IP (Internet Protocol ) Network

Networks provide communication between computing devices. To communicate properly, all

computer (hosts) on a network need to use the same communication protocols.

An IP NW (Internet Protocol network) is a network of computer

using Internet Protocol for their communication protocol.

All computer within an IP network must have an IP address that uniquely identifies
that individual host.

An Internet Protocol-based network (an IP Network) is a group of hosts that share

a common physical connection and that use Internet Protocol for network layer
communication.

The IP addresses in an IP network are contiguous, that is, one address follows right
after the other with no gaps.
Address Types in an IP Network

Within a given range of IP addresses used in every IP network are special addresses reserved for

Host Addresses

Network Addresses

Broadcast Addresses

In addition, a IP network has a subnet mask. The subnet mask is a value stored one each
computer that allows that computer to identify which IP addresses are within the network to
which they are attached, and which IP addresses are on an outside network.

Host address
A host's IP address is the address of a specific host on an IP network. All hosts on a network
must have a unique IP address. This IP address is usually not the first or the last IP address in the
range of network IP addresses as the first IP address and last IP address in the range of IP
addresses are reserved for special functions. The host addresses are all the addresses in the IP
network range of IP addresses except the first and last IP addresses. Host IP addresses allow
network hostst to establish one-to-one direct communication. This one-to-one communication is
referred to as unicast communication.

All host IP addresses can be split into two parts: a network part and a host part. The network part
of the IP addresses identifies the IP Network the host is a member of. The host part uniquely
identifies an individual host.

Network Address

The network address is the first IP address in the range of IP addresses. To be more precise, the
network address is the address in which all binary bits in the host portion of the IP address are set
to zero. The purpose of the Network Address is to allow hosts that provide special network
services to communicate. In practice, the network address is rarely used for communication.

Broadcast Address

The broadcast IP address is the last IP address in the range of IP addresses. To be more precise,
the broadcast address is the IP address in which all binary bits in the host portion of the IP
address are set to one. The broadcast address is reserved and allows a single host to make an
announcement to all hosts on the network. This is called broadcast communication and the last
address in a network is used for broadcasting to all hosts because it is the address where the host
portion is all ones. This special address also sometimes called the all hosts address. Some
vendors allow you to set an address other than the last address as the broadcast address.

Note that each network has its own network and broadcast addresses. Network addresses do not
necessarilly have a zero in the decimal representation of the host portion of their address.

EXAMPLE 1
Let's take the example of an IP network that has an address range of 192.168.1.0 - 192.168.1.255
with an address mask of 255.255.255.0, which would be 192.168.1/24 in CIDR block notation:

Network Host

Network Address (decimal) 192 . 168 . 1 . 0 All zeroes in

the host portion

Network Address (binary) 11000000 . 10011000 . 0000001 .

00000000

First host address (decimal) 192 . 168 . 1 . 1

00000001

00000010

00000011

...

11111100

11111101

11111110

First host address (binary) 11000000 . 10011000 . 00000001 .

00000001

...and all the addresses in between.

Last host address (decimal) 192 . 168 . 1 . 254

Last host address (binary) 11000000 . 10011000 . 00000001 .

11111110

Broadcast Address (decimal) 192 . 168 . 1 . 255 All ones in the

host portion
Broadcast Address (binary) 11000000 . 10011000 . 00000001 .
11111111

HINT: If this table is giving you trouble, you might need help with binary.

EXAMPLE 2

Example 1 showed a standard "Class C" style range of addresses where the entire last octet of the
IP address is used for one network. Some networks have fewer hosts and conservation of IP
addresses is important, so using a subnet mask reduces the number of hosts in a range of IP
addresses on an IP network.

In example 2, we borrow 2 bits from what would normally be the host portion and use it as bits
that indicate the network portion. This makes a smaller network of just 64 addresses, of which 62
are usable for hosts. Remember, the first address in a range of IP addresses is reserved for the
network address. The last address in the IP address range for the network is reserved for the
broadcast address.

CAUTION:The CCNA exam will try to trip you up by asking how many addresses are usable for
hosts, which is always 2 less than the number of addresses in the range of addresses in the
subnet. Read your subnetting questions carefully on the CCNA exam and understand whether
they are talking about the range of addresses, the number of host addresses, the number of
networks, the network address or the broadcast address.

192.168.1.0 / 255.255.255.192 (192.168.1/26)

network portion host portion

Network Address (decimal) 192 . 168 . 1 . 64 First two bits

reserved for sub-network use.

Six bits for host use

All zeroes in the host portion.

Network Address (binary) 11000000 . 10011000 . 0000001 .
01000000

First host address (decimal) 192 . 168 . 1 . 65 01000001

01000010

...

01111101

01111110

First host address (binary) 11000000 . 10011000 . 00000001 .

01000001

...and all the addresses in between.

Last host address (decimal) 192 . 168 . 1 . 126

Last host address (binary) 11000000 . 10011000 . 00000001 .

01111110

Broadcast Address (decimal) 192 . 168 . 1 . 127 First two bits

reserved for sub-network use.

Six bits for host use

All ones in the host portion

Broadcast Address (binary) 11000000 . 10011000 . 00000001 .

01111111

HINT: If this table is giving you trouble, you might need help with binary.

HOW IT WORKS

Your computer uses a a mask in its network connection that allows it to determine whether the
computer it wants to talk to over the local network is actaully on the local network or on a
network outside the local network. If it is a computer that is local, it will use a local protocol to
find the other computer's hardware address. If the other computer is not local (it is outside the
local network), then it will send the data to the local gateway (usually called the default
gateway). Your computer will try to determine the hardware address of the local default gateway
and will use the hardware address in the Ethernet header (or FDDI header or Token Ring header
etc.). The Ethernet frame will contain a payload which will be filled with IP data. The IP address
of the remote computer will be in this payload as part of the IP header. Since the IP address in
the IP datagram is the remote computer, but the Ethernet frame is addressed to the local default
gateway, the default gateway will accept the Ethernet frame, read the IP data, verify the IP
address is indeed outside the local network and then forward the IP datagram over whatever
other network connections the computer has that will allow it to reach all the other outside
networks.

That's how Internet Protocol makes routing work in a network with a default gateway.

Fact and Fiction

Routers are NOT used for local communication on the local IP network. They are bypassed
completely and are not required. Routers are used to forward data into different networks and to
restrict broadcasts on the local network from swamping external networks with traffic that is
important only to the local network.

The Internet | Internet Protocol | IP Addresses|IP Subnetting | IP Supernetting |VLSM | IP

Routing

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