What is Internet addressing? A way to locate people, computers, and Internet resources.

It can be IP (Internet Protocol) addresses and domain names Electronic mail addresses U !s

In general, Internet addressing is a systematic way to identi"y people, computers and Internet resources. #n the Internet, the term $address$ is used loosely. Address can mean many di""erent things "rom an electronic mail address to a U !. 1.IP Address An IP address is a uni%ue number that identi"ies computers on the Internet& e'ery computer directly connected to the Internet has one. E'ery client, ser'er and networ( de'ice must ha'e a uni%ue IP address "or each networ( connection (networ( inter"ace). IP addresses are conceptually similar to phone numbers, e)cept they are used in !A*s (!ocal Area *etwor(), WA*s (Wide Area *etwor(), and the Internet. +ecause the numbers are not easy "or humans to remember, the ,omain *ame -ystem pro'ides a ser'ice analogous to an address boo( loo(up called $domain name resolution$ or $name resolution$. -pecial ,*- ser'ers on the internet are dedicated to per"orming the translation "rom a domain name to an IP address and '.'. An IP address consists o" "our numbers separated by periods. Each number must be between . and /00. An e)ample is1 /.2.34./.0.5/ 6he "ormat o" an IP address is a 5/7bit numeric address written as "our numbers separated by periods. Each number can be 8ero to /00. 9or e)ample, 4.4:..4../2. could be an IP address. Within an isolated networ(, you can assign IP addresses at random as long as each one is uni%ue. ;owe'er, connecting a pri'ate networ( to the Internet re%uires using registered IP addresses (called Internet addresses) to a'oid duplicates. 6he "our numbers in an IP address are used in di""erent ways to identi"y a particular networ( and a host on that networ(. 9our regional Internet registries 77 A I*, IPE *<<, !A<*I< and AP*I< 77 assign Internet addresses "rom the "ollowing three classes. <lass A 7 supports 4: million hosts on each o" 4/: networ(s

<lass + 7 supports :0,... hosts on each o" 4:,... networ(s <lass < 7 supports /02 hosts on each o" / million networ(s

Format. An IP address is made up o" "our bytes o" in"ormation (totaling 5/ bits) e)pressed as "our numbers between . and /00 shown separated by periods. 9or e)ample, your computer=s IP address might be /53.4>.40?.2, which is shown below in human7 readable decimal "orm and in the binary "orm used on the Internet.

Example IP Address ,ecimal1 +inary1 /53 . 4> . 40? . 2 444.444. ...4...4 4..44444 .....4..

Each o" the "our numbers uses eight bits o" storage, and so can represent any o" the /0: numbers between 8ero (binary ........) and /00 (binary 44444444). 6here"ore, there are more than 2 billion possible di""erent IP addresses in all1 (Internet Protocol address) 6he address o" a de'ice attached to an IP networ( (6<P@IP networ(). E'ery client, ser'er and networ( de'ice must ha'e a uni%ue IP address "or each networ( connection (networ( inter"ace). E'ery IP pac(et contains a source IP address and a destination IP address. Static and Dynamic IP Each de'ice in an IP networ( is either assigned a permanent address (static IP) by the networ( administrator or is assigned a temporary address (dynamic IP). ,epending on one=s Internet connection the IP address can be the same e'ery time one connects (called a static IP address), or di""erent e'ery time one connects, (called a dynamic IP address). In order to use a dynamic IP address, there must e)ist a ser'er, which can pro'ide the address. IP addresses are usually gi'en out through a ser'er ser'ice called ,;<P or the ,ynamic ;ost <on"iguration Protocol. I" a static address is used, it must be manually programmed into parameters o" the de'ice=s networ( inter"ace. outers, "irewalls and pro)y ser'ers use static addresses. <lient machines may use static or dynamic IP addresses.In routers and operating systems, the de"ault con"iguration "or clients is dynamic IP . Dotted Decimals IP addresses are written in $dotted decimal$ notation, which is "our sets o" numbers separated by periods& "or e)ample, /.2.4>4.:2./. I" you (new the IP address o" a Web site, you could enter the dotted decimal number into your browser instead o" the domain

