What is IP?

What is IP?
 Here, IP stands for internet protocol.
 It is a protocol defined in the TCP/IP model used for sending the packets
from source to destination.
 The main task of IP is to deliver the packets from source to the destination
based on the IP addresses available in the packet headers.
 IP defines the packet structure that hides the data which is to be delivered
as well as the addressing method that labels the datagram with a source
and destination information.
 An IP protocol provides the connectionless service, which is accompanied
by two transport protocols, i.e., TCP/IP and UDP/IP, so internet protocol is
also known as TCP/IP or UDP/IP.
 The first version of IP (Internet Protocol) was IPv4. After IPv4, IPv6 came into
the market, which has been increasingly used on the public internet since
What is IP?

 Function
 The main function of the internet protocol is to provide
addressing to the hosts, encapsulating the data into a
packet structure, and routing the data from source to the
destination across one or more IP networks.

 In order to achieve these functionalities, internet protocol

provides two major things which are given below.
Internet Protocol
 An internet protocol defines two things:
 Format of IP packet
 IP Addressing system
 What is an IP packet?
 Before an IP packet is sent over the network, two major
components are added in an IP packet, i.e., header and
a payload.
Internet Protocol
 Internet protocol
 An IP header contains lots of information about the IP packet which includes:
 Source IP address: The source is the one who is sending the data.
 Destination IP address: The destination is a host that receives the data from the
sender.
 Header length
 Packet length
 TTL (Time to Live): The number of hops occurs before the packet gets
discarded.
 Transport protocol: The transport protocol used by the internet protocol, either
it can be TCP or UDP.
 Payload: Payload is the data that is to be transported.
 Example: payload is the letter that’s read only by the recipient.
 How does the IP routing perform?
 IP routing is a process of determining the path for data so that it can travel
from the source to the destination.
 As we know that the data is divided into multiple packets, and each
packet will pass through a web of the router until it reaches the final
destination.
 The routing algorithm considers various factors like the size of the packet
and its header to determine the efficient route for the data from the
source to the destination.
 When the data packet reaches some router, then the source address and
destination address are used with a routing table to determine the next
hop's address.
 How does the IP routing perform?
 For example, when an email is sent from the email server, then the TCP
layer in this email server divides the data into multiple packets, provides
numbering to these packets and transmits them to the IP layer.

 This IP layer further transmits the packet to the destination email server.

 On the side of the destination server, the IP layer transmits these data
packets to the TCP layer, and the TCP layer recombines these data
packets into the message.
 The message is sent to the email application.
 What is IP Addressing?
A defining feature of IPv4 is its 32-bit addresses. Every host and router on the
Internet has an IP address that can be used in the Source address and
Destination address fields of IP packets. It is important to note that an IP
address does not actually refer to a host. It really refers to a network
interface, so if a host is on two networks, it must have two IP addresses.
However, in practice, most hosts are on one network and thus have one IP
address. In contrast, routers have multiple interfaces and thus multiple IP
addresses.
An IP address is a unique identifier assigned to the computer which is
connected to the internet. Each IP address consists of a series of characters
like 192.168.1.2.
 What is IP Addressing?
 An IP address is a unique identifier assigned to the computer which is
connected to the internet. Each IP address consists of a series of
characters like 192.168.1.2.

 Users cannot access the domain name of each website with the help of
these characters, so DNS resolvers are used that convert the human-
readable domain names into a series of characters. Each IP packet
contains two addresses, i.e.,

 the IP address of the device, which is sending the packet, and the IP
address of the device which is receiving the packet.
 Internet protocol
 Types of IP addresses
 IPv4 addresses are divided into two categories:
 Public address
 Private address
 Internet protocol
 Public address
 The public address is also known as an external address as they are grouped
under the WAN addresses.
 We can also define the public address as a way to communicate outside
the network. This address is used to access the internet.
 The public address available on our computer provides the remote access
to our computer. With the help of a public address, we can set up the home
server to access the internet.
 This address is generally assigned by the ISP (Internet Service Provider).
 Internet protocol
 Key points related to public address are:
 The scope of the public address is global, which means that we can
communicate outside the network.
 This address is assigned by the ISP (Internet Service Provider).
 It is not available at free of cost.
 We can get the Public IP by typing on Google "What is my IP".
 Internet protocol
 Private address
 A private address is also known as an internal address, as it is grouped
under the LAN addresses.
 It is used to communicate within the network.
 These addresses are not routed on the internet so that no traffic can
come from the internet to this private address.

 The address space for the private address is allocated using InterNIC to
create our own network.
 Internet protocol
 Private address
 The private addresses are assigned to mainly those computers, printers,
smartphones, which are kept inside the home or the computers that are
kept within the organization.

 For example, a private address is assigned to the printer, which is kept

inside our home, so that our family member can take out the print from
the printer.
 Internet protocol
 If the computer is assigned with a private address, then the devices
available within the local network can view the computer through the
private ip address.

