IP Addressing

 Key Responsibilities of IP:

• Addressing: Assigning unique addresses to devices on a network.

• Fragmentation: Breaking large packets into smaller ones for transmission.

• Routing: Choosing the best path to send data across multiple networks.
  IP is connectionless and unreliable on its own, meaning it doesn’t guarantee delivery, order, or error correction. These functions are handled by higher-layer protocols like TCP.

Internet Protocol Addressing

It is a unique address identifying a machine (which can be a computer, a server, an electronic device, a router, a phone etc.) on a network, thus serving for routing and forwarding IP packets from source to destination.

Two Versions of IP

Structure of an IP Address

1. IPv4 Address Format:

• Written in dotted decimal format: e.g., 192.168.0.1
  
  

• Consists of 4 octets (1 octet = 8 bits)
  
  

• Example breakdown:
  
  

  • 192 → 11000000
    
    

  • 168 → 10101000
    
    

  • 0 → 00000000
    
    

  • 1 → 00000001
    
    

Each address consists of two parts:

• Network portion: Identifies the network
  
  

• Host portion: Identifies the specific device on the network

2. IPv6 Address Format:

• Written in colon-separated hexadecimal format: e.g., 2001:0db8:0000:0000:0000:ff00:0042:8329
  
  

• Simplified as: 2001:db8::ff00:42:8329
  
  

• Designed to solve IPv4 address exhaustion

Types of IP Address

IP Address Classes (IPv4)

Private  IP Address Ranges 

Private IP Address are reserved for use within private networks (LANS) and are not routable on the public internet. Non-routable IP addresses, also known as private IP addresses, are reserved for use within private networks and are not designed to be routed on the public internet. These addresses allow devices within a local network to communicate with each other without requiring a public IP address for each device. They are crucial for managing internal network traffic and enhancing security by preventing direct access from the public internet.  

Common Notation for IP Address

In networking, IP addresses are typically written using standard notations that make them easy to read, understand, and work with. Below are the common notations used for IPv4 and IPv6 addresses, including subnetting formats:

1. Dotted Decimal Notation (for IPv4)

This is the most common and human-readable format.

• Format: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

• Each xxx represents 8 bits (an octet) of the 32-bit IP address.

 Example:

• 192.168.1.1
  
  

• 10.0.0.1
  
  

• 172.16.254.2

2. Binary Notation

Used for teaching, subnetting calculation, and protocol-level understanding.

• Format: Each of the four octets is written in binary.
  
  

• Example:
  192.168.1.1 → 11000000.10101000.00000001.00000001

Example:

Dotted Decimal Notation - 128.12.15.10

Binary Notations: 10000000 00001100 00001111 00001010

Exercises: 

I. Change the following IP addresses from binary notation to dotted-decimal notation.

a.  10000001  00001011  00001011 11101111

b.  11111001  10011011   11111011  00001111

II. Change the following IP addresses from dotted-decimal notation to binary notation.

a.  111.56.45.78

b.  75.45.34.78

Submit the screenshot of your answer on the link below.