
Network Addressing
A-6 PortMaster Configuration Guide
IP Address ConventionsIf the bits in the host portion of an address are all 0, that address refers to the network 
specified in the network portion of the address. For example, the class C address 
192.31.7.0 refers to a particular network. Historically, this address was used as a 
broadcast. 
The standard for broadcast is high, which uses all 1s in the host portion (for example, 
192.168.1.255); however, many networks still use all 0s. The PortMaster can be 
configured either way and should be set to match the other systems on your network.
Note – Do not assign an IP address with all 0s or all 1s in the host p ortion of the address 
to a host on the network, because these are rese rved as broadcast addresses.
With CIDR, networks are specified with an IP prefix and netmask length—for example, 
172.16.0.0/16, 192.168.1.0/24, or 192.168.200.240/28.
IPX AddressingAn IPX address consists of 10 bytes (expressed in hexadecimal notation), w hich gives an 
IPX network host a unique identifier. IPX addresses are made up of the following two 
parts:
• Network segment ad dress, expressed as 8 hexadecimal digits
These 4 bytes (32 bits) specify on which network segment the node resides.
• Node address, expressed as dotted triplets of 4-digit hexadecimal numbers
These 6 bytes (48 bits) provide the media access control (MAC)  address of the node.
The two elements of the IPX address are separate d by a colon. For example:
The first 8 digits represent the network segment, and the following 12 digits represent 
the node or MAC address of the node. All digits are expressed in hexadecimal.
✍
00000003:0001 8423 4567
Network segment 
address
Node address