What is IP Address and its UsesDefnition

Internet Protocol Address (IP Address)   Definition - What does Internet Protocol Address (IP Address) mean?

An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a logical numeric address that is assigned to every single computer, printer, switch, router or any other device that is part of a TCP/IP-based network.                              The IP address is the core component on which the networking architecture is built; no network exists without it. An IP address is a logicaladdress that is used to uniquely identify every node in                   the network. Because IP addresses are logical, they can change. They are similar to addresses in a town or city because the IP address gives the network node an address so that it can communicate with other nodes or networks, just like mail is sent to friends and relatives.       The numerals in an IP address are divided into 2 parts:

• The network part specifies which networks this address belongsandThe host part further pinpoints the exact location.

Techopedia explains Internet Protocol Address (IP Address)

An IP address is the most significant and important component in the networking phenomena that binds the World Wide Web together. The IP address is a numeric address assigned to every unique instance that is connected to any computer communication network using the TCP/IP communication protocols.

Network nodes are assigned IP addresses by the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol server as soon as the nodes connect to a network. DHCP assigns IP addresses using a pool of available addresses which are part of the whole addressing scheme. Though DHCP only provides addresses that are not static, many machines reserve static IP addresses that are assigned to that entity forever and cannot be used again.            IP addresses falls into two types:

• Classfull IP addressing is a legacy scheme which divides the whole IP address pools into 5 distinct classes—A, B, C, D and E.
• Classless IP addressing has an arbitrary length of the prefixes.

    

Before variable length subnet masks allowed networks of any size to be configured, the IPv4 address space was broken into five classes.

Class A 

In a Class A network, the first eight bits, or the first dotted decimal, is the network part of the address, with the remaining part of the address being the host part of the address. There are 128 possible Class A networks.

0.0.0.0 to 127.0.0.0

However, any address that begins with 127. is considered a loop-back address.

Example for a Class A IP address:

2.134.213.2

Class B

In a Class B network, the first 16 bits are the network part of the address. All Class B networks have their first bit set to 1 and the second bit set to 0. In dotted decimal notation, that makes 128.0.0.0 to 191.255.0.0 as Class B networks. There are 16,384 possible Class B networks.

Example for a Class B IP address:

135.58.24.17

Class C

In a Class C network, the first two bits are set to 1, and the third bit is set to 0. That makes the first 24 bits of the address the network address and the remainder as the host address. Class C network addresses range from 192.0.0.0 to 223.255.255.0. There are over 2 million possible Class C networks.

Example for a Class C IP address:

192.168.178.1

Class D

Class D addresses are used for multi-casting applications. Unlike the previous classes, the Class D is not used for "normal" networking operations. Class D addresses have their first three bits set to “1” and their fourth bit set to “0”. Class D addresses are 32-bit network addresses, meaning that all the values within the range of 224.0.0.0 – 239.255.255.255 are used to uniquely identify multicast groups. There are no host addresses within the Class D address space, since all the hosts within a group share the group’s IP address for receiver purposes.

Example for a Class D IP address:

227.21.6.173

Class E

Class E networks are defined by having the first four network address bits as 1. That encompasses addresses from 240.0.0.0 to 255.255.255.255. While this class is reserved, its usage was never defined. As a result, most network implementations discard these addresses as illegal or undefined. The exception is 255.255.255.255, which is used as a broadcast address.

Example for a Class D IP address:

243.164.89.28

Overview: IP address classes and bit-wise representations

Class A
  0.  0.  0.  0 = 00000000.00000000.00000000.00000000
127.255.255.255 = 01111111.11111111.11111111.11111111
                  0nnnnnnn.HHHHHHHH.HHHHHHHH.HHHHHHHH

Class B
128.  0.  0.  0 = 10000000.00000000.00000000.00000000
191.255.255.255 = 10111111.11111111.11111111.11111111
                  10nnnnnn.nnnnnnnn.HHHHHHHH.HHHHHHHH

Class C
192.  0.  0.  0 = 11000000.00000000.00000000.00000000
223.255.255.255 = 11011111.11111111.11111111.11111111
                  110nnnnn.nnnnnnnn.nnnnnnnn.HHHHHHHH

Class D
224.  0.  0.  0 = 11100000.00000000.00000000.00000000
239.255.255.255 = 11101111.11111111.11111111.11111111
                  1110XXXX.XXXXXXXX.XXXXXXXX.XXXXXXXX

Class E
240.  0.  0.  0 = 11110000.00000000.00000000.00000000
255.255.255.255 = 11111111.11111111.11111111.11111111
                  1111XXXX.XXXXXXXX.XXXXXXXX.XXXXXXXX

Private addresses

Within the address space, certain networks are reserved for private networks. Packets from these networks are not routed across the public internet. This provides a way for private networks to use internal IP addresses without interfering with other networks. The private networks are

10.0.0.1 - 10.255.255.255

172.16.0.0 - 172.32.255.255

192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255

Special IP addresses

Certain IPv4 addresses are set aside for specific uses:

127.0.0.0	Loop-back address (the host’s own interface)
224.0.0.0	IP Multicast
255.255.255.255	Broadcast (sent to all interfaces on network)

  

IPv6 address

An IPv6 address is a 128-bit alphanumeric string that identifies an endpoint device in the Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) addressing scheme.

In more precise terms, an IPv6 address is 128 bits long and is arranged in eight groups, each of which is 16 bits. Each group is expressed as four hexadecimal digits and the groups are separated by colons.

Here's an example of a full IPv6 address: 

FE80:CD00:0000:0CDE:1257:0000:211E:729C

That address can be shortened, however, because the addressing scheme allows the omission of any leading zero, as well as any sequences consisting only of zeroes. Here's the short version:  

FE80:CD00:0:CDE:1257:0:211E:729C

It has been a concern for some time that the IPv4addressing scheme was running out of potential addresses. The IPv6 format was created to enable the trillions of new IP addresses required to connect not only an ever-greater number of computing devices but also the rapidly expanding numbers of items with embedded connectivity. In the Internet of Things (IoT) scenario, objects, animals and people are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to automatically transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.

IPv6 expands the available address space sufficiently to enable anything conceivable to have an IP address. The number of potential IPv6 addresses has been calculated as: 

340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456

According to Computer History Museum docent Dick Guertin, that number allows an IPv6 address for each atom on the surface of the planet-- with enough left over for more than 100 more similar planets.

अखिलेश कुमार इस ब्लॉग के फाउण्डर हैं l जो एक NETWORK ENGINEER हैं ,
और इस समय सत्य नरायन उच्च शिक्षा संस्थान तुल्सीपुर मे बी.एड के छात्र है   
इण्टरनेट से जुडी विषय में रुचि रखते हैं ,अगर आप को इण्टरनेट से जुडी कोई भी
 जानकारी चहिये तो आप हम से कमेन्ट मे पूछ सकते है l हमारा यह मकसद है
 कि इस ब्लॉग से अच्छी से अच्छी जानकारी मिले l