Advanced Computer networking
Introduction of Classful IP Addressing
LECTURE MSCS LECTURER M HAMAD EJAZ
Introduction of Classful IP
Addressing
IPaddress is an address having information
about how to reach a specific host,
especially outside the LAN. An IP address is a
32 bit unique address having an address
space of 232.
Generally, there are two notations in which
IP address is written, dotted decimal
notation and hexadecimal notation.
Decimal Notation
Hexadecimal Notation
Some points to be noted about dotted decimal notation:
The value of any segment (byte) is between 0 and 255
(both included).
There are no zeroes preceding the value in any segment
(054 is wrong, 54 is correct).
Classful Addressing
The 32 bit IP address is divided into five sub-classes. These are:
Class A
Class B
Class C
Class D
Class E
Each of these classes has a valid range of IP addresses. Classes D
and E are reserved for multicast and experimental purposes
respectively. The order of bits in the first octet determine the
classes of IP address
IPv4 address
IPv4 address is divided into two parts:
Network ID
Host ID
The class of IP address is used to determine the bits used for
network ID and host ID and the number of total networks and
hosts possible in that particular class. Each ISP or network
administrator assigns IP address to each device that is
connected to its network.
Classes
Class A:
IP address belonging to class A are assigned to the networks
that contain a large number of hosts.
The network ID is 8 bits long.
The host ID is 24 bits long.
The higher order bit of the first octet in class A is always
set to 0. The remaining 7 bits in first octet are used to
determine network ID. The 24 bits of host ID are used to
determine the host in any network. The default subnet
mask for class A is 255.x.x.x.
Class A:
Therefore, class A has a total of:
2^7-2= 126 network ID(Here 2 address is subracted because 0.0.0.0
and 127.x.y.z are special address. )
2^24 – 2 = 16,777,214 host ID
IP addresses belonging to class A ranges from 1.x.x.x – 126.x.x.x
Class B:
IP address belonging to class B are assigned to the networks
that ranges from medium-sized to large-sized networks.
The network ID is 16 bits long.
The host ID is 16 bits long.
The higher order bits of the first octet of IP addresses of class B
are always set to 10. The remaining 14 bits are used to
determine network ID. The 16 bits of host ID is used to
determine the host in any network. The default sub-net mask for
class B is 255.255.x.x
Class B:
Class B has a total of:
2^14 = 16384 network address
2^16 – 2 = 65534 host address
IP addresses belonging to class B ranges from
128.0.x.x – 191.255.x.x.
Class C:
IP addressbelonging to class C are assigned to small-
sized networks.
The network ID is 24 bits long.
The host ID is 8 bits long.
The higher order bits of the first octet of IP addresses of
class C are always set to 110. The remaining 21 bits are
used to determine network ID. The 8 bits of host ID is
used to determine the host in any network. The default
sub-net mask for class C is 255.255.255.x.
Class C:
Class C has a total of:
2^21 = 2097152 network address
2^8 – 2 = 254 host address
IP addresses belonging to class C ranges from 192.0.0.x –
223.255.255.x.
Class D:
IP address belonging to class D are reserved for multi-
casting. The higher order bits of the first octet of IP
addresses belonging to class D are always set to 1110.
The remaining bits are for the address that interested
hosts recognize.
ClassD does not posses any sub-net mask. IP
addresses belonging to class D ranges from 224.0.0.0 –
239.255.255.255.
Class E:
IP addresses belonging to class E are
reserved for experimental and
research purposes. IP addresses of
class E ranges from 240.0.0.0 –
255.255.255.254. This class doesn’t
have any sub-net mask. The higher
order bits of first octet of class E are
always set to 1111.
Range of special IP addresses:
169.254.0.0 – 169.254.0.16 : Link local
addresses
127.0.0.0 – 127.0.0.8 : Loop-back
addresses
0.0.0.0 – 0.0.0.8 : used to communicate
within the current network.
Rules for assigning Host ID:
Host ID’s are used to identify a host within a network. The
host ID are assigned based on the following rules:
Within any network, the host ID must be unique to that
network.
Host ID in which all bits are set to 0 cannot be assigned
because this host ID is used to represent the network ID
of the IP address.
Host ID in which all bits are set to 1 cannot be assigned
because this host ID is reserved as a broadcast address to
send packets to all the hosts present on that particular
network.
Rules for assigning Network ID:
Hosts that are located on the same physical network are
identified by the network ID, as all host on the same physical
network is assigned the same network ID. The network ID is
assigned based on the following rules:
The network ID cannot start with 127 because 127 belongs to
class A address and is reserved for internal loop-back
functions.
All bits of network ID set to 1 are reserved for use as an IP
broadcast address and therefore, cannot be used.
All bits of network ID set to 0 are used to denote a specific
host on the local network and are not routed and therefore,
aren’t used.
