IP Addressing &

Subnetting

By Charles Galiwango
Octets
 The 32-bit IP address is broken up into
4 octets, which are arranged into a
dotted-decimal notation scheme.
 An octet is a set of 8 bits
 Example of an IP version 4:
172.64.126.52
Thinking in Binary
 The binary system uses only 2
values “0 & 1” to represent
numbers in positions representing
increasing powers of 2.
 We all are accustomed to thinking
& working in the decimal system,
which is based on the number 10.
Thinking in Binary (Cont.)

 To most humans, the number 124

represents 100 + 20 + 4.
 To the computer, this number is
1111100, which is 64 (26) + 32 (25)
+ 16 (24) + 8 (23) + 4 (22) + 0 + 0
 Each position in a binary number
represents, right to left, a power of
two beginning with 20 & increasing
by one power as it moves left: 20,
21, 22, 24, etc.
Converting to Decimal
 You’ll need to convert binary to decimal
& vice versa to compute subnets &
hosts.
 So, it’s time for a quick review lesson in
binary-to-decimal conversion.
 There are 8 bits in an octet & each bit
can only be a 1 or a 0.
Converting to Decimal (Cont.)

 What then do you suppose is the

largest decimal number that can be
expressed in an octet?

Eight 1’s (1111 1111)

Converting to Decimal (Cont.)
 What is its equivalent decimal
value?
27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

The binary number 1111 1111 converts

into the decimal number:
128 + 64 + 32 + 16 + 8 + 4 + 2 + 1 = 255
Converting to Decimal (Cont.)

 Therefore, the largest decimal number

that can be stored in an IP address
octet is 255.
 The significance of this should become
evident later in this presentation.
IP Address
 An IP address is an address used to uniquely
identify a device on an IP network.
 The address is made up of 32 binary bits
which can be divisible into a network portion
and host portion with the help of a subnet
mask.
 32 binary bits are broken into four octets (1
octet = 8 bits)
 Dotted decimal format (for example,
172.16.81.100
IP Address Classes
 IP addresses are divided into 5 classes,
each of which is designated with the
alphabetic letters A to E.
 Class D addresses are used for
multicasting.
 Class E addresses are reserved for
testing & some mysterious future use.
IP Address Classes (Cont.)

 The 5 IP classes are split up based on

the value in the 1st octet:
IP Address Classes (Cont.)

 Using the ranges, you can determine

the class of an address from its 1st octet
value.
 An address beginning with 120 is a
Class A address, 155 is a Class B
address & 220 is a Class C address.
Are You the Host or the
Network?
 The 32 bits of the IP address are divided into
Network & Host portions, with the octets
assigned as a part of one or the other.
Network & Host Representation
By IP Address Class
Class Octet1 Octet2 Octet3 Octet4

Class A Network Host Host Host

Class B Network Network Host Host

Class C Network Network Network Host

Are You the Host or the
Network? (Cont.)
 Each Network is assigned a network
address & every device or interface
(such as a router port) on the network
is assigned a host address.
 There are only 2 specific rules that
govern the value of the address.
Are You the Host or the
Network? (Cont.)
 A host address cannot be designated by
all zeros or all ones.
 These are special addresses that are
reserved for special purposes.
Class A Addresses
 Class A IP addresses use the 1st 8 bits (1st
Octet) to designate the Network address.
 The 1st bit which is always a 0, is used to
indicate the address as a Class A address &
the remaining 7 bits are used to designate
the Network.
 The other 3 octets contain the Host address.
Class A Addresses (Cont.)

 There are 128 Class A Network

Addresses, but because addresses with
all zeros aren’t used & address 127 is a
special purpose address, 126 Class A
Networks are available.
Class A Addresses (Cont.)
 There are 16,777,214 Host addresses
available in a Class A address.
 Rather than remembering this number
exactly, you can use the following formula to
compute the number of hosts available in any
of the class addresses, where “n” represents
the number of bits in the host portion:
(2n – 2) = Number of available hosts
Class A Addresses (Cont.)
 For a Class A network, there are:
224 – 2 or 16,777,214 hosts.
 Half of all IP addresses are Class A
addresses.
 You can use the same formula to determine
the number of Networks in an address
class.
 Eg., a Class A address uses 7 bits to
designate the network, so (27 – 2) = 126 or
there can be 126 Class A Networks.
Class B IP Addresses
 Class B addresses use the 1st 16 bits (two
octets) for the Network address.
 The last 2 octets are used for the Host
address.
 The 1st 2 bit, which are always 10, designate
the address as a Class B address & 14 bits
are used to designate the Network. This
leaves 16 bits (two octets) to designate the
Hosts.
Class B IP Addresses (Cont.)

 So how many Class B Networks can

there be?
 Using our formula, (214 – 2), there can
be 16,382 Class B Networks & each
Network can have (216 – 2) Hosts, or
65,534 Hosts.
Class C IP Addresses
 Class C addresses use the 1st 24 bits
(three octets) for the Network address
& only the last octet for Host
addresses.the 1st 3 bits of all class C
addresses are set to 110, leaving 21
bits for the Network address, which
means there can be 2,097,150 (221 – 2)
Class C Networks, but only 254 (28 – 2)
Hosts per Network.
Class C IP Addresses (Cont.)
Special Addresses
 A few addresses are set aside for
specific purposes.
 Network addresses that are all binary
zeros, all binary ones & Network
addresses beginning with 127 are
special Network addresses.
Special Addresses (Cont.)
Special Addresses (Cont.)

