IP address Basics

 What is IP Address

An Internet Protocol Address  is assigned to network devices like Printer, PC etc. There are different versions of IP address. I am going to explain IP version 4. Other IP version is IPV6.

IPV4 It is a 32 Bit binary Number. which is divided in four octets. You would be wondering what exactly the octet is??.... Lets define...

Octet is a block of 8bits.These Four octets are separated by dots. e.g....  X.X.X.X     Where X can be any number between 0 and 255.

So we can derive that..The minimum Octet value of an IP address can be 0.0.0.0 and the Maximum 255.255.255.255

Q1.Why the Octet  values are in between 0 and 255?

A.IP address is a 32 bit binary number and one octet is having 8bits. so the minimum octet value can be "00000000" and Maximum Octet Value will be "11111111" If we convert these binary numbers we get the minimum as "0" and Maximum as 255.

Q2- How to convert Binary to Decimal?

Ans. Its very easy and important. you must be aware of conversion of different number systems. I am converting only Binary to Decimal remaining Part will be covered later.

Lets do it....

Use the weights .....128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

e.g I have to convert 10110010

Check for 1s and its equivalent weight and add these weights....

128+32+16+2=(178) decimal

Lets look for these IP addresses..

1)10.1.1.34   2)38.64.98.100    3)100.200.150.300    4)250.254.1.123

In these IP addresses the 3rd IP address's last octet value is 300 which is greater than 255. So this is not a Valid IP address.

Remaining are Valid IP addresses..

There are different class of IP address.

ClassA- N-H-H-H   11111111.00000000.00000000.00000000
Subnet Mask            255.0.0.0
ClassB- N-N-H-H   11111111.11111111.00000000.00000000
Subnet Mask            255.255.0.0
ClassC- N-N-N-H   11111111.11111111.11111111.11111111
 Subnet Mask          255.255.255.0
Network is represented by 1 and host is represented by 0

What is Subnet Mask

Subnet Mask defines the Network and Host Portion of an IP address. It tells the packet that in which network it has to go.......................................