IP ADDRESS

Every machine(PC) on the Internet has a unique number   assigned to it, called an IP address.

Without a unique IP address on your machine, you will not be able to communicate with other devices,

Users and computers on the Internet. You can look at your IP address as if it were a telephone number,

 each one being unique and used to identify a way to reach you and only you.

    The Address Itself

                An IP address always consists of 4 numbers separated by periods, with the numbers having a possible range of 0 through     255. An example of how an ip address appears is: 192.168.1.10

                This representation of an IP address is called decimal notation and is what is generally used by humans to refer to an IP     address for readability purposes. With the ranges for each number being between 0 and 255 there are a total 4,294,967,296     possible IP addresses.

                Out of these addresses there are 3 special ranged that are reserved for special purposes? The first is the 0.0.0.0     address and refers to the default network and the 255.255.255.255 address which is called the broadcast address. These     addresses are used for routing, which will not be covered in this tutorial. The third address, 127.0.0.1, is the loopback     address, and refers to your machine. Whenever you see, 127.0.0.1, you are actually referring to your own machine. That     means if you clicked on this link,

    Code:

    http://127.0.0.1

You are actually trying to connect to your own computer, and unless you have a web server running, you will get a       connection error.

    There are some guidelines to how IP address can appear, though. The four numbers must be between 0 and 255, and the IP     address of 0.0.0.0 and 255.255.255.255 are reserved, and are not considered usable IP addresses. IP addresses must be     unique for each computer connected to a network. That means that if you have two computers on your network, each

must         have a different IP address to be able to communicate with each other. If by accident the same IP address is assigned to     two computers, then those computers would have what is called an "IP Conflict" and not be able to communicate with each     other.

    IP address classes

    These IP addresses can further be broken down into classes. These classes are A, B, C, D, E and their possible ranges can     be seen in Figure 2 below.

    Class Start address Finish address

    A                              0.0.0.0 126.255.255.255

    B                              128.0.0.0 191.255.255.255

    C                              192.0.0.0 223.255.255.255

    D                              224.0.0.0 239.255.255.255

    E                               240.0.0.0 255.255.255.255

    

    If you look at the table you may notice something strange. The range of IP address from Class A to Class B skips the     127.0.0.0-127.255.255.255 range. That is because this range is reserved for the special addresses called Loopback     addresses that have already been discussed above.

    The rest of classes are allocated to companies and organizations based upon the amount of IP addresses that they may     need. Listed below are descriptions of the IP classes and the organizations that will typically receive that type of     allocation.

    Default Network: The special network 0.0.0.0 is generally used for routing.

    Class A: From the table above you see that there are 126 class A networks. These networks consist of 16,777,214 possible     IP addresses that can be assigned to devices and computers. This type of allocation is generally given to very large     networks such as multi-national companies.

    Loopback: This is the special 127.0.0.0 network that is reserved as a loopback to your own computer. These addresses are     used for testing and debugging of your programs or hardware.

    Class B: This class consists of 16,384 individual networks, each allocation consisting of 65,534 possible IP addresses.     These blocks are generally allocated to Internet Service Providers and large networks, like a college or major hospital.

    Class C: There is a total of 2,097,152 Class C networks available, with each network consisting of 255 individual IP     addresses. This type of class is generally given to small to mid-sized companies.

    Class D: The IP addresses in this class are reserved for a service called Multicast.

    Class E: The IP addresses in this class are reserved for experimental use.

    Broadcast: This is the special network of 255.255.255.255, and is used for broadcasting messages to the entire network     that your computer resides on.

    Private Addresses

    There are also blocks of IP addresses that are set aside for internal private use for computers not directly connected to     the Internet. These IP addresses are not supposed to be routed through the Internet, and most service providers will     block the attempt to do so. These IP addresses are used for internal use by company or home networks that need to use     TCP/IP but do not want to be directly visible on the Internet. These IP ranges are:

    Class

    Private Start Address                                 Private End Address

    A

       10.0.0.0                                                           10.255.255.255

    B

       172.16.0.0                                                       172.31.255.255

    C

      192.168.0.0                                                      192.168.255.255

    If you are on a home/office private network and want to use TCP/IP, you should assign your computers/devices IP addresses     from one of these three ranges. That way your router/firewall would be the only device with a true IP address which makes     your network more secure.

    Common Problems and Resolutions

    The most common problem people have is by accident assigning an IP address to a device on your network that is already     assigned to another device. When this happens, the other computers will not know which device should get the information,     and you can experience erratic behavior. On most operating systems and devices, if there are two devices on the local     network that have the same IP address, it will generally give you a "IP Conflict" warning. If you see this warning, that     means that the device giving the warning, detected another device on the network using the same address.

    The best solution to avoid a problem like this is to use a service called DHCP that almost all home routers provide.     DHCP, or Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, is a service that assigns addresses to devices and computers. You tell the     DHCP server what range of IP addresses you would like it to assign, and then the DHCP server takes the responsibility of     assigning those IP addresses to the various devices and keeping track so those IP addresses are assigned only once.

    Conclusion

    IP addresses and their function on the Internet is an important concept to understand. Hopefully with this tutorial you     will have a firmer grasp on this concept, which should help you troubleshoot problems and bring a better understanding of     how the Internet works.