MAC: MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL ADDRESS

MAC stands for Media Access Control Address. It is a hardware

identification number that identifies each device connected to a network.
The MAC address is embedded into network interface cards (NIC) in your
computer such as an Ethernet card or Wi-Fi card, at time of manufacturing
by the vendor, so it cannot be changed.

Characteristics
 The MAC address that is considered to be the distinguishing number
of the hardware is globally unique. This lets us identify each device
within a connected network.
 The total length MAC address in byte is 6 (or 48 bits). According to
the IEEE 802 standards, this address is written in three commonly
used formats:
 Six two-digits hexadecimals separated by hyphens (-) like
45-67-89-AB-12-CD .
 Six two-digits hexadecimals separated by colons (:) like
45:67:89:AB:DE:23 .
 Four three-digits hexadecimals separated by dots (.) like
ABCD.4567.1238 .
 The right 24 bits (4 bytes) of the address is termed
as Organizationally Unique Identifier (OUI) number. This OUI number
is assigned by Internet Assigned Number Authority (IANA). This
globally unique OUI number will always remain the same for NICs
manufactured by the same company. The left 24 bits (4 bytes) of the
address is termed as Network Interface Controller Specific
(NICS), which is responsible for communication either by using
cables or wirelessly over a computer network.
Types of MAC address
Unicast MAC address
Unicast MAC address represents a specific NIC or onboard NIC ports in
the network.

Multicast MAC address

Multicast MAC address represents a group of devices (or NICs in Layer 2).
The IEEE has reserved the OUI 01-00-5E (first 3-bytes or 24 bits) for the
multicast MAC addresses. The remaining 24 bits are set by the network
application or device that wants to send data in the group.

Broadcast MAC address

Broadcast MAC address represents all devices in the network. The IEEE has
reserved the address FFFF.FFFF.FFFF as the broadcast MAC address.

FRAMING IN DATA LINK LAYER

Framing is a point-to-point connection between two computers or

devices consists of a wire in which data is transmitted as a stream of
bits.
In the physical layer, data transmission involves synchronised
transmission of bits from the source to the destination. The data link layer
packs these bits into frames.
Data-link layer takes the packets from the Network Layer and
encapsulates them into frames.

Parts of a Frame

A frame has the following parts −

 Frame Header − It contains the source and the destination addresses
of the frame.
 Payload field − It contains the message to be delivered.
 Trailer − It contains the error detection and error correction bits.
 Flag − It marks the beginning and end of the frame.
Types of framing – There are two types of framing:
1. Fixed size – The frame is of fixed size and there is no need to provide
boundaries to the frame, the length of the frame itself acts as a
delimiter.
2. Variable – Sized Framing
Here, the size of each frame to be transmitted may be different. So
additional mechanisms are kept to mark the end of one frame and the
beginning of the next frame.

Framming Approches

Bit-Oriented Framing Byte-Oriented Framing Clock Based Framing

• The data is transmitted as a • It news the frames as a • This framing is mainly used
sequence of bits that can be collection of bytes(8 bits), also for Optical Networks such as
interpreted as text and known as a character and hence SONET. In this approach, a
multimedia data in the given the name Character series of repetitive pulses
upper layer. Oriented Approach. maintain a constant bit rate
• PROTOCOL : HDLC(High- • PROTOCOL : BISYNC(Binary and keep the digital bits
Level Data Link Control) Synchronous Communication), aligned in the data stream.
PPP(Point-to-Point
Protocol),DDCMP(Digital Data
Communication Message
Protocol)

PPP : FROM ASSIGNMENT

The Data Link Layer is responsible for transmission of data between two
nodes. Its main functions are-
 Data Link Control
 Multiple Access Control

DATA LINK CONTROL

Data Link Control is the service provided by the Data Link Layer to provide
reliable data transfer over the physical medium.
The Data link layer provides three functions:

LINE DISCIPLINE

Line Discipline is a functionality of the Data link layer that provides the
coordination among the link systems. It determines which device can
send, and when it can send the data.

