COMPUTER EDUCATION 10: WHAT IS A NETWORK ADDRESS?

NETWORK ADDRESS

Is more commonly known as IP ADDRESS. It is the numeric address of a computer connected to the network. It is a set of numbers, called as "octets" or "dotted decimal" notation that identifies any network device.

It can be compared to the physical address that we use for our homes which uniquely identifies it from the rest of the homes in our neighborhood, town, city, province, country and the whole wide world.

EXAMPLES:

   -172.16.254.1
-192.168.1.1

WHAT ARE THE VERSIONS OF IP ADDRESS?

There are two versions of IP that currently coexist in the global Internet: IP version 4 (IPv4) and IP version 6 (IPv6). IP addresses are made up of binary values and drive the routing of all data over the Internet. IPv4 addresses are 32 bits long, and IPv6 addresses 128 bits long.

1. IPv4- IP version 4

- It is the standard version

2. IPv6 - IP version 6
- It is the advanced version

IPv4 addresses are canonically represented in dotted-decimal notation, which consists of four decimal numbers, each ranging from 0 to 255, separated by dots, e.g., 172.16.254.1. Each part represents a group of 8 bits (octet) of the address.

BINARY DIGITS OF 172

WHAT ARE THE CLASSES OF IP ADDRESS?

With an IPv4 IP address, there are five classes of available IP ranges: Class A, Class B, Class C, Class D and Class E, while only A, B, and C are commonly used. Each class allows for a range of valid IP addresses, shown in the table below.