 Within each address class is a set of

addresses that are set aside for use in
local networks sitting behind a firewall
or NAT (Network Address Translation)
device or Networks not connected to
the Internet.
Special Addresses (Cont.)
 A list of these addresses for each IP
address class:
Subnet Mask
 An IP address has 2 parts:
 The Network identification.
 The Host identification.
 Frequently, the Network & Host portions of
the address need to be separately extracted.
 In most cases, if you know the address class,
it’s easy to separate the 2 portions.
Subnet Mask (Cont.)
 With the rapid growth of the internet & the
ever-increasing demand for new
addresses, the standard address class
structure has been expanded by borrowing
bits from the Host portion to allow for
more Networks.
 Under this addressing scheme, called
Subnetting, separating the Network & Host
requires a special process called Subnet
Masking.
Subnet Mask (Cont.)
 The subnet masking process was
developed to identify & extract the
Network part of the address.
 A subnet mask, which contains a binary bit
pattern of ones & zeros, is applied to an
address to determine whether the address
is on the local Network.
 If it is not, the process of routing it to an
outside network begins.
Subnet Mask (Cont.)
 The function of a subnet mask is to
determine whether an IP address exists on
the local network or whether it must be
routed outside the local network.
 It is applied to a message’s destination
address to extract the network address.
 If the extracted network address matches
the local network ID, the destination is
located on the local network.
Subnet Mask (Cont.)

 However, if they don’t match, the

message must be routed outside the
local network.
 The process used to apply the subnet
mask involves Boolean Algebra to filter
out non-matching bits to identify the
network address.
Boolean Algebra
 Boolean Algebra is a process that applies
binary logic to yield binary results.
 Working with subnet masks, you need only
4 basic principles of Boolean Algebra:
 1 and 1 = 1

 1 and 0 = 0

 0 and 1 = 0

 0 and 0 = 0
Boolean Algebra (Cont.)

 In another words, the only way you can

get a result of a 1 is to combine 1 & 1.
Everything else will end up as a 0.
 The process of combining binary values
with Boolean Algebra is called Anding.
Default Standard Subnet
Masks
 There are default standard subnet
masks for Class A, B and C addresses:
A Trial Separation
 Subnet masks apply only to Class A, B
or C IP addresses.
 The subnet mask is like a filter that is
applied to a message’s destination IP
address.
 Its objective is to determine if the local
network is the destination network.
A Trial Separation (Cont.)

 The subnet mask goes like this:

1. If a destination IP address is
206.175.162.21, we know that it is a
Class C address & that its binary
equivalent is:
11001110.10101111.10100010.00010
101
A Trial Separation (Cont.)

2. We also know that the default

standard Class C subnet mask is:
255.255.255.0 and that its binary
equivalent is:
11111111.11111111.11111111.0000000
0
A Trial Separation (Cont.)

3. When these two binary numbers (the

IP address & the subnet mask) are
combined using Boolean Algebra, the
Network ID of the destination
network is the result:
A Trial Separation (Cont.)
4. The result is the IP address of the
network which in this case is the same
as the local network & means that the
message is for a node on the local
network.
5. IP address : 206.175.162.21
6. Subnet mask : 255.255.255.0
7. Network address: 206.175.162.0
Verifying an IP Address
 IP addresses are verified using PING,
Trace & Telnet.
 It is important that you know that PING
is used to verify IP address connections
to the Network Layer & that Telnet is
used to verify network IP address
connections to the Application Layer.
Verifying with Telnet
 The reason you need to verify IP addresses is
to ensure that the various parts of a network
can properly communicate with the other
parts.
 Eg., if you can Telnet (Terminal Emulation
Protocol) into a router from a remote location
on the same network, you can verify that the
interface & route are up and available.
Verifying with Telnet (Cont.)

 Because Telnet operates on the OSI

Model’s Application Layer, when it’s
functioning, it’s safe to assume that all
lower layers are also functioning.
Verifying with PING
 The PING (Packet Internet Groper)
command verifies OSI Layer 3 (Network
Layer) connectivity.
 It sends out ICMP (Internet Control
Message Protocol) messages to verify
both the logical addresses & the
Physical connection.
Verifying with PING (Cont.)
 The PING command issued from a Cisco
router responds with a number of single
character responses.
Verifying with Traceroute
 The Traceroute or Trace command is
used to show the complete route from a
source to a destination.
 Trace sends out probe packets one at a
time to each router or switch in the
path between the source & the
destination IP address entered.
Verifying with Traceroute (Cont.)
 Traceroute displays the round-trip time
for each packet sent to each upstream
router.
 Traceroute has really only 2 results:
 Time exceeded or
 Destination unreachable.
 Trace is used to determine where a
breakdown in a route may be occurring.
Verifying with Traceroute (Cont.)
 Example on how Trace is used:
 A network has 4 routers (A, B, C & D). A
Trace command is issued on router A to
trace the route from itself to router D.
 A timing response comes back from router
B, but the next message indicates that
router C is unreachable. You can be fairly
certain that the problem lies somewhere on
the route between router B & router C.
Verifying with Traceroute (Cont.)

 Like PING, Trace has its own set of

response codes:
Classless Interdomain
Routing (CIDR)
CIDR Background
 Created in response to the exhaustion
of IPV4 network addresses
 Increase in size of the Internet’s routing
tables
Features of CIDR
 Elimination of classful addressing
 Enhanced router aggregation
 Supernetting
 Classless Addressing
Classless Addressing
 Generalised network prefix, could be
any length not limited to 8, 16, 24 bits
 E.g. 122.126.66.8/16 identifies a CIDR
address with 20 network bits
 Network address is 122.126.0.0
 Broadcast address is 122.126.255.255
 16 network bits
 16 host bits
Classless Addressing
 E.g. 172.110.20.2/24
 Network address 172.110.20.0
 Broadcast address 172.110.20.255
 Number of network bits 24
 Number of host bits 8