Line Discipline can be achieved in two ways:

 ENQ/ACK
 Poll/select

ENQ/ACK

ENQ/ACK stands for Enquiry/Acknowledgement is used when there is no

wrong receiver available on the link and having a dedicated path between
the two devices (Peer to peer network) so that the device capable of
receiving the transmission is the intended one.
ENQ/ACK coordinates which device will start the transmission and
whether the recipient is ready or not.

Working of ENQ/ACK
The transmitter transmits the frame called an Enquiry (ENQ) asking
whether the receiver is available to receive the data or not.
The receiver responses either with the positive acknowledgement(ACK) or
with the negative acknowledgement(NACK) where positive
acknowledgement means that the receiver is ready to receive the
transmission and negative acknowledgement means that the receiver is
unable to accept the transmission.
Following are the responses of the receiver:

 If the response to the ENQ is positive, the sender will transmit its
data, and once all of its data has been transmitted, the device
finishes its transmission with an EOT (END-of-Transmission) frame.
 If the response to the ENQ is negative, then the sender disconnects
and restarts the transmission at another time.
 If the response is neither negative nor positive, the sender assumes
that the ENQ frame was lost during the transmission and makes
three attempts to establish a link before giving up.
POLL/SELECT

The Poll/Select method of line discipline works with those topologies

where one device is designated as a primary station, and other devices are
secondary stations.

Working of Poll/Select

 In this, the primary device and multiple secondary devices consist of

a single transmission line, and all the exchanges are made through
the primary device even though the destination is a secondary
device.
 The primary device determines which device is allowed to use the
communication channel. Therefore, we can say that it is an initiator
of the session.
 If the primary device wants to receive the data from the secondary
device, it asks the secondary device that they anything to send, this
process is known as polling.
 If the primary device wants to send some data to the secondary
device, then it tells the target secondary to get ready to receive the
data, this process is known as selecting.
Select
 The select mode is used when the primary device has something to
send.
 When the primary device wants to send some data, then it alerts the
secondary device for the upcoming transmission by transmitting a
Select (SEL) frame; one field of the frame includes the address of the
intended secondary device.
 When the secondary device receives the SEL frame, it sends an
acknowledgement that indicates the secondary ready status.
 If the secondary device is ready to accept the data, then the primary
device sends two or more data frames to the intended secondary
device. Once the data has been transmitted, the secondary sends an
acknowledgement specifying that the data has been received.
Poll

 The Poll mode is used when the primary device wants to receive
some data from the secondary device.
 When a primary device wants to receive the data, then it asks each
device whether it has anything to send.
 Firstly, the primary asks (poll) the first secondary device, if it
responds with the NACK (Negative Acknowledgement) means that
it has nothing to send. Now, it approaches the second secondary
device, it responds with the ACK means that it has the data to send.
The secondary device can send more than one frame one after
another or sometimes it may be required to send ACK before
sending each one, depending on the type of the protocol being
used.
FLOW CONTROL
 It is a set of procedures that tells the sender how much data it can
transmit before the data overwhelms the receiver.
 The receiving device has limited speed and limited memory to store
the data. Therefore, the receiving device must be able to inform the
sending device to stop the transmission temporarily before the
limits are reached.
 It requires a buffer, a block of memory for storing the information
until they are processed.

Two methods have been developed to control the flow of data:

 Stop-and-wait
 Sliding window

a) Stop-and-wait

 In the Stop-and-wait method, the sender waits for an

acknowledgement after every frame it sends.
 When acknowledgement is received, then only next frame is sent.
The process of alternately sending and waiting of a frame continues
until the sender transmits the EOT (End of transmission) frame.

Advantage of Stop-and-wait
The Stop-and-wait method is simple as each frame is checked and
acknowledged before the next frame is sent.

