IP Addressing – Overview

IP refers to Internet Protocol. An IP Address is like an Identity for a computer (device)

that is connected in a network, it doesn't matter what ever the network is either it might be
LAN, MAN or WAN. Each and every computer (device) that is connected to a network has a
unique IP Address.

An IP Address is comprised of 4 octets (4 Bytes || 32 bits), each octets ranges from 0 -

255. Each octet is separated by a period or dot.

There are 2 versions of IP Address available IPV4 and IPv6, we are still using IP v4
address where a maximum of 4,294,967,296 nodes can use unique IP address under IPv4. A
typical IP v4 address looks like

10.199.64.66

where,

10 - octet 1

199 - octet 2

64 - octet 3

66 - octet 4

As we saw earlier that each octet in an IP address ranges from 0 to 255, and it is true in
the above fact.

The IP address 10.199.64.66 is now in human readable format or it can also be said
that it is in decimal dotted format. An IP address can also be used in various other formats.

Here are few,

1. www.google.com - Hostname or Domain name

2. 209.85.153.104 - Dotted Decimal IP Address

3. 3512047976 - DWORD format

4. 110100011010101100110011101000 - Binary Address

5. 0x3512047976 - Hexa deciaml Format

6. 32112523116 - Octal
 All of these were different forms of IP address, but each of them will direct you to
www.google.com.

Most of the browsers are accepting only hostnames and decimal dotted IP addresses,
and rest of them are ignored nowadays.

IP Conversions

Converting domain name into its equivalent dotted decimal IP address:

This can be done just by Pinging the hostname.

PING is a network troubleshooting utility that is shipped with windows boxes.

PING refers to Packet Internet Groper, this forwards data packets (ICMP Echo Requests)
to check the quality of a link or verify the connection of a machine to the Internet.

Go to start menu and click on run, now type ping www.google.com

Now you can see something like below,

Now you got the decimal IP address of the host google.com.

The decimal IP address is enclosed in the square braces. (i.e) 209.85.153.104

----------------------------
 Converting dotted decimal IP address into its equivalent DWORD :

To convert a dotted decimal IP address into its equivalent DWORD, open up a calc.

In our scenario let’s take the IP 209.85.153.104, split it into 4 different octets as

209

85

153

104

Respectively

Now open the scientific view in the calculator and choose decimal and type 209 now

Click on Hex-decimal, now it gives you D1, write it down and do for the rest.

So you will obtain the following result,

D1 55 99 68

Now this is in the Hexa-decimal form, to convert it to its equivalent DWORD,

Select the Hexa-decimal mode in calculator and type D1559968 and now click on
decimal mode, now you will get 3512047976 which is the exact DWORD form. because
DWORD value is represented in the base 10 system.

DWORD : 3512047976

Converting into Hexa-Decimal IP Address :

You already have obtained the hexa decimal IP address, but you have to 0x infront of a
hex IP value. hence a hexa decimal IP looks like 0x3512047976

Converting into Binary IP Address :

Split up the Decimal IP into 4 separate octets and then convert each of them into its
equivalent form as we did in the previous steps, here you have select the Bin mode.

A Typical Binary IP will look like...

110100011010101100110011101000
 Converting into Octal IP Address :

Split up the Decimal IP into 4 separate octets and then convert each of them into its
equivalent form as we did in the previous steps, here you have select the Oct mode.

A Typical Octal IP will look like...

32112523116

Classes of IP Address :

Based on the usage of the IP addresses, they are classified into 5 major categories.

Class Range
A 1.0.0.0 to 126.255.255.254
B 128.0.0.0 to 191.255.255.254
C 192.0.0.0 to 223.255.255.254
D 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255
E 240.0.0.0 to 254.255.255.254

127.0.0.1 is used for loopback interface.

Class A :

Each class of IP address is divided into 2 parts namely NET ID and HOST ID.

for a class A IP address, First octet becomes the NET ID and rest becomes the HOST ID

10.199.64.66

10 - Net ID 199.64.66 - Host ID

In a Class A IP address you can connect a maximum numbers of computers 16 million

hosts on each 127 networks, also it is mostly used by big organisations and companies,
since they require large number of hosts that needs to be connected.start bit ranges
from 1 to 126. The Net ID usually denotes which part of the network the node belongs
to and the hosr ID denotes the acutual host on the network.

The first bit represents 0.

