Understanding IP Addressing
Background
The IP addresses and routing configurations for the devices shown in the diagram are outlined below. In addition, each individual field and its meaning are described.
The IP Address and Subnet Mask fields define the IP address and subnet mask of the device's Ethernet connection to the network while the Remote IP and Remote Sub fields describe the IP address and subnet mask of the remote router. This information is entered in the connection profile of the Netopia R5000 Series Router.
The Gateway field describes the router or workstation's default gateway, or where they will send their packets if the appropriate route is not known. The Static Route field, which is only shown on Router B, tells Router B what path to take to get to the network defined by Netopia R5000 Series Router B. Finally, the Usable IP Address field shows the range of IP addresses available to the hosts of that network.
Note that the IP addresses given in this section are for example purposes only. Do not use these addresses when configuring your network.
With this configuration, both Customer Site A and B can gain Internet access through Routers A and B, with no reconfiguration of the ISP's equipment. The most important item in this configuration is the static route defined on Router B. This tells Router B what path to take to get to the network defined by Netopia R5000 Series Router B. Without this information, Customer Site B will be able to access Customer Site A, but not the Internet.
If it is not possible to define a static route on Router B, RIP could be enabled to serve the same purpose. To use RIP instead of a static route, enable Transmit RIP on Netopia R5000 Series Router A and Transmit and Receive RIP on Router B. This will allow the route from Customer Site B to propagate on Router B and Customer Site A.
Example: Working with a Class C subnet
Suppose that your organization has a site with only 10 hosts and no plans to add any new hosts. You don’t need a full Class C address for this site. Many ISPs offer Internet access with only a portion of a full Internet address.
For example, you might obtain the Class C address 199.14.17.48, with the mask 255.255.255.240. From the previous example, you can see that this gives you 14 host addresses to distribute to the hosts at your site. In effect, your existing network of 10 hosts is a subnet of the ISP’s network. Since the Class C address has already been reduced to subnets, you cannot further subnet your network without the risk of creating network routing problems (since you must use the mask issued by the ISP). This, however, is not a problematic limitation for your small network.
The advantages of this situation are the greater ease and lower cost of obtaining a subnet rather than a full Class C address from an ISP.
Distributing IP addresses
To set up a connection to the Internet, you may have obtained a block of IP host addresses from an ISP. When configuring the Netopia R5000 Series Router, you gave one of those addresses to its Ethernet port, leaving a number of addresses to distribute to computers on your network.
