IPv4 Addresses

Binary is a numbering system that consists of the numbers 0 and 1 called bits. In contrast, the
decimal numbering system consists of 10 digits consisting of the numbers 0 – 9.

Binary is important to understand because hosts, servers, and network devices use binary
addressing. Specifically, they use binary IPv4 addresses to identify each other.

Each address consists of a string of 32 bits, divided into four sections called octets. Each octet
contains 8 bits (or 1 byte) separated with a dot. For example, PC1 in the figure is assigned IPv4
address 11000000.10101000.00001010.00001010. Its default gateway address would be that of
R1 Gigabit Ethernet interface 11000000.10101000.00001010.00000001.

IPv4 addresses are commonly expressed in dotted decimal notation as shown in the figure below.
PC1 is assigned IPv4 address 192.168.10.10, and its default gateway address is 192.168.10.1.

Binary to Decimal Conversion

To convert a binary IPv4 address to its dotted decimal equivalent, divide the IPv4 address into
four 8-bit octets. Next apply the binary positional value to the all octets binary number and
calculate accordingly.

For example, consider that 11000000.10101000.00001011.00001010 is the binary IPv4 address

Decimal to Binary Conversion Examples

Consider the IP address 192.168.11.10.

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Network and Host Portions

An IPv4 address is a hierarchical address that is made up of a network portion and a host portion.
Within the 32-bit stream, a portion of the bits identify the network, and a portion of the bits
identify the host as shown in the figure.

The bits within the network portion of the address must be identical for all devices that reside in
the same network. The bits within the host portion of the address must be unique to identify a
specific host within a network. If two hosts have the same bit-pattern in the specified network
portion of the 32-bit stream, those two hosts will reside in the same network.

But how do hosts know which portion of the 32-bits identifies the network and which identifies
the host? That is the job of the subnet mask.

The Subnet Mask

As shown in Figure 1, three dotted decimal IPv4 addresses must be configured when assigning
an IPv4 configuration to host:

 IPv4 address – Unique IPv4 address of the host

 Subnet mask- Used to identify the network/host portion of the IPv4 address

 Default gateway – Identifies the local gateway (i.e. local router interface IPv4 address)
to reach remote networks

When an IPv4 address is assigned to a device, the subnet mask is used to determine the network
address where the device belongs. The network address represents all the devices on the same
network.

To identify the network and host portions of an IPv4 address, the subnet mask is compared to the
IPv4 address bit for bit, from left to right as shown in the figure below. The 1s in the subnet
mask identify the network portion while the 0s identify the host portion. Note that the subnet
mask does not actually contain the network or host portion of an IPv4 address, it just tells the
computer where to look for these portions in a given IPv4 address.

The actual process used to identify the network portion and host portion is called ANDing.

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Logical AND

A logical AND is one of three basic binary operations used in digital logic. The other two are OR
and NOT. While all three are used in data networks, only AND is used in determining the
network address.

Logical AND is the comparison of two bits that produce the results below.

To identify the network address of an IPv4 host, the IPv4 address is logically ANDed, bit by bit,
with the subnet mask. ANDing between the address and the subnet mask yields the network
address.

For example, consider a host with IPv4 address 192.168.10.10 and subnet mask of
255.255.255.0.

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The Prefix Length

The prefix length is the number of bits set to 1 in the subnet mask. It is written in “slash
notation”, which is a “/” followed by the number of bits set to 1. Therefore, count the number of
bits in the subnet mask and prepend it with a slash.

For example, refer to the table in the figure. The first column lists various subnet masks that can
be used with a host address. The second column displays the converted 32-bit binary address.
The last column displays the resulting prefix length.

Network, Host, and Broadcast Addresses

Each network address contains (or identifies) host addresses and a broadcast address as described
in the figure below.

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Static IPv4 Address Assignment to a Host

Devices can be assigned an IP address either statically or dynamically.

