User`s manual

105
RX3042H User's Manual IP Address, Network Masks, and Subnets
11 IP Addresses, Network Masks, and Subnets
11.1 IP Addresses
Note: This section pertains only to IP addresses
for IPv4 (version 4 of the Internet Protocol). IPv6
addresses are not covered.
This section assumes basic knowledge of binary numbers, bits, and
bytes. For details on this subject, see Appendix 11.
IP addresses, the Internetʼs version of telephone numbers, are used
to identify individual nodes (computers or devices) on the Internet.
Every IP address contains four numbers, each from 0 to 255 and
separated by dots (periods), e.g. 20.56.0.211. These numbers are
called, from left to right, field1, field2, field3, and field4.
This style of writing IP addresses as decimal numbers separated by
dots is called dotted decimal notation. The IP address 20.56.0.211
is read “twenty dot fifty-six dot zero dot two-eleven.”
11.1.1 Structure of an IP address
IP addresses have a hierarchical design similar to that of telephone
numbers. For example, a 7-digit telephone number starts with a
3-digit prefix that identifies a group of thousands of telephone lines,
and ends with four digits that identify one specific line in that group.
Similarly, IP addresses contain two kinds of information.
• Network ID
Identifies a particular network within the Internet or Intranet
• Host ID
Identifies a particular computer or device on the network
The first part of every IP address contains the network ID, and the
rest of the address contains the host ID. The length of the network
ID depends on the networkʼs class (see following section). Table
11.1 shows the structure of an IP address.