Classification of IP Addresses

What are IP Addresses ?

An IP address is an 32 bit decimal number that represents the identity of computer of device connected to internet. IP address is of combination of four group numbers separated by dot. e.g. xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (here each group of number is between 1 to 255). 

Each group is of 8bit. Take an example 203.222.213.23 

In above IP address 203 represents first 8bits, similarly 222,213 and 23 represents second,third and fourth 8 bits.

Classification of IP Addresses

IP addresses are divided into mainly 5 below given types.

Class	Range
A	0.0.0.0. to 126.255.255.255
B	128.0.0.0 to 191.255.255.255
C	192.0.0.0 to 22.3255.255.255
D	224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255
E	240.0.0.0 to 255.255.255.255

To Identify the class of IP address you can easily determine by it's first group of numbers.

IP addresses are divided into different class based on it's basic structure of network. If you have an IP address like aa.bb.cc.dd belongs from class A than you can know that the first group means 'aa' is it's network id and remaining part 'bb.cc.dd' is host ID. If same IP address belongs from class B than you should know that in this first aa.bb are network Id and remaining cc.dd are host ID. In class D whole IP address represents network ID. To understand more refer below table.

An IP Address that belongs to class C addressing system and has a network ID equal to 127 is referred to as a 'special address'. Known as the 'loopback interface', it allows clients and servers to communicate on same system with each other. Most commonly used loopback address is 127.0.0.1 mostly called as special name "localhost".

Class	Information
A	First 8bit for network ID and last 24bit for Host ID.
B	First 16bit for network ID and last 16bit for Host ID.
C	First 24bit for network ID and last 8bit for Host ID.
D	Represents a 32 bit multicast group ID.
E	Not being used currently.

Enjoy...!!!