Working with IP Addresses

Introduction
You can probably work with decimal numbers much
easier than with the binary numbers needed by the
computer.
Working with binary numbers is time-consuming &
error-prone.

2
 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 & not a musical instrument.
Example of an IP version 4:
172.64.126.52

3
 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.

4
 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

5
 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.

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 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.

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 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)

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 Converting to Decimal (Cont.)
Now, for double the money, 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

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 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.

10
 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.

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 IP Address Classes (Cont.)

The 5 IP classes are split up based on the value in

the 1st octet:

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 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.

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 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

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 Class C IP Addresses (Cont.)

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 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.

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 Special Addresses (Cont.)

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 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.

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 Special Addresses (Cont.)

A list of these addresses for each IP address class:

28
 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

32
 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.

33
 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

34
 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.

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 Default Standard Subnet Masks

There are default standard subnet masks for Class

A, B and C addresses:

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 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.

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 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:
11001110.10101111.10100010.00010101

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 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:
11111111.11111111.11111111.00000000

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 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:

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 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.

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Subnetting
 Introduction
Subnetting is the foundation underlying the
expansion of both Local Networks & the
Internet in today’s world.
Subnetting has become essential knowledge for
the Administrator of any network.
There are 2 fundamental reasons why
subnetting has so much importance in today’s
networking environment:

43
 Introduction (Cont.)
1) The world is running out of available IP addresses.
There just isn’t an unlimited number of IP addresses
available & subnetting helps extend the existing
addresses until either the next version of IP is rolled
out or some other technology charges on the scene.

44
 Introduction (Cont.)
2) Subnetting reduces the size of the routing tables
stored in routers. Subnetting extends the existing IP
address base & restructures the IP address. As a
result, routers must have a way to extract from a IP
address both the Network address & the Host
address.

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 Introduction (Cont.)
There are only 3 usable IP address classes:
Class A
Class B
Class C
Class A networks have the highest number of
available hosts.
Class C networks have the fewest number of
hosts.

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 Subnetting Networks ID

A 3-step example of how the default Class A

subnet mask is applied to a Class A address:

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 Subnetting Networks ID (Cont.)
In the previous slide, the default Class A subnet
mask (255.0.0.0) is AND’d with the Class A
address (123.123.123.001) using Boolean Algebra,
which results in the Network ID (123.0.0.0) being
revealed.
The default Class B subnet mask (255.255.0.0)
strips out the 16-bit network ID & the default
Class C subnet mask (255.255.255.0) strips out the
24-bit network ID.

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 Subnetting, Subnet & Subnet Mask
Subnetting, a subnet & a subnet mask are all different.
In fact, the 1st creates the 2nd & is identified by the 3rd.
Subnetting is the process of dividing a network & its
IP addresses into segments, each of which is called a
subnetwork or subnet.

49
 Subnetting, Subnet & Subnet Mask (Cont.)
The subnet mask is the 32-bit number that the router
uses to cover up the network address to show which
bits are being used to identify the subnet.

50
 Subnetting
A network has its own unique address, such as
a Class B network with the address 172.20.0.0
which has all zeroes in the host portion of the
address.
From the basic definitions of a Class B
network & the default Class B subnet mask,
you know that this network can be created as a
single network that contains 65,534 individual
hosts.

51
 Subnetting (Cont.)
Through the use of subnetting, the network from the
previous slide can be logically divided into subnets
with fewer hosts on each subnetwork.
It does not improve the available shared bandwidth
only, but it cuts down on the amount of broadcast
traffic generated over the entire network as well.

52
 Subnetting (Cont.)
 The 2 primary benefits of subnetting are:
1. Fewer IP addresses, often as few as one, are needed
to provide addressing to a network & subnetting.
2. Subnetting usually results in smaller routing tables in
routers beyond the local internetwork.

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 Subnetting (Cont.)
 Example of subnetting: when the network administrator
divides the 172.20.0.0 network into 5 smaller networks –
172.20.1.0, 172.20.2.0, 172.20.3.0, 172.20.4.0 &
172.20.5.0 – the outside world stills sees the network as
172.20.0.0, but the internal routers now break the network
addressing into the 5 smaller subnetworks.

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 Subnetting (Cont.)
In the example, only a single IP address is used to
reference the network & instead of 5 network
addresses, only one network reference is included in
the routing tables of routers on other networks.

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 Borrowing Bits to Grow a Subnet
The key concept in subnetting is borrowing bits
from the host portion of the network to create a
subnetwork.
Rules govern this borrowing, ensuring that some
bits are left for a Host ID.
The rules require that two bits remain available to
use for the Host ID& that all of the subnet bits
cannot be all 1s or 0s at the same time.