In networks, some devices require a fixed IP address. For instance, printers, servers, and
networking devices need an IP address that does not change. For this reason, these devices are
typically assigned static IP addresses.

A host can also be configured with a static IPv4 address such as shown in the figure. Assigning
hosts static IP addresses is acceptable in small networks. However, it would be time-consuming
to enter static addresses on each host in a large network. It is important to maintain an accurate
list of static IP addresses assigned to each device.

Dynamic IPv4 Address Assignment to a Host

Devices are assigned IPv4 addresses dynamically using the Dynamic Host Configuration
Protocol (DHCP).

A host can obtain IPv4 addressing information automatically. The host is a DHCP client and
requests IPv4 address information from a DHCP server. The DHCP server provides an IPv4
address, subnet mask, default gateway, and other configuration information.

DHCP is generally the preferred method of assigning IPv4 addresses to hosts on large networks.
An additional benefit of DHCP is the address is not permanently assigned to a host but is only
"leased" for a period of time. If the host is powered down or taken off the network, the address is
returned to the pool for reuse. This feature is especially helpful for mobile users that come and
go on a network.

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Unicast Transmission

Unicast communication is used for normal host-to-host communication in both a client/server

In an IPv4 network, the unicast address applied to an end device is referred to as the host
address. For unicast communication, the addresses assigned to the two end devices are used as
the source and destination IPv4 addresses. During the encapsulation process, the source host uses
its IPv4 address as the source address and the IPv4 address of the destination host as the
destination address. Regardless of whether the destination specified a packet as a unicast,
broadcast or multicast; the source address of any packet is always the unicast address of the
originating host.

IPv4 unicast host addresses are in the address range of 0.0.0.0 to 223.255.255.255. However,
within this range are many addresses that are reserved for special purposes.

Broadcast Transmission

Broadcast traffic is used to send packets to all hosts in the network using the broadcast address
for the network. With a broadcast, the packet contains a destination IPv4 address with all ones
(1s) in the host portion. This means that all hosts on that local network (broadcast domain) will
receive and look at the packet. Many network protocols, such as DHCP, use broadcasts. When a
host receives a packet sent to the network broadcast address, the host processes the packet as it
would a packet addressed to its unicast address.

Broadcast may be directed or limited. A directed broadcast is sent to all hosts on a specific
network. For example, a host on the 172.16.4.0/24 network sends a packet to 172.16.4.255. A
limited broadcast is sent to 255.255.255.255. By default, routers do not forward broadcasts.

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As an example, a host within the 172.16.4.0/24 network would broadcast to all hosts in its
network using a packet with a destination address of 255.255.255.255.

When a packet is broadcast, it uses resources on the network and causes every receiving host on
the network to process the packet. Therefore, broadcast traffic should be limited so that it does
not adversely affect the performance of the network or devices. Because routers separate
broadcast domains, subdividing networks can improve network performance by eliminating
excessive broadcast traffic.

Multicast Transmission

Multicast transmission reduces traffic by allowing a host to send a single packet to a selected set
of hosts that subscribe to a multicast group.

IPv4 has reserved the 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255 addresses as a multicast range. The IPv4
multicast addresses 224.0.0.0 to 224.0.0.255 are reserved for multicasting on the local network
only. These addresses are to be used for multicast groups on a local network. A router connected
to the local network recognizes that these packets are addressed to a local network multicast
group and never forwards them further. A typical use of reserved local network multicast address
is in routing protocols using multicast transmission to exchange routing information. For
instance, 224.0.0.9 is the multicast address used by Routing Information Protocol (RIP) version 2
to communicate with other RIPv2 routers.

Hosts that receive particular multicast data are called multicast clients. The multicast clients use
services requested by a client program to subscribe to the multicast group.

Each multicast group is represented by a single IPv4 multicast destination address. When an
IPv4 host subscribes to a multicast group, the host processes packets addressed to this multicast
address, and packets addressed to its uniquely allocated unicast address.

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