Ajman University of Science and Technology Faculty of Engineering Switching and Computer Networks Experiment (6): IP Address and

Subnet Mask
Objectives: 1. IP definition and format. 2. IP classes. 3. Reserved IP Addresses. 4. Network Address and Node Address. 5. Subnet. 6. Subnet mask. Introduction: An IP address (Internet Protocol address) is a unique address that certain electronic devices use in order to identify and communicate with each other on a computer network utilizing the Internet Protocol standard (IP in simpler terms, a computer address). The format of an IP address is a 32-bit numeric address written as four numbers separated by periods. Each number can be 0 to 255 (0000 0000 to 1111 1111). Any participating network device (including routers, computers, time-servers, printers, Internet fax machines, and some telephones) can have their own unique address. There are five different address classes. You can determine which class any IP address is in by examining the first 4 bits of the IP address: Class A addresses begin with 0xxx, or 1 to 126 decimal . Class B addresses begin with 10xx, or 128 to 191 decimal . Class C addresses begin with 110x, or 192 to 223 decimal . Class D addresses begin with 1110, or 224 to 239 decimal . Class E addresses begin with 1111, or 240 to 254 decimal. We mentioned before that there are many IP addresses reserved for special purposes. Some of purposes are: Private IP addresses (Table 4.1) Multicast addresses (224.0.0.0 - 239.255.255.255) which are Class D addresses. Future use addresses (240.0.0.0 - 254.255.255.255) which are Class E addresses. Broadcast address (255.255.255.255) is an address that used for broadcast to local subnets. Loopback address (127.0.0.1) is an address that known as "loopback" or "localhost. This is used in troubleshooting the NIC. Default Gateway (0.0.0.0) is an address that designates a default gateway. This is used in routing tables to represent "All Other Network Addresses".

Table 4.1: Private IP Addresses

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Each IP address has a network part (Network Address) and node part (Node Address). These Part are different for each class: Class A: o Network Address of 8 bits, Node Address of 24 bits. o NNNNNNNN.nnnnnnnn.nnnnnnnn.nnnnnnnn o IP addresses with a first octet from 1 to 126 are part of this class Class B: o Network Address of 16 bits, Node Address of 16 bits. o NNNNNNNN.NNNNNNNN.nnnnnnnn.nnnnnnnn o IP addresses with a first octet from 128 to 191 are part of this class. Class C: o Network Address of 24 bits, Node Address of 8 bits. o NNNNNNNN.NNNNNNNN.NNNNNNNN.nnnnnnnn o IP addresses with a first octet from 192 to 223 are part of this class. Subnet is an identifiably separate part of an organization's network. Typically, a subnet may represent all the machines at one geographic location, in one building, or on the same local area network (LAN). It is useful in the case of having different physical media (such as Ethernet, FDDI, WAN, etc). Subnet is good for preservation of address space, security, control network traffic, and minimize the number of computer that directly directed to the Internet. A subnet mask is a screen of numbers used for routing traffic within a subnet. Once a packet has arrived at an organization's gateway or connection point with its unique network number, it can be routed to its destination within the organization's internal gateways using the subnet number. Applying a subnet mask to an IP address allows you to identify the network and node parts of the address. The way of using the subnet mask is by represent the network bits by the 1s in the mask, and the node bits by the 0s. Performing a bitwise logical AND operation between the IP address and the subnet mask results in the Network Address.

The most frequent asked questions in IP addressing and Subnet masks are:
How many subnets can network have from a subnet mask that has X number of 1s? X2 = number of subnets. X is the number of masked bits, or the 1s. How many hosts per subnet can subnets can network have from a subnet mask that has Y number of 0s? Y2 2 = number of hosts per subnet. y is the number of unmasked bits, or the 0s. What are the valid subnets? 256 subnet mask = block size, or increment number. An example would be 256 192 = 64. The block size of a 192 mask is always 64. Start counting at zero in blocks of 64 until you reach the subnet mask value and these are your subnets. 0, 64, 128, 192. Whats the broadcast address for each subnet ? Now heres the really easy part Since we counted our subnets in the last section as 0, 64, 128, and ,192the broadcast address is always the number right before the next subnet. For example, the 0 subnet has a broadcast address of 63 because the next subnet is 64. The 64 subnet has a broadcast address of 127 because the next subnet is 128. And so on. And remember, the broadcast of the last subnet is always 255. What are the valid hosts? Valid hosts are the numbers between the subnets, omitting the all 0s and all 1s. For example, if 64 is the subnet number and 127 is the broadcast address, then 65126 is the valid host rangeits always the numbers between the subnet address and the broadcast address.

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