Internet Proticole (IP)

An IP address consists of 32 bits of information. These bits are divided into four sections, which are referred to as octets or bytes...and each byte contains 8 bits. In dotted decimal format, an IP address looks like this: 172.16.30.56; in binary format it looks like this 10101100.00010000.00011110.00111000; and in hexadecimal it looks like this: ac.10.1e.38. The hierarchical addressing goes from Class A to Class E. Classless refers to a routing protocol that sends subnet mask information in the routing updates and allows for variable length subnet masking (VLSM) and supernetting. An IP address can be either IPv4, in which case it contains 32 bits, or it can be IPv6, in which case it contains 128 bits.