Folks today I will elaborate and talk about the IP addressing in the networking world. As you get prepared to acquire a bit of the concepts I will start by defining the word IP. The word IP stands for the Internet Protocol which is Unique 32-bit long code number which each computer acquires automatically through its internet access provider (IAP) for connecting to the internet. Or we can say that IP address is a unique identifier of a computer on TCP/IP networks and on the internet. Every computer requires a unique IP address to be a part of the internet and the IP address is provided by the internet service providers. A 32 bit IP address consists of a binary system of 0s and 1s. The binary number system consist of only two types of digits 0 and 1. It is easier for us to remember the decimal numbers rather than the binary number system such as 011001101.
There are two versions of the Addressing Schemes known and used during the time of assigning Addresses to the network devices to communicate and exchange information i.e. IP version 4 which is always a 32 bit addressing and the IP version 6 which is seen to be having a 128 bit addressing.

Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) is the fourth revision in the development of the Internet Protocol (IP) and it is the first version of the protocol to be widely deployed.IPv4 is still by far the most widely deployed Internet Layer protocol.

Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is a version of the Internet Protocol (IP) that is designed to succeed Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4). The Internet operates by transferring data in small packets that are independently routed across networks as specified by an international communications protocol known as the Internet Protocol.

Furthermore IP’s have been classified into 5 classes which is the total IP addressing scheme;
- Class A
- Class B
- Class C
- Class E
- Class D, whereby Classes ranging from A-C they are used for the LAN and WAN configuration and they can be assigned to the hosts meanwhile Class D is allocated for the Multi-casting group and then Class E is reserved for the Research and Development purposes since they are the experimental addresses and cannot be assigned to the people.

Class A
The binary address for the class A starts with 0. The range of the IP addresses in the class A is between 1 to 126 i.e. 0.0.0.0-127.255.255.255 and the default subnet mask of the class A is 255.0.0.0. Class A supports 16 million hosts on each of 125 networks. An example of the class A is 10.10.1.1. Class A is used for the large networks with many network devices.

Class B
The binary address for the class B starts with 10. The range of the IP address in the class B is between 128 to 191 i.e. 128.0.0.0-191.255.255.255 and the default subnet mast for the class B is 255.255.0.0. Class B supports 65,000 on each of 16,000 networks. An example of the class B address is 150.10.10.10. Class B addresses scheme is used for the medium sized networks.

Class C
The binary address for the class C starts with 110. The range of the IP addresses in the class C is between 192 to 223 i.e. 192.0.0.0-223.255.255.255 and the default subnet mask for the class C is 255.255.255. Class C hosts 254 hosts on each of 2 million networks. An example of the Class C IP address is 210.100.100.50. Class C is used for the small networks with less then 256 devices and nodes in a network.

Class D
The binary addresses for the class D starts with 1110 and the IP addresses range can be between 224 to 239 i.e. 224.0.0.0-239.255.255.255 An example of the class D IP address is 230.50.100.1

Class E
The binary address can starts with 1111 and the decimal can be anywhere from 240 to 255 i.e. 240.0.0.0-255.255.255.255. An example of the class E IP address is 245.101.10.10
It is very important to know that all the computers in the same network segment should have the IP addresses for the same class i.e. form A, B or C.

IP address is divided into Network and Host Portion hence Class A is written as N.H.H.H, Class B is written as N.N.H.H and Class C is written as N.N.N.H.
Private and Public IP Addresses:-
Are also categorized as Private IP Addresses are:-
Class A (10.0.0.0-10.255.255.255), Class B (172.16.0.0-172.31.255.255), Class C (192.168.0.0-192.168.255.255)
Public IP Addresses are those addresses that do not lie in the range of the above specified IP addresses. Hence called the Public IP’s.



IP Addressing Tips
• A Network ID cannot be All 0s
• A host ID cannot be All 1 because this represents a broadcast address for the local network.
• Each host must have a unique host portion of the IP address.
• All hosts on the same network segment should have the same network id.
• A host address cannot be 127 because 127 have been reserved for the loop back functionalities.

I am sure with the above synopsis of the information conveyed renders some assistance somewhat to those into the Networking world.