IP ADDRESSING and SUBNETTING

INTRODUCTION
IP addressing, or Internet Protocol addressing, is a fundamental concept in computer
networking that enables the identification and communication of devices on a network,
including the global Internet. It is a systematic way of assigning unique numerical labels
(IP addresses) to devices so that data can be routed to and from them across a network.
IP addresses are divided into two classes: IPv4 and IPv6.
IPv4, which is the most widely used version, consists of 32 bits, allowing for
approximately 4.3 billion unique addresses. However, due to the growth of the Internet,
the number of available IPv4 addresses has become limited. IPv6, on the other hand,
was introduced to overcome this limitation and uses 128 bits, allowing for an enormous
number of unique addresses.
An IP address therefore uniquely identify devices across a network. IP addresses can be
assigned to devices in various ways. The two most common methods are static and
dynamic IP address assignment. Static addresses are manually configured, while
dynamic addresses are allocated by a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol)
server.
4.1 IPv4 ADDRESSING
An IPV4 address is a 32-bit binary number represented as 4 octets (an octet is made up
of 8 bits). Each octet is separated by a period. It uniquely identifies a network interface
in a device. IP is a part of the TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)
suite, where IP is the principal set of rules for communication on the Internet. An IP
address is needed to be allocated on the devices, such as PCs, printers, servers, routers,
switches, etc., to be able to communicate with each other in a network.

IPv4 addresses are divided into five classes (A, B, C, D, and E) with varying address
ranges. These classes were used for network addressing purposes, but classless
addressing (CIDR) is more common in modern networking. Each address class
identifies the range of IP addresses and a default subnet mask used for the range. The
following table shows the default address class for each ip address range.

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 From the above table, looking at the address per network (number of hosts)
column, Class A can be used for networks demanding large host range, Class B for
networks with moderate host ranges and class C with small host ranges.

Class D addresses are used for multicast groups and Class E addresses are reserved for
experimental use.

➢ IPv4 Address Format

IPv4 addresses are expressed as a set of four numbers in decimal format, and each set
is separated by a dot. Thus, the term ‘dotted decimal format.’ Each set is called an ‘octet’
because a set is composed of 8 bits. The figure below shows the binary format of each
octet in the 192.168.10.100 IP address:

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A number in an octet can range from 0 to 255. Therefore, the full IPv4 address space
goes from 0.0.0.0 to 255.255.255.255. The IPv4 address has two parts, the network part
and the host part. A subnet mask is used to identify these parts.

• Network Part

The network part of the IPv4 address is on the left-hand side of the IP address. It
specifies the particular network to where the IPv4 address belongs. The network portion
of the address also identifies the IP address class of the IPv4 address.

For example, we have the IPv4 address 192.168.10.100 and a /24 subnet mask. /24
simply means that the first 24 bits, starting from the left side, is the network portion of
the IPv4 address. The 8 remaining bits of the 32 bits will be the host portion.

• Host Part

The host portion of the IPv4 address uniquely identifies the device or the interface on
your network. Hosts that have the same network portion can communicate with one
another directly, without the need for the traffic to be routed.

➢ IPv4 Address Allocation

The Internet Protocol address can be allocated to hosts or interfaces either manually or
dynamically.

• Static – static IP address is set manually on the device. It is best practice to set
static IP addresses on network devices, such as routers and switches, and on
servers as well.
• Dynamic – dynamic IP address can be automatically allocated to a device via
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). Dynamic IP addresses are best
to be used on end devices, such as PCs.

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 ➢ Types of IPv4 Addresses

We have two types of IP addresses, namely public IP addresses and private IP addresses.

• Public IP address – used to route Internet traffic. This is used on the Internet
and is given out by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to their customers.
• Private IP address – used in private networks for internal traffics within the
LAN. Private addresses are not routable out the Internet.

➢ Private and Special Addresses

Certain IP addresses are not routable on the Internet and are reserved for Internal
networks, they are known as private addresses:

• 10.0.0.0 -Class A address

• 172.16.0.0 through to 172.31.0.0 – 16 contiguous class B networks
• 192.168.0.0 through to 192.168.255.0 –256 contiguous class C networks

127.0.0.1 is commonly known as the loopback address, and is used for testing the local
IP address stack. A packet addressed to 127.0.0.1 is not sent onto the network but only
the IP software stack. Th entire 127.0.0.0 network is actually reserved, and so you could
use any address in that range e.g. 127.0.0.3 would also work.