Disadvantage of Stop-and-wait
Stop-and-wait technique is inefficient to use as each frame must
travel across all the way to the receiver, and an acknowledgement
travels all the way before the next frame is sent. Each frame sent and
received uses the entire time needed to traverse the link.
b) Sliding Window

The Sliding Window is a flow control mechanism in which a sender

can send multiple frames before receiving an acknowledgement.
Multiple frames can be sent one after the other in Sliding Window
Control, allowing the communication channel’s capacity to be used
efficiently.
Multiple frames are acknowledged by a single ACK.
The term “Sliding Window” refers to imaginary boxes at both the
sender and recipient ends.
The window can store frames at either end and sets the maximum
number of frames that can be broadcast before the
acknowledgement.
Even if the window is not entirely filled, frames may be
acknowledged.
The window has a specified size and is numbered modulo-n, which
means it is numbered from 0 to n-1. For example, if n = 6, the
frames are numbered from 0,1,2,3,4,5,0,1,2,3,4,5…
The window’s size is denoted by the symbol n-1. As a result, a
maximum of n-1 frames can be transmitted before
acknowledgment.
When the receiver sends the ACK, it contains the frame number
that it wishes to receive in the following frame. To acknowledge a
series of frames that ends with frame number 4, for example, the
receiver will send the ACK with the number 5. When the sender
gets the ACK with the number 5, it knows that frames 0 through 4
were received.

Sender Window

For example, the size of the window is 7, and if frames 0 through 4

have been sent out and no acknowledgement has arrived, then the
sender window contains only two frames, i.e., 5 and 6. Now, if ACK
has arrived with a number 4 which means that 0 through 3 frames
have arrived undamaged and the sender window is expanded to
include the next four frames. Therefore, the sender window contains
six frames (5,6,7,0,1,2).

Receiver Window

Suppose the size of the window is 7 means that the receiver window
contains seven spaces for seven frames. If the one frame is received,
then the receiver window shrinks and moving the boundary from 0
to 1. In this way, window shrinks one by one, so window now
contains the six spaces. If frames from 0 through 4 have sent, then
the window contains two spaces before an acknowledgement is
sent.

Example
 Suppose that we have sender window and receiver window each of size
4. So the sequence numbering of both the windows will be 0,1,2,3,0,1,2
and so on. The following diagram shows the positions of the windows
after sending the frames and receiving acknowledgments.

ERROR CONTROL

Error control in data link layer is the process of detecting and correcting
data frames that have been corrupted or lost during transmission.
In case of lost or corrupted frames, the receiver does not receive the
correct data-frame and sender is ignorant about the loss. Data link layer
follows a technique to detect transit errors and take necessary actions,
which is retransmission of frames whenever error is detected or frame is
lost. The process is called Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ).

Categories of Error Control:

Stop-and-wait ARQ

 In the case of stop-and-wait ARQ after the frame is sent, the

sender maintains a timeout counter.
 If acknowledgment of the frame comes in time, the sender
transmits the next frame in the queue.
 Else, the sender retransmits the frame and starts the timeout
counter.
 In case the receiver receives a negative acknowledgment, the
sender retransmits the frame.
Four features are required for the retransmission:

I. The sending device keeps a copy of the last transmitted frame until
the acknowledgement is received. Keeping the copy allows the
sender to retransmit the data if the frame is not received correctly.
II. Both the data frames and the ACK frames are numbered alternately
0 and 1 so that they can be identified individually. Suppose data 1
frame acknowledges the data 0 frame means that the data 0 frame
has been arrived correctly and expects to receive data 1 frame.
III. If an error occurs in the last transmitted frame, then the receiver
sends the NAK frame which is not numbered. On receiving the NAK
frame, sender retransmits the data.
IV. It works with the timer. If the acknowledgement is not received
within the allotted time, then the sender assumes that the frame is
lost during the transmission, so it will retransmit the frame.

