize
the amount of traffic each segment must receive.
Subnet Masking
Applying a subnet mask to an IP address allows you to identify the
network and node parts of the address. The network bits are
represented by the 1s in the mask, and the node bits are represented by
the 0s. Performing a bitwise logical AND operation between the IP
address and the subnet mask results in the Network Address or
Number.
For example, using our test IP address and the default Class B subnet
mask, we get:

Class B IP Address
10001100.10110011.11110000.11001000 140.179.240.200
11111111.11111111.00000000.00000000 255.255.000.000
-------------------------------------------------- --------------------
10001100.10110011.00000000.00000000 140.179.000.000

Network Address = 140.179.000.000

Default subnet masks:
•Class A –
255.0.0.0
11111111.00000000.00000000.00000000

•Class B –
255.255.0.0
11111111.11111111.00000000.00000000

•Class C –
255.255.255.0
11111111.11111111.11111111.00000000
Private Networks
The governing bodies that administer the Internet Protocol have
identified certain networks as reserved for internal use. In
general, intranets that use these networks can reduce the
difficulty in administering their IP configuration and Internet
access. These three networks, along with their default masks,
are listed below.

Network address Default mask

10.0.0.0 255.0.0.0
172.16.0.0 255.240.0.0
192.168.0.0 255.255.0.0
CIDR
Short for Classless Inter-Domain Routing,
an IP addressing scheme that replaces the
older system based on classes A, B, and C.
With CIDR, a single IP address can be used
to designate many unique IP addresses. A
CIDR IP address looks like a normal IP
address except that it ends with a slash
followed by a number, called the IP network
prefix.
For example: 172.200.0.0/16

The IP network prefix specifies how many addresses are

covered by the CIDR address, with lower numbers
covering more addresses. An IP network prefix of /12, for
example, can be used to address 1,048,576 former Class
C addresses.

CIDR addresses reduce the size of routing tables and

make more IP addresses available within organizations.
CIDR is also called super netting.
Under CIDR, the subnet mask notation is reduced to a
simplified shorthand. Instead of spelling out the bits of the
subnet mask, it is simply listed as the number of 1s bits
that start the mask. In the above example, instead of
writing the address and subnet mask as 192.60.128.0,

Subnet Mask 255.255.252.0 the network address would be

written simply as: 192.60.128.0/22 which indicates
starting address of the network, and number of 1s bits (22)
in the network portion of the address.

If you look at the subnet mask in binary

(11111111.11111111.11111100.00000000),
you can easily see how this notation works.
The use of a CIDR notated address is the
same as for a Classful address.

Classful addresses can easily be written in

CIDR notation
Class A = /8,
Class B = /16,
Class C = /24