
C  | IP ADDRESSING | 
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This chapter provides some background detail on the IP information that needs to be assigned to your Switch to enable you to manage it across a network. The topics covered are:
■IP Addresses
■Subnets and Subnet Masks
■Default Gateways
IP addressing is a vast topic and there are white papers on the World Wide Web and publications available if you wish to learn more about IP addressing.
IP Addresses | This IP address section is divided into two parts:  | 
  | ■ Simple Overview — Gives a brief overview of what an IP address is.  | 
  | ■ Advanced Overview — Gives a more in depth explanation of IP  | 
  | addresses and the way they are structured.  | 
Simple Overview | To operate correctly, each device on your network must have a unique IP  | 
  | address. IP addresses have the format n.n.n.n where n is a decimal  | 
  | number between 0 and 255. An example IP address is ‘192.168.100.8’.  | 
  | The IP address can be split into two parts:  | 
  | ■ The first part, called the network part, (‘192.168’ in the example)  | 
  | identifies the network on which the device resides.  | 
  | ■ The second part, called the host part, (‘100.8’ in the example)  | 
  | identifies the device within the network.  | 
  | If your network is internal to your organization only, you may use any  | 
  | arbitrary IP address. 3Com suggests you use addresses in the series  |