Two possibilities of the retransmission:

I. Damaged Frame: When the receiver receives a damaged frame, i.e.,

the frame contains an error, then it returns the NAK frame. For
example, when the data 0 frame is sent, and then the receiver sends
the ACK 1 frame means that the data 0 has arrived correctly, and
transmits the data 1 frame. The sender transmits the next frame: data
1. It reaches undamaged, and the receiver returns ACK 0. The sender
transmits the next frame: data 0. The receiver reports an error and
returns the NAK frame. The sender retransmits the data 0 frame.

II. Lost Frame: Sender is equipped with the timer and starts when the
frame is transmitted. Sometimes the frame has not arrived at the
receiving end so that it can be acknowledged neither positively nor
negatively. The sender waits for acknowledgement until the timer
goes off. If the timer goes off, it retransmits the last transmitted
frame.
SLIDING WINDOW ARQ

SlidingWindow ARQ is a technique used for continuous transmission error

control.

Go-Back-N ARQ

The working principle of this protocol is −

o The sender has buffers called sending window.
o The sender sends multiple frames based upon the sending-
window size, without receiving the acknowledgment of the
previous ones.
o The receiver receives frames one by one. It keeps track of
incoming frame’s sequence number and sends the
corresponding acknowledgment frames.
o After the sender has sent all the frames in window, it checks up
to what sequence number it has received positive
acknowledgment.
o If the sender has received positive acknowledgment for all the
frames, it sends next set of frames.
o If sender receives NACK or has not receive any ACK for a
particular frame, it retransmits all the frames after which it does
not receive any positive ACK.
Selective Repeat ARQ

o Both the sender and the receiver have buffers called sending
window and receiving window respectively.
o The sender sends multiple frames based upon the sending-
window size, without receiving the acknowledgment of the
previous ones.
o The receiver also receives multiple frames within the receiving
window size.
o The receiver keeps track of incoming frame’s sequence
numbers, buffers the frames in memory.
o It sends ACK for all successfully received frames and sends
NACK for only frames which are missing or damaged.
o The sender in this case, sends only packet for which NACK is
received.
 MULTI ACCESS COMMUNICATION

If there is a dedicated link between the sender and the receiver then
data link control layer is sufficient, however if there is no dedicated link
present then multiple stations can access the channel simultaneously.
Hence multiple access protocols are required to decrease collision and
avoid crosstalk.

1. RANDOM ACCESS PROTOCOL

In this, all stations have same superiority that is no station has more
priority than another station. Any station can send data depending on
medium’s state (idle or busy). It has two features:
1. There is no fixed time for sending data
2. There is no fixed sequence of stations sending data
The Random access protocols are further subdivided as:
a) ALOHA
It is designed for wireless LAN (Local Area Network) but can also be used
in a shared medium to transmit data. Using this method, any station can
transmit data across a network simultaneously when a data frameset is
available for transmission.
Aloha Rules

1. Any station can transmit data to a channel at any time.

2. It does not require any carrier sensing.
3. Collision and data frames may be lost during the transmission of
data through multiple stations.
4. Acknowledgment of the frames exists in Aloha. Hence, there is no
collision detection.
5. It requires retransmission of data after some random amount of
time.

Pure Aloha

The mode of random access in which users can transmit at any time is
called pure Aloha. This technique is explained below in a stepwise manner.
Step 1 − In pure ALOHA, the nodes transmit frames whenever there is
data to send.
Step 2 − When two or more nodes transmit data simultaneously, then
there is a chance of collision and the frames are destroyed.
Step 3 − In pure ALOHA, the sender will expect acknowledgement from
the receiver.
Step 4 − If acknowledgement is not received within specified time, the
sender node assumes that the frame has been destroyed.
Step 5 − If the frame is destroyed by collision the node waits for a random
amount of time and sends it again. This waiting time may be random
otherwise the same frames will collide multiple times.
Step 6 − Therefore, pure ALOHA says that when the time-out period
passes, each station must wait for a random amount of time before re-
sending its frame. This randomness will help avoid more collisions.
1. The total vulnerable time of pure Aloha is 2 * Tfr (Frame transmission
time)
2. Maximum throughput occurs when G = 1/ 2 that is 18.4%.
3. Successful transmission of data frame is S = G * e ^ - 2 G.

