IP Addressing
Consider how physical street addresses are necessary to locate specific homes and businesses, so that mail can reach those real-world locations efficiently. In a similar way, logical IP addresses are used to identify the location of specific devices on an IP network so that data can reach those network locations efficiently. Every host, computer, networking device, or peripheral connected to the Internet must have an IP address. Without a structure for allocating all those IP addresses, it would be impossible to route packets efficiently.
The IPv4 address is the most common type of address that is currently used on the Internet. An IPv4 addresses is a 32-bit number that describes the location of a network device.
IP Addressing 001
In the decimal representation of an IP address, the value of each octet can range from 0 to 255. The octets are separated by a period, or dot. This scheme is known as dotted decimal notation. The IP address that is shown in the table can be written as 172.16.128.17 and spoken as “172 dot 16 dot 128 dot 17.”
An IP address is a hierarchical address and consists of two parts, the network ID and the host ID. The network ID (network address portion) identifies the network of which an IP address is a part. It starts from the leftmost bits and extends to the right. The host ID (the host address portion) uniquely identifies a host, or endpoint, on a network. These endpoints are the servers, computers, and other devices that are connected to the network. The host ID starts from the right-most bits and extends to the left. Many computers can share the same network ID, but combining the network ID with a host ID in an IP address uniquely identifies a device on the network. For example, in the figure below, hosts 192.168.1.2, 192.168.1.3, and 192.168.1.4 share the network ID 192.168.1.0, but they have their own unique host IDs, .2, .3, and .4, respectively.
IP Addressing 002
Hosts that share the same network ID are said to be on the same network. Most hosts on a network can directly communicate only with devices on the same network. If the hosts need to communicate with devices that have interfaces that are assigned with other network IDs, there needs to be a network device that can route data between the networks. Routers can route data between networks because they maintain information about routes to the various networks. A network ID enables a router to put a packet onto the appropriate network.
Networks have their own IP addresses. These addresses have binary 0s in all host bit positions. In the figure, a router sits between two different networks, the 192.168.1.0 network and the 192.168.2.0 network. Hosts on the 192.168.1.0 network can communicate directly with each other, but any packets they send to hosts on the 192.168.2.0 network must be sent through the router. Also notice that host 192.168.1.2 and host 192.168.2.2 have the same host ID. Although it is possible for two devices on different networks to have the same host ID, each host on the same network must have a unique host ID.
IP Address Masks
For IPv4, a subnet mask is a 32-bit combination that identifies which part of the address is the network portion and which part is the host portion. It performs this function by using 1s and 0s. A subnet mask is created by placing a binary 1 in each bit position that represents the network portion and placing a binary 0 in each bit position that represents the host portion. For example, a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 (11111111.11111111.11111111.00000000) applied to the IP address 192.168.7.5 specifies that the binary digits of the first three octets are the network portion of the address and every bit of the last octet specifies the host address. Hence, 192.168.7.0 is the network address and .5 is the host address. A subnet mask helps routers determine the network path for packets. The figure below provides another example.
IP Addressing 003
When you express an IP address, you accompany it with a subnet mask in dotted decimal format, or you append a prefix length. A prefix length performs the same function as a subnet mask by providing the number of bits in the address that are used for the network portion. For example, in 172.16.55.87/20, /20 is the prefix length. It tells you that the first 20 bits are the network address. The remaining 12 bits make up the host portion. A /20 prefix is the equivalent of the subnet mask 255.255.240.0 (11111111.11111111.11110000.00000000).