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 Borrowing Bits to Grow a Subnet (Cont.)
For each IP address class, only a certain number of bits
can be borrowed from the host portion for use in the
subnet mask.

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 Borrowing Bits to Grow a Subnet (Cont.)

Bits Available for Creating Subnets

Address Class Host Bits Bits Available for

Subnet

A 24 22

B 16 14

C 8 6

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 Subnetting a Class A Network
The default subnet mask for a class A network is
255.0.0.0 which allows for more than 16,000,000 hosts
on a single network.
The default subnet mask uses only 8 bits to identify the
network, leaving 24 bits for host addressing .

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 Subnetting a Class A Network (Cont.)
To subnet a Class A network, you need to borrow
a sufficient number of bits from the 24-bit host
portion of the mask to allow for the number of
subnets you plan to create, now & in the future.
Example: To create 2 subnets with more than 4
millions hosts per subnet, you must borrow 2 bits
from the 2nd octet & use 10 masked (value equals
one) bits for the subnet mask
(11111111.11000000) or 255.192 in decimal.

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 Subnetting a Class A Network (Cont.)
Keep in mind that each of the 8-bit octets has binary
place values.
When you borrow bits from the Host ID portion of the
standard mask, you don’t change the value of the bits,
only how they are grouped & used.

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 Subnetting a Class A Network (Cont.)

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 Class A Subnet Masks (Cont.)

A sample of subnet mask options available for Class A addresses.

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 Class A Subnet Masks (Cont.)
All subnet masks contain 32 bits; no more, no less.
However a subnet mask cannot filter more than 30
bits. This means 2 things:
One, that there cannot be more than 30 ones bits in the
subnet mask.
Two, that there must always be at least 2 bits available
for the Host ID.

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 Class A Subnet Masks (Cont.)
The subnet mask with the highest value
(255.255.255.252) has a binary representation of:
11111111.11111111.11111111.11111100
The 2 zeroes in this subnet mask represent the 2
positions set aside for the Host address portion of the
address.

65
 Class A Subnet Masks (Cont.)
Remember that the addresses with all ones (broadcast
address) & all zeroes (local network) cannot be used as
they have special meanings.

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 Subnetting Class B & Class C
The table on slide 76 “Class A Subnet
Masks” is similar to the tables used for Class
B & Class C IP addresses & subnet masks.
The only differences are that you have fewer
options (due to a fewer number of bits
available) & that you’re much more likely to
work with Class B & Class C networks in real
life.

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 Subnetting Class B & Class C (Cont.)

A sample of the subnet masks available for Class B networks.

68
 Subnetting Class B & Class C (Cont.)

A list of the subnet masks available for Class C networks.

69
 Knowing How to Calculate Subnets

To determine the number of subnets & hosts

per subnet available for any of the available
subnet masks, 2 simple formulas to calculate
these numbers:

70
 Knowing How to Calculate Subnets
(Cont.)
Although the 2 formulas look identical, the key is to
remember the number you’re trying to calculate, hosts
or subnets.
Eg., suppose you are asked to determine the number of
subnets available & the number of hosts available on
each subnet on the network 192.168.1.0 

71
 Knowing How to Calculate Subnets
(Cont.)
Using the subnet & hosts formulas, the answers are
easily calculated. Of course, you must know your
powers of 2 to calculate the answers.

72
 Class C Subnets

Knowing the relationships in this table will

significantly reduce the time you spend
calculating subnetting problems.

73
 Class C Subnets (Cont.)
To determine the total length of the subnet mask, add
24 to the number of borrowed (subnet) bits.

74
 Class B Subnets
To calculate the number of subnets & hosts available
from a Class B subnet mask, you use the same host &
subnet formulas described for calculating Class C
values.
Using these formulas I have constructed a table that
contains the Class B subnet & host values.

75
 Class B Subnets (Cont.)

76
 A Short Broadcast
A broadcast is a message that every node on a network
or subnetwork receives & examines.
Cisco IOS supports 2 different types of broadcast
messages:
Flooded
Directed

77
 A Short Broadcast (Cont.)
Generally speaking, routers do not propagate
broadcasts, which is one of the benefits of installing a
router in the first place.

78
 A Short Broadcast (Cont.)
Flooded broadcasts (those with the nominal broadcast
address of 255.255.255.255) are not forwarded by the
router & are considered local traffic only.
Directed broadcasts, which contain all 1’s in the Host
portion of the IP address, are addressed to a specific
subnetwork & are allowed to pass.

79