➢ Unicast, Broadcast and Multicast Addressing

The most common form of addressing is unicast. In this form a message is sent to
a single host using it’s IP address.

A broadcast message is sent to all hosts on a network or subnetwork and is

created by setting the the node part of the IP address to all 1’s. A sender sends a single
message and all hosts on the network receive it. To send a broadcast to all hosts on the
Class C network 195.1.1.0 you would send it to address 195.1.1.255.

Multicasting lets you send message to a group of nodes. To receive a multicast

message a node must register its interest. Muticast messages are sent using the Class
D address range 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255

4.2 IPv6 Addressing

The main advantage of IPv6 over IPv4 is the larger address space which is
approximately 3.4×1038 addresses as opposed to 4294967296 addressses in IPv4.
An IPv6 address is 128 bits as opposed to a 32 bit IPv4. The 128 bits of an IPv6

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 address are represented in 8 groups of 16 bits each. Each group is written as four
hexadecimal digits and the groups are separated by colons ( : ). An example of this
representation is 2001:0db8:0000:0000:0000:ff00:0042:8329 .

The address is split into two 64 bit segments the top 64 bits is the network part and
the lower 64 bits the node part. The upper 64 bits are used for routing. The lower 64
bits identify the address of the interface or node, and is derived from the actual physical
or MAC address using IEEE’s Extended Unique Identifier (EUI-64) format

4.3 IPV4 Subnetting

subnetting is the process of dividing a larger IP network into smaller subnetworks, or

subnets, to efficiently manage IP addresses and network resources. Subnetting allows
for better organization, optimization of network performance, and conservation of IP
addresses.

Here are the key components and steps involved in IPv4 subnetting:

i. IP Address Structure: In IPv4, IP addresses are 32-bit binary numbers typically

represented in decimal format, separated by periods (e.g., 192.168.1.0). Each IP
address consists of two parts: the network portion and the host portion.
ii. Subnet Mask: A subnet mask is a 32-bit number that delineates the network portion
and the host portion of an IP address. It consists of consecutive 1s followed by
consecutive 0s. For example, a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 (or /24 in CIDR
notation) indicates that the first 24 bits represent the network portion, and the
remaining 8 bits represent the host portion.
iii. CIDR Notation: Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) notation is commonly
used to represent IP address ranges and subnet masks. It consists of the IP address
followed by a forward slash and the subnet mask length (e.g., 192.168.1.0/24).
iv. Determining Subnet Size: Before subnetting, it's essential to determine the desired
size of each subnet based on the number of hosts required and the overall network
structure. This involves calculating the number of bits needed for the host portion
of the subnet mask. The formular used here is 2n-2 where n is the number of host
bits needed.
v. Subnetting Process: Subnetting involves borrowing bits from the host portion of
the IP address to create additional subnets. The number of borrowed bits determines
the number of subnets and the number of hosts per subnet. Formula is 2n where n is
the number of host bits to be borrowed.
vi. Subnetting Example: For instance, if you have the IP address range 192.168.1.0/24
and you want to create smaller subnets, you can borrow additional bits from the host

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 portion. Borrowing 3 bits would create 8 subnets (23), each with 32 IP addresses (25
- 2 reserved addresses for network and broadcast). The subnet mask for each subnet
would become 255.255.255.224 (/27).
vii. Network Address: The network address is the first address in a subnet, with all host
bits set to zero. For example, in the subnet 192.168.1.0/27, the network address is
192.168.1.0.
viii. Broadcast Address: The broadcast address is the last address in a subnet, with all
host bits set to one. For example, in the subnet 192.168.1.0/27, the broadcast address
is 192.168.1.31.
ix. Usable Host Range: The usable host range consists of all IP addresses in the subnet,
excluding the network address and the broadcast address. For example, in the subnet
192.168.1.0/27, the usable host range is from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.30.

Subnetting Exercises

1. Subnet the IP address 192.168.10.0/24 to accommodate at least 60 hosts per subnet.

Determine the network address, subnet mask, and usable IP address range for each
subnet
2. Given the IP address 192.168.30.0/24, subnet it into five subnets. Determine the
network address, subnet mask, and usable IP address range for each subnet

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