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IP Addressing : IP Operates On The Network Layer Of The Reference Model

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IP Addressing
IP operates on the Network Layer of the reference model. IP addressing is important because IP helps in routing packets, just us the Post Office needs an address on a packet or letter for correct delivery.
IPV4 is made up of 32-bit addresses, as opposed IPV6 which has 128-bits, and this obviously larger address space has become necessary because the world is running short of IPV4 addresses. Most of the internet now uses IPV4, so this discussion will mostly concentrate on IPV4. A lot of the ideas discussed here have been gleaned from a web site of a company called TutorialsPoint, and also credit is due to Tanenbaum and Whetherall (2011).
First, the format or the composition of the IP Address is made up 32 bits grouped into…show more content…
A class A network may be written in the format like 10.0.0.0/8, to signify the 8 bits of the network part. There is also the distinction between Public and Private addresses, where public addresses are recognized world-wide, as they are allocated by designated organizations, and that is how they are running out; almost all valid addresses have been allocated. On the other hand, private addresses are used within an organization or a home, however, they require the help of a publicly recognized address to communicate globally, and this is through a process called Network Address Translation (NAT). The allocation of Public IP addresses falls under the authority of IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority), a global body that oversees regional organizations, and these organizations are more directly involved in IP Address allocation.
Subnet Masking
The meaning of Subnet can be derived from its name, by taking the beginning of the name (“Sub”), which means underneath or a part of, in this context of a network. The idea is to sub-divide a network into smaller parts for manageability by routers. There is also the converse, Aggregation, which is scaling the network to accommodate more hosts in one network. In this discussion, I will only dwell on Subnets, but before further discussion let me bring up the concept of Masking. The mask is also a 32-bit
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