name .6he traditional IP address uses a 5/7bit number that de"ines both the networ( and the host computer. 6he networ( class determines how many o" the 5/ bits are used "or the networ( address, lea'ing the remaining bits "or use as the host number. 6he host number can be "urther di'ided between subnetwor(s and hosts <lass A, + and < Although the computer identi"ies the class by the "irst three bits o" the address (AA.& +A4.& <A44.), people identi"y the class by the "irst number in the address (see range below). 6his class7based system has also been greatly e)panded, eliminating the huge disparity in the number o" hosts that each class can accommodate
Maximum Maximum Class Number Hosts Number of per Range Networks Network 1-126 127 16,777,214 128-191 16,383 65,534 192-223 2,097,151 254 127 reserved for loopback test Number of Bits used in Network/Host ID ID 7/24 14/16 21/8

Class A B C

An IP address is "irst di'ided between networ(s and hosts. 6he host bits are "urther di'ided between subnets and hosts.

More detail
6he Internet Protocol (IP) (nows each logical host inter"ace by a number, the IP address. #n any gi'en networ(, this number must be uni%ue among all the host inter"aces that communicate through this networ(. Users o" the Internet are sometimes gi'en a host name in addition to their numerical IP address by their Internet ser'ice pro'ider. 6he IP addresses o" users browsing the World Wide Web are used to enable communications with the ser'er o" the web site. Also, it is usually in the header o" email messages one sends. In "act, "or all programs that utili8e the 6<P@IP protocol, the sender IP address and destination IP address are re%uired in order to establish communications and send data. Internet addresses are needed not only "or uni%ue enumeration o" hosted inter"aces, but also "or routing purposes, there"ore a high "raction o" them are always unused or reser'ed. 6he uni%ue nature o" IP addresses ma(es it possible in many situations to trac( which computer B and by e)tension, which person B has sent a message or engaged in some other acti'ity on the Internet. 6his in"ormation has been used by law en"orcement authorities to identi"y criminal suspects. 6he dynamically7assigned nature o" many IP addresses can ma(e this more di""icult.

Domain Name Cost computers on the Internet ha'e a uni%ue domain name. -pecial computers, called domain name ser'ers, loo( up the domain name and match it to the corresponding IP address so that data can be properly routed to its destination on the Internet. An e)ample domain name is1 healthyway.com ,omain names are easier "or most people to relate to than a numeric IP address. 2.Electronic Mail Address An Internet electronic mail, or e7mail, address is used to identi"y a person (or persons) and a computer "or purposes o" e)changing electronic mail messages. An e)ample Internet e7mail address is1 abc4/5Dcolumbia.edu Internet e7mail addresses are read "rom le"t to right1

$abc4/5$ is the name o" the person recei'ing or sending the message& this is re"erred to as the username. $columbia$ is part o" the domain name o" the organi8ation. $edu$ is also part o" the domain name and indicates that $columbia$ is an educational institution.

Electronic Mail Address #ther networ(s may use di""erent electronic mail addressing schemes within their own networ(s. 6o be used in Internet e7mail, these addresses o"ten need to be modi"ied. 9or e)ample, within <ompu-er'e an e7mail address consists only o" two numbers separated by a comma1 5:02>,3?4. 3.UR s U ! stands "or Uni"orm esource !ocator. U !s are used to identi"y speci"ic sites and "iles a'ailable on the World Wide Web. 6o con'ert this to an address that can be used on the Internet, the comma is changed to a period and the number ser'es as the username. 6he domain name is compuser'e.com, so the Internet address would be1 5:02>.3?4Dcompuser'e.com

6he structure o" a U ! is1 protocol1@@ser'er.subdomain.top7le'el7 domain@directory@"ilename *ot all U !s will ha'e the directory and "ilename. 6wo e)amples1 http1@@www.healthyway.com@e)ercise@mtbi(e.html gopher1@@gopher.state.edu@ UR s -imilar to an e7mail address, a U ! is read li(e a sentence. 9or e)ample the U ! http1@@www.healthyway.com is read as $http colon "orward slash "orward slash www dot healthyway dot com$. In S!mmary" Internet addressing is used to identi"y people, computers, and Internet resources. Using the Internet re%uires an understanding o" di""erent addressing schemes. People are identi"ied with electronic mail addresses. <omputers are identi"ied with IP addresses and domain names. esources and "iles a'ailable through the World Wide Web are identi"ied using U !s.