Standard Network V4 IP Address Settings

An IP address is a combination of four parts separated by dots. These parts are called octets (only on v4 IP addresses). An octet consists of only 8 small pieces of information, called bits. IPv4 addresses are written in a certain way.

192.168.0.1 is one example of an IP address used to identify devices on a computer network.

An IP address has two parts:

• Network ID, such as code that identifies a network.
• Host ID, means a specific identification number or code assigned to a computer or device connected to a network.

Different types of network classes use more or fewer numbers to indicate which part is the network and which part is for the computer.

When a group of computers are connected, you also select a netmask. The netmask determines the type of network. When you set up a netmask, it tells you which bits are important and which are not. This is done using the numbers ones and zeros. The netmask tells us which part of an address is for the network and which is for the device using the network.

Class A -E Network

Here is a table showing how we address different types of networks: A, B, C, D, and E.

There are special addresses reserved by IANA for use on specific networks. These addresses can be hidden from the internet when the computer uses IP masking to connect the private network to the internet.

There are three groups of addresses stored for special use. You can see these addresses below:

• 10.x.x.x
• 172.16.x.x – 172.31.x.x
• 192.168.x.x

Other reserved or commonly used addresses:

• 127.x.x.x: This is the address that the computer uses to communicate with itself. The 127.x.x.x address is used when a computer copies data from one part to another within the computer itself.
•  0.0.0.0 : This address is intended for devices that do not know their own address. They can find out the address by using a protocol called BOOTP or DHCP.
• 255: This number is not used as part of the IP address. It is only used to send messages to many computers at once.

Describes the size and shape of a computer network.

Network/Netmask Specifications

Sometimes you may have seen the IP address associated with the network card written in this format:

 “192. 168.0.1/24”

The first part tells us the IP address for the computer network card, which is 192. 168.0.1 and “/24” mean that the first 24 digits in the netmask are used. This means the netmask is 255. 255.255.0.

The netmask will be 255. 255.0.0 if the above line ends with “/16” and 255. 0.0.0 if the above line ends with “/8”.

Subnet masks

Subnetting means dividing large networks into smaller networks (called subnets) to facilitate the transmission of information between them. Subnet masks help divide large networks into smaller networks, and each small network gets its own address number. This will allow information to flow between smaller networks.

When dividing a large network into smaller networks, the number of bits in the subnet mask indicates how many subnets can be created. If we have a certain number of bits, we can create many networks.

The formula is that you take two and multiply it by the number of bits, then take two. This will tell you how many networks you can create. When setting up a smaller part of a network, you need to know the following details:

• Number of segments.
• Number of computers per segment

Subnetting has several benefits, including:

• Less data is sent between different parts of the network.
• The network can be controlled separately, making administration easier.
• Subnets make it more secure by separating internal networks from external networks. In this way, the external network cannot see the internal network.

Supernetting

Supernetting is the process of combining multiple subnets into one larger network. This technique is often used to reduce the complexity of configuring and managing networks.

By combining multiple subnets into one larger network, network administrators can reduce the number of routing entries that need to be configured on routers and improve the efficiency of using IP addresses.

The process of supernetting involves merging the same IP address and subnet mask from multiple subnets into one larger subnet. In this larger subnet, the IP address ranges of the merged subnets will be part of the same address range.

Suppose we have the following four subnets:

• Subnet 1: 192.168.0.0/24
• Subnet 2: 192.168.1.0/24
• Subnet 3: 192.168.2.0/24
• Subnet 4: 192.168.3.0/24

In this example, the first bit on all subnets is 192.168.x.x/24, so the second bit needs to be checked.

The second bit in Subnet 1 and Subnet 2 is 0, while the second bit in Subnet 3 and Subnet 4 is 1. Therefore, we can combine Subnet 1 and Subnet 2 into one subnet, and combine Subnet 3 and Subnet 4 into one subnet.

The result is as follows:

• Supernet 1: 192.168.0.0/23 (IP address range: 192.168.0.0 – 192.168.1.255)
• Supernet 2: 192.168.2.0/23 (IP address range: 192.168.2.0 – 192.168.3.255)

By supernetting, we have combined four subnets into two larger subnets. This can help reduce the complexity of management and routing on the network, as well as optimize the use of IP addresses.