IP Address and MAC Address
Internet Protocol (IP)
IP stands for Internet Protocol. IP Address is a unique identification number given to every device. This address can change anytime. Without IP we can not connect to the internet.So IP address is an important concept in Computer networks. IP addresses are given by ISP. IP can also change depending on location.
There are mainly two types of IP Addresses:
ipv4 address
IPv4 is 32 bit. The maximum value of a 32-bit number is 232, or 4,294,967,296.
Types of IP address classes in IPv4
IPv4 is divided into 5 types of classes.
Class A
Class B
Class C
Class D
Class E
Class A IP Address:
Class A IP address range is 0-127. In a Class A type of network, the first 8 bits identify the network, and the remaining have 24 bits for the host.
126.1.2.0
IPv6 Address
Another hand IPv6 is 128 bit. The size of IPv6’s address space — 340 Duodecillion— is much, much larger than IPv4.
Here we discuss IPv4 only.
Loopback IP Address
In Class A IP Address 127 is the loopback address.
Class B IP Address:
Class B IP address range is 128-191. The first 16 bits help you identify the network. The other remaining 16 bits indicate the host within the network.
Class C IP Address:
Class C IP address range is 192-223. In Class C, the first 24 bits address indicate the network and the remaining bit as the host address.
Class D IP Address:
Class D IP address range is 224-239. Class D is reserved for Multicasting. In multicasting data is not destined for a particular host, that is why there is no need to extract host address from the IP address,
Class E: Class E IP address range is 240-255. This IP Class is reserved for experimental purposes only for R&D or Study. IP addresses in this class range from 240.0.0.0 to 255.255.255.254.
IPv6 Address
Another hand IPv6 is 128 bit. The size of IPv6’s address space — 340 Duodecillion— is much, much larger than IPv4.
Here we discuss IPv4 only.
MAC Address
MAC Address stands for Media Access Control Address. MAC Addresses are a unique 48-bits hardware number of a computer, which is embedded into a network card (known as Network Interface Card) during the time of manufacturing. MAC Address is also known as the Physical Address of a network device.