ZyXEL Communications P2000W manual IP Addressing, IP Classes, Classes of IP Addresses

P-2000W_V2 User’s Guide

Appendix B

IP Subnetting

IP Addressing

Routers “route” based on the network number. The router that delivers the data packet to the correct destination host uses the host ID.

IP Classes

An IP address is made up of four octets (eight bits), written in dotted decimal notation, for example, 192.168.1.1. IP addresses are categorized into different classes. The class of an address depends on the value of its first octet.

•Class “A” addresses have a 0 in the left most bit. In a class “A” address the first octet is the network number and the remaining three octets make up the host ID.

•Class “B” addresses have a 1 in the left most bit and a 0 in the next left most bit. In a class “B” address the first two octets make up the network number and the two remaining octets make up the host ID.

•Class “C” addresses begin (starting from the left) with 1 1 0. In a class “C” address the first three octets make up the network number and the last octet is the host ID.

•Class “D” addresses begin with 1 1 1 0. Class “D” addresses are used for multicasting. (There is also a class “E” address. It is reserved for future use.)

Table 30 Classes of IP Addresses

IP ADDRESS:		OCTET 1	OCTET 2	OCTET 3	OCTET 4
Class A	0	Network number	Host ID	Host ID	Host ID
Class B	10	Network number	Network number	Host ID	Host ID
Class C	110	Network number	Network number	Network number	Host ID

Note: Host IDs of all zeros or all ones are not allowed.

Therefore:

A class “C” network (8 host bits) can have 28 –2 or 254 hosts.

A class “B” address (16 host bits) can have 216 –2 or 65534 hosts.

A class “A” address (24 host bits) can have 224 –2 hosts (approximately 16 million hosts).

	Appendix B IP Subnetting	111
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