Slotted ALOHA

The slotted ALOHA is explained below in stepwise manner −

Step 1 − Slotted ALOHA was introduced to improve the efficiency of pure
ALOHA, because in pure ALOHA there is a high chance of collision.
Step 2 − In this protocol, the time of the shared channel is divided into
discrete intervals called as slots.
Step 3 − The stations can send a frame only at the beginning of the slot
and only one frame is sent in each slot.
Step 4 − In slotted ALOHA, if any station is not able to place the frame
onto the channel at the beginning of the slot i.e. it misses the time slot
then the station has to wait until the beginning of the next time slot.
Step 5 − In slotted ALOHA, there is still a possibility of collision if two
stations try to send at the beginning of the same time slot.
Step 6 − The users are restricted to transmit only from the instant
corresponding to the slot boundary.
1. Maximum throughput occurs in the slotted Aloha when G = 1 that
is 37%.
2. The probability of successfully transmitting the data frame in the
slotted Aloha is S = G * e ^ - 2 G.
3. The total vulnerable time required in slotted Aloha is Tfr.

b) CSMA (CARRIER SENSE MULTIPLE ACCESS)

It is a carrier sense multiple access based on media access protocol to

sense the traffic on a channel (idle or busy) before transmitting the data.
It means that if the channel is idle, the station can send data to the
channel. Otherwise, it must wait until the channel becomes idle. Hence, it
reduces the chances of a collision on a transmission medium.
CSMA Access Modes

1-Persistent: In the 1-Persistent mode of CSMA that defines each node,

first sense the shared channel and if the channel is idle, it immediately
sends the data. Else it must wait and keep track of the status of the channel
to be idle and broadcast the frame unconditionally as soon as the channel
is idle.

Non-Persistent: It is the access mode of CSMA that defines before

transmitting the data, each node must sense the channel, and if the
channel is inactive, it immediately sends the data. Otherwise, the station
must wait for a random time (not continuously), and when the channel is
found to be idle, it transmits the frames.

P-Persistent: It is the combination of 1-Persistent and Non-persistent

modes. The P-Persistent mode defines that each node senses the channel,
and if the channel is inactive, it sends a frame with a P probability. If the
data is not transmitted, it waits for a (q = 1-p probability) random time
and resumes the frame with the next time slot.

O- Persistent: It is an O-persistent method that defines the superiority of

the station before the transmission of the frame on the shared channel. If
it is found that the channel is inactive, each station waits for its turn to
retransmit the data.

c) CSMA/ CD

It is a carrier sense multiple access/ collision detection network protocol

to transmit data frames. The CSMA/CD protocol works with a medium
access control layer. Therefore, it first senses the shared channel before
broadcasting the frames, and if the channel is idle, it transmits a frame to
check whether the transmission was successful. If the frame is successfully
received, the station sends another frame. If any collision is detected in
the CSMA/CD, the station sends a jam/ stop signal to the shared channel
to terminate data transmission. After that, it waits for a random time
before sending a frame to a channel.
d) CSMA/ CA

Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) is a

network protocol for carrier transmission that operates in the Medium
Access Control (MAC) layer. In contrast to CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense
Multiple Access/Collision Detection) that deals with collisions after their
occurrence, CSMA/CA prevents collisions prior to their occurrence.
The algorithm of CSMA/CA is:
 When a frame is ready, the transmitting station checks whether the
channel is idle or busy.
 If the channel is busy, the station waits until the channel becomes
idle.
 If the channel is idle, the station waits for an Inter-frame gap (IFG)
amount of time and then sends the frame.
 After sending the frame, it sets a timer.
 The station then waits for acknowledgement from the receiver. If it
receives the acknowledgement before expiry of timer, it marks a
successful transmission.
 Otherwise, it waits for a back-off time period and restarts the
algorithm.

