What is an IP Address?

An IP address is an identifier for a computer or device on a TCP/IP network. Networks

using the TCP/IP protocol route messages based on the IP address of the destination.
An IP address consists of 32 bits, often shown as 4 octets of numbers from 0-255
represented in decimal form instead of binary form. For example, the IP address:
168.212.226.204 in binary form is 10101000.11010100.11100010.11001100.
The Two Parts of an IP Address
An IP address consists of two parts, one identifying the network and one identifying the
node, or host. The Class of the address determines which part belongs to the network
address and which part belongs to the node address. All nodes on a given network share
the same network prefix but must have a unique host number.
Class A Network
In a Class A Network binary address start with 0, therefore the decimal number can be
anywhere from 1 to 126. The first 8 bits (the first octet) identify the network and the
remaining 24 bits indicate the host within the network. An example of a Class A IP
address is 102.168.212.226, where "102" identifies the network and "168.212.226"
identifies the host on that network.
Class B Network
In a Class B Network, binary addresses start with 10, therefore the decimal number can
be anywhere from 128 to 191. The number 127 is reserved for loopback and is used for
internal testing on the local machine. The first 16 bits (the first two octets) identify the
network and the remaining 16 bits indicate the host within the network. An example of a
Class B IP address is 168.212.226.204 where "168.212" identifies the network and
"226.204" identifies the host on that network.
Class C Network
Binary addresses start with 110, therefore the decimal number can be anywhere from 192
to 223. The first 24 bits (the first three octets) identify the network and the remaining 8
bits indicate the host within the network. An example of a Class C IP address is
200.168.212.226 where "200.168.212" identifies the network and "226" identifies the
host on that network.
Class D Network
In a Class D Network, binary addresses start with 1110, therefore the decimal number can
be anywhere from 224 to 239. Class D networks are used to support multicasting.

Class E Network
In a Class E Network, binary addresses start with 1111, therefore the decimal number can
be anywhere from 240 to 255. Class E networks are used for experimentation. They have
never been documented or utilized in a standard way.
No of machines to be connected

Class of network

Network addresses

254 or less

92.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.0

255 to 65,534

172.16.0.0 to 172.31.0.0

65,535 to 16,777,214

10.0.0.0

Thus, if you are having a class C network that is not permanently connected to the
Internet, your network address can be any one from 192.168.1.0 to 192.168.255.0, and
without subnetting, you can have 254 hosts having addresses 192.168.1.1 to
192.168.1.254, if you have selected 192.168.1.0 as your network address; 192.168.1.255
is the broadcast address and 192.168.1.0 is the network address for this network.
Public Addresses
Public addresses are assigned by InterNIC and consist of class-based network IDs or
blocks of CIDR-based addresses (called CIDR blocks) that are guaranteed to be globally
unique to the Internet.
When the public addresses are assigned, routes are programmed into the routers of the
Internet so that traffic to the assigned public addresses can reach their locations. Traffic to
destination public addresses are reachable on the Internet.
For example, when an organization is assigned a CIDR block in the form of a network ID
and subnet mask, that [network ID, subnet mask] pair also exists as a route in the routers
of the Internet. IP packets destined to an address within the CIDR block are routed to the
proper destination

Private Addresses
Each IP node requires an IP address that is globally unique to the IP internetwork. In the
case of the Internet, each IP node on a network connected to the Internet requires an IP
address that is globally unique to the Internet. As the Internet grew, organizations
connecting to the Internet required a public address for each node on their intranets. This
requirement placed a huge demand on the pool of available public addresses.
When analyzing the addressing needs of organizations, the designers of the Internet noted
that for many organizations, most of the hosts on the organization's intranet did not
require direct connectivity to Internet hosts. Those hosts that did require a specific set of
Internet services, such as the World Wide Web access and e-mail, typically access the

Internet services through Application layer gateways such as proxy servers and e-mail
servers. The result is that most organizations only required a small amount of public
addresses for those nodes (such as proxies, routers, firewalls, and translators) that were
directly connected to the Internet.
For the hosts within the organization that do not require direct access to the Internet, IP
addresses that do not duplicate already-assigned public addresses are required. To solve
this addressing problem, the Internet designers reserved a portion of the IP address space
and named this space the private address space. An IP address in the private address
space is never assigned as a public address. IP addresses within the private address space
are known as private addresses. Because the public and private address spaces do not
overlap, private addresses never duplicate public addresses.
Private IP address range
10.0.0.1 to 10.255.255.254
172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.254
192.168.0.1 to 192.168.255.254
Loopback Address: Network 127 is called loopback address. Though its an A class
address but we cant provide this address to any host because every host is part of this
network. 127.0.0.0 network is called Local Network. If you install TCP/IP in your
computer, then that computer will take an IP address like 127.0.0.1 for checking that
computers configuration. Just go to command prompt and type ping localhost, you will
get the answer from 127.0.0.1. If you get the answer that means your TCP/IP insatll
properly.
So far we learn,
Class

Range

Left bit

A
B

1-127
128-191

0
10

Bits
NetworkID
8
16

192-223

110

24

for No
of
Network
2^7-2=126
2^14=16,384
2^21=209715
2

D
E

224-239
240-255

1110
1111

Reserved

Bits for
HostID
24
16

No
of
host
2^24-2
2^16-2

2^8-2