IP Address is a unique identification given to Host, network device, server for data communication. Ip Address stand for Internet Protocol address, it is an addressing scheme used to identify a system on a network. It is a unique address that certain electronic devices currently use to communicate with each other on a network using internet protocol.
IP Version 4
IPV4 is a 32 bit number represented in 4 decimal numbers, where each decimal number is of 8 bit (an octet), where each octet is separated by a dot in between. Thus the representation is known as Dotted Decimal Notation. An IPV4 address is divided into 2 parts viz., Network ID and Host ID. It allows 2^32 addresses. IPV4 has Unicast, Broadcast & Multicast addresses. Routing Protocols that supports IPV4 addressing are RIPV1, V2, IGRP, OSPF & EIGRP.
IP Version 6
IPV6 is of 128 bits represented in 8 combinations of 4 hexa decimal numbers each, separated by a colon. Hence IPV6 is called a 16-bit Hexadecimal Colon-delimited Block. In IPV4, we borrowed bits from Host ID - to increase the number of networks and to reduce the wastage of IP address. IPV4 is of 32 bits – (232) = 4.3 million IP addresses. With all the reserved IP’s left over usable IP addresses are 250 million; out of which 10% are in use. The class B addresses are already exhausted, whereas class A and C IP addresses are still available; but officially by 2008 all IP addresses are dieing.
Since IPV6 provides us with more number of addresses when compared to IPV4 i.e., IPV6 supports 2128(about 3.4×1038) addresses, or approximately 5×1028 addresses for each of the 6.5 billion people alive today.
IP Addresses can be classified into five classes A, B, C, D and E. Each class consists of a contiguous subset of the overall IPv4 address range.
Range | Private IP address |
Class A 0 -126 | 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255 |
Class B 128-191 | 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255 |
Class C 192-223 | 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255 |
Class D 224-239 | |
Class E 240-255 |
IP Class Range
Class | Supports | |
Class A | 1.0.0.1 to 126.255.255.254 | Supports 16 million hosts on each of 127 networks. |
Class B | 128.1.0.1 to 191.255.255.254 | Supports 65,000 hosts on each of 16,000 networks. |
Class C | 192.0.1.1 to 223.255.254.254 | Supports 254 hosts on each of 2 million networks. |
Class D | 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255 | Reserved for multicast groups. |
Class E | 240.0.0.0 to 254.255.255.254 | Reserved for future use, or Research and Development Purposes. |