2. CONTROLLED ACCESS PROTOCOL

It is a method of reducing data frame collision on a shared channel. In the

controlled access method, each station interacts and decides to send a
data frame by a particular station approved by all other stations. It means
that a single station cannot send the data frames unless all other stations
are not approved. It has three types of controlled access: Reservation,
Polling, and Token Passing.

3. CHANNELIZATION PROTOCOLS

It is a channelization protocol that allows the total usable bandwidth in a

shared channel to be shared across multiple stations based on their time,
distance and codes. It can access all the stations at the same time to send
the data frames to the channel.

a) FDMA

It is a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) method used to divide

the available bandwidth into equal bands so that multiple users can send
data through a different frequency to the subchannel. Each station is
reserved with a particular band to prevent the crosstalk between the
channels and interferences of stations.

b) TDMA

Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) is a channel access method. It

allows the same frequency bandwidth to be shared across multiple
stations. And to avoid collisions in the shared channel, it divides the
channel into different frequency slots that allocate stations to transmit the
data frames. The same frequency bandwidth into the shared channel by
dividing the signal into various time slots to transmit it.

c) CDMA

The code division multiple access (CDMA) is a channel access method. In

CDMA, all stations can simultaneously send the data over the same
channel. It means that it allows each station to transmit the data frames
with full frequency on the shared channel at all times. It does not require
the division of bandwidth on a shared channel based on time slots. If
multiple stations send data to a channel simultaneously, their data frames
are separated by a unique code sequence. Each station has a different
unique code for transmitting the data over a shared channel.
 ARP
Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is a network-specific standard
protocol. The Address Resolution Protocol is important for changing the
higher-level protocol address (IP addresses) to physical network
addresses.

ARP relates an IP address with the physical address. On a typical physical

network such as LAN, each device on a link is identified by a physical
address, usually printed on the network interface card (NIC). A physical
address can be changed easily when NIC on a particular machine fails.
The IP Address cannot be changed. ARP can find the physical address of
the node when its internet address is known. ARP provides a dynamic
mapping from an IP address to the corresponding hardware address.
When one host wants to communicate with another host on the network,
it needs to resolve the IP address of each host to the host's hardware
address.
This process is as follows−
 When a host tries to interact with another host, an ARP request is
initiated. If the IP address is for the local network, the source host
checks its ARP cache to find out the hardware address of the
destination computer.
 If the correspondence hardware address is not found, ARP
broadcasts the request to all the local hosts.
 All hosts receive the broadcast and check their own IP address. If
no match is discovered, the request is ignored.
 The destination host that finds the matching IP address sends an
ARP reply to the source host along with its hardware address, thus
 establishing the communication. The ARP cache is then updated
with the hardware address of the destination host.

