31-07-2012, 12:09 PM
INTERNET PROTOCOL (IP) ADDRESSING
31653542-Report-on-IP-Addressing.pdf (Size: 437.79 KB / Downloads: 44)
INTRODUCTION
The internet as we see today is a network of networks, a virtual world
where any computer on internet appears to be connected to every other
computer present on Internet.
The glue that holds the internet together is the IP (Internet Protocol). It
was designed from beginning with internetworking in mind. Its job is to
provide is to provide best-efforts way to transport datagrams from
source to destination, without regard to whether these machines are on
the same network or whether there are other networks in between them.
The Internet Protocol also has the task of routing data packets between
networks, and IP Addresses specify the locations of the source and
destination nodes in the topology of the routing system.
IP ADDRESS
An Internet Protocol (IP) address is a numerical identification and
logical address that is assigned to devices participating in a computer
network utilizing the Internet Protocol for communication between its
nodes. Although IP addresses are stored as binary numbers, they are
usually displayed in human-readable notations, such as 208.77.188.166
(for IPv4), and 2001:db8:0:1234:0:567:1:1 (for IPv6).
IP versions
The Internet Protocol (IP) has two versions currently in use, the IPv4
and the IPv6. Because of its prevalence, the generic term IP address
typically still refers to the addresses defined by IPv4.
IP version 4 addresses
IPv4 uses 32-bit (4-byte) addresses, which limits the address space to
4,294,967,296 (232) possible unique addresses. IPv4 reserves some
addresses for special purposes such as private networks (~18 million
addresses) or multicast addresses (~270 million addresses). This reduces
the number of addresses that can be allocated to end users and, as the
number of addresses available is consumed, IPv4 address exhaustion is
inevitable. This foreseeable shortage was the primary motivation for
developing IPv6, which is in various deployment stages around the
world and is the only strategy for IPv4 replacement and continued
Internet expansion.