IP Numbering Basics

Video Transcript
 IP Numbering Basics
Steve May
Professor
Gateway Community College
Length: 3:26

Hi. Today we’re here to talk about IP numbering and addressing basics.
TCP/IP uses 32-bit hierarchical, binary, logical network addresses. These
addresses are represented by four decimal values, which are known as octets
because each one represents 8 binary digits.
Each octet represents numbers 0-255, simply by adding up the value of all the
bits. Whereas the left most bit, reading from left to right, the bits would be
valued 128, 64, 32, 16, 8, 4, 2, and 1. If you add those all together, each octet
would represent numbers between 0 and 255.
These addresses are divided into address classes, which are designed to meet the
small addressing needs of small, medium, and large organizations.
Each class of addresses is divided into a network portion and a host portion
which varies, of course, depending on the address class.
Class A addresses use 8 bits for the network portion of the address and 24 bits for
the host portion of the address.
Class B addresses use 16 bits for the network portion of the address and 16 bits
for the host portion of the address.
Class C addresses uses 24 bits for the network portion of the address and 8 bits
for the host portion of the address.
There are also Class D addresses, which are used for multicasting, and Class E
addresses which are used for experimental purposes.
Each IP address is unique. There may not be a duplicate IP address used
anywhere on the Internet.
It is possible to use duplicate IP addresses through something called private
addressing and network address translation, but if your address goes out to the
Internet, you must use a unique address.
The higher order bits in the first octet define the address class the network
belongs to. For instance, a Class A address has a “0” in the high order bits
because Class A addresses range in value between 1 and 126.
A Class B address has a “1” and a “0” in the high order bits because Class B
addresses range in value between 128 and 191.
A Class C address has a “1,” a “1,” and a “0” in the high order bits because Class
C addresses range in value between 192 and 223.
A Class D address has a “1,” a “1,” a “1,” and a “0” in the first four bits. Class D
addresses are used for multicasting.

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 A Class E address has a “1,” a “1,” a “1,” a “1,” and a “0” in the first five bits.
Class E addresses are used for experimentation.
IP is the most popular Layer 3 protocol. Understanding the IP address classes is
very important for success as an Internetwork administrator.

Copyright  2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. Video: IP Numbering Basics 1-3