IP Addresses

Internet Protocol Addresses

The IP address ensures the delivery of data to the correct receiver.

• each IP address is assigned only once within the network.

• each network interface (network cards, network printers, or routers) is assigned a unique IP address.

• It's possible for a single IP address to address multiple receivers (broadcasting) or for a device to respond to multiple IP addresses.

• Addressing on the Internet is done via the IPv4 and/or IPv6 address, made up of the network address and the host address.

• divided into a host part and a network part

The IP network blocks were divided into Classes A - E:

Class	Network Address	First Address	Last Address	Subnetmask
A	1.0.0.0	1.0.0.1	127.255.255.255	255.0.0.0
B	128.0.0.0	128.0.0.1	191.255.255.255	255.255.0.0
C	192.0.0.0	192.0.0.1	223.255.255.255	255.255.255.0
D	224.0.0.0	224.0.0.1	239.255.255.255	Multicast
E	240.0.0.0	240.0.0.1	255.255.255.255	reserved

IPv4 vs IPv6

	IPv4	IPv6
Address length	32-bit address	128-bit address
Number of IP address	has a limited number	has a large number
Address representation	represented in decimal	represented in hexadecimal
Number of octets	consists of 4 octets	consists of 16 octets
Checksum field	available	not available
Transmission scheme	broadcasting	multicasting
IPsec	optional (The Security feature is dependent on application)	mandatory (IPSEC is an inbuilt security feature in the IPv6 protocol)
Example of (normal) address	192.168. 10.150	2001:db8:3333:4444:5555:6666:7777:8888

IPv6 address consists of two parts:

1. Network Prefix (network part).

2. Interface Identifier is also called Suffix (host part).