 However, the devices available outside the local network cannot view the
computer through the private IP address, but they can access the
computer if they know the router's public address.

 To access the computer directly, NAT (Network Address Translator) is to be

used.
 Internet protocol
 Key points related to private address are:
 Its scope is local, as we can communicate within the network only.
 It is generally used for creating a local area network.
 It is available at free of cost.
 We can get to know the private IP address by simply typing the "ipconfig"
on the command prompt.
 What is a subnet?
A subnet, or subnetwork, is a network inside a network. Subnets make
networks more efficient. Through subnetting, network traffic can travel a
shorter distance without passing through unnecessary routers to reach its
destination.
For example, consider a university that started out a network for use by the
Computer Science Dept. for the computers on its Ethernet. A year later, the
Electrical Engineering Dept. wants to get on the Internet. The Art Dept. soon
follows suit. What IP addresses should these departments use? Getting further
blocks requires going outside the university and may be expensive or
inconvenient. Moreover, the network already allocated has enough addresses
for over 60,000 hosts. It might be intended to allow for significant growth, but until
that happens, it is wasteful to allocate further blocks of IP addresses to the same
university. A different organization is required. The solution is to allow the block of
addresses to be split into several parts for internal use as multiple networks, while
still acting like a single network to the outside world. This is called subnetting and
the networks (such as Ethernet LANs) that result from dividing up a larger network
are called subnets
 What is CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing or supernetting)?
CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing or supernetting) is a
method of assigning IP addresses that improves the efficiency of
address distribution and replaces the previous system based on
Class A, Class B and Class C networks.
The initial goal of CIDR was to slow the increase of routing
tables on routers across the internet and decrease the rapid
exhaustion of IPv4 addresses. As a result, the number of
available internet addresses has greatly increased.
 CIDR addresses are made up of two sets of numbers:
1. Prefix. The prefix is the binary representation of the network
address -- similar to what would be seen in a normal IP
address.
2. Suffix. The suffix declares the total number of bits in the entire
address.
 CIDR blocks
 CIDR blocks are groups of addresses that share the same
prefix and contain the same number of bits. Super netting is
the combination of multiple connecting CIDR blocks into a
larger whole, all of which share a common network prefix.
 The length of a prefix determines the size of CIDR blocks. A
short prefix supports more addresses -- and, therefore, forms
a bigger block -- while a longer prefix indicates fewer
addresses and a smaller block.
 IP V6 Address
An IPv6 address is 128 bits in length and consists of eight, 16-bit
fields, with each field bounded by a colon. Each field must
contain a hexadecimal number, in contrast to the dotted-
decimal notation of IPv4 addresses.
An IPv6 address is a 128-bit alphanumeric value that identifies
an endpoint device in an Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6)
network. IPv6 is the successor to a previous addressing
infrastructure, IPv4, which had limitations IPv6 was designed to
overcome. Notably, IPv6 has drastically increased address
space compared to IPv4.
Example:
2001:db8:3333:4444:5555:6666:7777:8888.
IP V6 Address
 The leftmost three fields (48 bits) contain the site prefix. The prefix
describes the public topology that is usually allocated to your site by an
ISP or Regional Internet Registry (RIR).
 The next field is the 16-bit subnet ID, which you (or another administrator)
allocate for your site. The subnet ID describes the private topology, also
known as the site topology, because it is internal to your site.
 The rightmost four fields (64 bits) contain the interface ID, also referred to
as a token. The interface ID is either automatically configured from the
interface's MAC address or manually configured in EUI-64 format.
IP V6 Address
Operating systems (OSes) like Windows 10, macOS and Ubuntu support IPv6.
Currently, the use of address types is mixed. Devices in use now will either
use IPv6 or IPv4. Domain name systems (DNSes) have supported IPv6 since
2008.
 Types of IPv6 addresses
There are different types and formats of IPv6 addresses, of which, it's
notable to mention that there are no broadcast addresses in IPv6. Some
examples of IPv6 formats include:
• Global unicast. These addresses are routable on the internet and start
with "2001:" as the prefix group. Global unicast addresses are the
equivalent of IPv4 public addresses.
• Unicast address. Used to identify the interface of an individual node.
• Anycast address. Used to identify a group of interfaces on different
nodes.
• Multicast address. An address used to define multicast Multicasts are
used to send a single packet to multiple destinations at one time.
• Link local addresses. One of the two internal address types that are not
routed on the internet. Link local addresses are used inside an internal
network, are self-assigned and start with "fe80:" as the prefix group.
• Unique local addresses. This is the other type of internal address that is
not routed on the internet. Unique local addresses are equivalent to the
IPv4 addresses 10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12 and 192.168.0.0/16.
Advantages of IP v6
• More efficient routing with smaller routing tables and aggregation of
prefixes.
• Simplified packet processing due to more streamlined packet headers.
• Support of multicast packet flows.
• Hosts can generate their own IP addresses.
• Eliminates the need for network address translation (NAT).
• Easier to implement services like peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, voice over
IP (VoIP) and stronger security.