Class B :

Class B addresses are used for medium sized networks like college campus networks,
networks that is shared in MAN and so on. Here the first 2 octets represents the NET ID
and rest of them is the host ID. start bit ranges from 128 to 191, usually the first bit
represents 10.

Class C :

Class C addresses are most commonly used in small concerns they normally shares a
LAN connection. The Net ID is represented in first 3 octets remaining one octet is
referred for host ID. Start bit ranges from 192 to 223, usually the first bit represents
110. Here are the default masks for Class A, B and C.

11111111.00000000.00000000.00000000

11111111.11111111.00000000.00000000

11111111.11111111.11111111.00000000

Where 1 represents Net ID & 0 represents Host ID for classes A, B & C.

Class D :

Class D addresses are used for multicasting. Start bit ranges from 224 to 247. usually
the first four bits represents 1110.

Class E :

Class E addresses are used only for research purposes. start bit ranges from 240 to
254. usually the first four bits represents 1111.
 IP V6

IPv6 :

IPv6 is the next version of IP that is going to replace IPv4, that makes us to use more
numbers of nodes (2^32) than that of the IPv4. IPV6 address are 128 bits ( 16 bytes ).

A typical IPv6 address looks like

1352:0dbc:23c1:70c1:92de:8c2e:0c20:fb32

where,

1352 - octet 1

0dbc - octet 2

23c1 - octet 3

70c1 - octet 4

92de - octet 5

8c2e - octet 6

0c20 - octet 7

fb32 - octet 8

An IPV6 is comprised of 8 octets each separated by Colons ( : ) and is a combination of

both decimals and Hexa-decimals.

A Tech Review says that "5,000 addresses for every square micrometer of the Earth's
surface", which can fetch more availability in future, since handhelds, PDA's and more
electronic handhelds are nowadays based on internet, it is more than enough for
addressing.

Based upon the connectivity and usage the IP addresses are further divided into two
categories,

1. Static IP

2. Dymanic IP

Static IP :

The name itself implies that a static IP will remain static and wont change until we
manually change it. we can easily set a static IP of a machine.
Dynamic IP :

The dynamic IP changes constantly, this is a common case with the dial-up users, when
you dis-connect the connection and re-connect back to the ISP, then probably your
computer will be assigned a new dynamic IP. Ip address won’t be the same, when you
use a dial-up. DHCP is responsible for assigning you a new IP each time your computer
re-connects.

Sub netting

Sub netting is a process of breaking the given Net ID into possible pieces of small
networks.

Now let’s take a NET ID of 172.16.0.0 and find out how to calculate the subnets.

172.16.0.0

You are given a Net ID - 172.16.0.0, to find the maximum number of subnets available
on the ID Just use the Formula,

2 ^ subnet bits - 2 =possible networks or number of subnets ( 2n – 2 )

172.16.0.0

It is a class B IP address,

11111111.11111111.00000000.00000000

Where the bit field represented by 1 gives you the Net ID and rest gives you the host ID

Divide the Host ID 00000000.00000000 into two different octets,

00000000 and 00000000

Then consider the 4 complete octets, (i.e) the Net ID

11111111.11111111.00000000.00000000

First 2 octets represent NET ID, 3rd Octet represents Subnet ID, and the 4th Octet
represents host ID.

So you have 8 bits (i.e) 1 complete octet for sub netting, hence by using the formula to
find out how many subnets that you can use in this network,

2 8 –2

256 - 2

254
 Hence you can use a maximum of 254 subnets, and likewise its applicable to find out
number of hosts.

As I said that the 4th Octet is used for Host, now use the same formula to find out the
maximum number of host that can be used in the given NET ID.

2 8 –2

256 - 2

254

So, you can use a maximum of 254 hosts.

You can use 254 hosts connected to each subnet of 254.

172.16.1.1 to 172.16.1.254

172.16.2.1 to 172.16.2.254

…….

…….

172.16.254.1 to 172.16.254.254

You can also use bit borrowing technique to use more number of host, but the subnet
will change accordingly.

10101100.00010000.00000000.000000

NET ID Sub Net ID Host ID

Now let this be the subnet ID,

11111111.11111111.11111000.00000000

128 + 64 + 32 + 16 + 8 = 248

255.255.248.000 - Sub Net Mask

Hence the Subnet mask is 255.255.248.000

- Cybercrawler