IP Addressing

IP Addressing

IP addresses are represented by a 32-bit unsigned binary value. It is usually expressed in a dotted decimal format.

Here are some examples of IP addresses shown in dotted decimal form.

128.2.7.9

10.1.2.34

120.224.21.253

all IP addresses are 32 bits long and are comprised of four 8-bit segments known as octets.

Representing IP addresses in dotted decimal notation makes them a lot easier to read than in the machine friendly binary format.

The binary format of the IP address 128.2.7.2 is:

10000000 00000010 00000111 00000010

now you can easily decide which one is more readable and friendly.

To identify a host on the Internet, each host is assigned an address, the IP address, or in some cases, the Internet address.

When the host is attached to more than one network, it is called multi-homed and has one IP address for each network interface.

The IP address consists of a pair of numbers:

IP address = network number + host number

For example,

128.2.7.2 is an IP address with 128.2 being the network number and 7.2 being the host number.