RARP
RARP is an abbreviation for Reverse Address Resolution
Protocol. RARP is a TCP/IP protocol that is responsible for the translation
of Physical Address (e.g. – Ethernet address) to be translated into an IP
address.
When a framework with a local disk is bootstrapped, it generally
accepts its IP address from a configuration document that's read from a
disk file. But a system without a disk, including an X terminal or a diskless
workstation, needs some other way to accept its IP address.
 The feature of RARP is for the diskless framework to read its specific
hardware address from the interface card and send a RARP request asking
for someone to reply with the diskless systems IP address.
Steps to Achieve the IP Address from RARP Server:
1. Source Device “Generates RARP Request Message” – The source
device generates a RARP Request message. The Source puts its own
data link-layer address as both the Sender Hardware Address and
also the Target Hardware Address. It leaves both the Sender Protocol
Address and the Target Protocol Address blank.
2. Source Device “Broadcasts RARP Request Message” – The source
broadcasts the ARP Request message on the local network.
3. Local Devices “Process RARP Request Message” – The message is
received by each device on the local network and processed. Devices
that are not configured to act as RARP servers ignore the message.
4. RARP Server Generates RARP Reply Message: Any device on the
network that is a RARP server responds to the broadcast from the
source device. It generates a RARP Reply and sets the Sender
Hardware Address and Sender Protocol Address to its own hardware
and IP address of course. It then sets the Target Hardware Address to
the hardware address of the original source device. It looks up in a
table the hardware address of the source, determines that device’s IP
address assignment, and puts it into the Target Protocol Address
field.
5. RARP Server Sends RARP Reply Message: The RARP server sends
the RARP Reply message unicast to the device looking to be
configured.
6. Source Device Processes RARP Reply Message: The source device
processes the reply from the RARP server. It then configures itself
using the IP address in the Target Protocol Address supplied by the
RARP server.
 RARP ARP
RARP stands for Reverse ARP stands for Address Resolution
Address Resolution Protocol Protocol
In RARP, we find our own IP In ARP, we find the IP address of a
address remote machine
The MAC address is known and The IP address is known, and the
the IP address is requested MAC address is being requested
It uses the value 3 for requests It uses the value 1 for requests and
and 4 for responses 2 for responses
The ARP table is maintained by The RARP table is maintained by
the Local Host. the RARP Server.

CLASSLESS ADDRESSING
Classless addressing is a concept of addressing the IPv4 addresses.
It was adopted after the failure of classful addressing. The classful
 addressing leads to wastage of addresses as it assigns a fixed-size block
of addresses to the customer. But, the classless addressing assigns a block
of addresses to the customer according to its requirement which prevents
the wastage of addresses.
 Classless Addressing is an improved IP Addressing system.
 It makes the allocation of IP Addresses more efficient.
 It replaces the older classful addressing system based on classes.
 It is also known as Classless Inter Domain Routing (CIDR).

CIDR Block-
When a user asks for specific number of IP Addresses,
 CIDR dynamically assigns a block of IP Addresses based on certain rules.
 This block contains the required number of IP Addresses as demanded
by the user.
 This block of IP Addresses is called as a CIDR block.

Rules For Creating CIDR Block-

A CIDR block is created based on the following 3 rules-
Rule-01:
 All the IP Addresses in the CIDR block must be contiguous.
Rule-02:
 The size of the block must be presentable as power of 2.
 Size of the block is the total number of IP Addresses contained
in the block.
 Size of any CIDR block will always be in the form 21, 22, 23, 24,
25 and so on.
Rule-03:
 First IP Address of the block must be divisible by the size of
the block.
CIDR Notation-
CIDR IP Addresses look like- a.b.c.d / n
 They end with a slash followed by a number called as IP network prefix.
 IP network prefix tells the number of bits used for the identification of
network.
 Remaining bits are used for the identification of hosts in the network.
Example-
An example of CIDR IP Address is-
182.0.1.2 / 28
It suggests-
 28 bits are used for the identification of network.
 Remaining 4 bits are used for the identification of hosts in the network.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CLASSFUL ADDRESSING AND CLASSLESS

ADDRESSING

Sr. Parameter Classful Addressing Classless Addressing

No.
1. Basics In Classful addressing IP Classless addressing came
addresses are allocated to replace the classful
according to the classes- A to addressing and to handle
E. the issue of rapid
exhaustion of IP addresses.
2. Practical It is less practical. It is more practical.
3. VLSM It does not support the It supports the Variable
Variable Length Subnet Mask Length Subnet Mask
(VLSM). (VLSM).
4. Bandwidth Classful addressing requires It requires less bandwidth.
more bandwidth. As a result, it Thus, fast and less
becomes slower and more expensive as compared to
expensive as compared to classful addressing.
classless addressing.
5. CIDR It does not support Classless It supports Classless Inter-
Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR). Domain Routing (CIDR).
6. Division of  Network  Host
Address  Host  Subnet
 Subnet