IP

This site is a reference for IPv4 and IPv6

Last updated on 14 June, 2021 at 09:50:16 Optimized for

The Internet Protocol (IP) currently resides at v4 and is moving towards v6 - and has been for decades. IP is the principal communications protocol for interconnected devices and established the Internet. IP has the tasks of delivering packets from the source to a host destination. At the current rate IPv6 will be fully implemented by 2148. The reasons for the slow gradual adoption is associated with expensive transistioning costs.

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Worth Knowing about IPv4

Address Space

The Internet is running out of IPv4 addresses and have been for decades. To combat this decade old problem IPv6 was introduced back in 1995. IPv4 has a maximum of 32^2 (32-bit) addresses (approximately 4 billion) and as you know we are about 6 billion people on the Earth.

With the introduction of IPv6 the address-space grew by an ufathomable amount and will properly be around when we reach the status of a fully intergalactive species. The address space of IPv6 is 128-bit; don't get fooled by the 4x - that is around 340 trillion trillion trillion IP addresses (1,329,227,995,784,910,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) which is among other things, one of the reasons IPv6 addresses uses base-16 (hex notation).

Glossary

Terminology

Terms important to the Internet Protocol

Term Description
CIDR

Classless interdomain routing. Developed to provide more granularity than legacy classful addressing; CIDR notation is expressed as /##

DHCP

Used on subnets to dynamically (and temporarily) allocate IP addresses. IPv6 uses DHCPv6

ICMP

Internet Control Message Protocol - aka. "ping". Is used for error reporting between routers. The IPv6 version is named accordingly: ICMPv6

Packet

A packet is a quantity of bytes send from a device to another. It has address and sender fields which is why it is a neat analogy

Address Exhaustion

A term used when talking about IPv4's limited address space. It is countered by the enourmous address space introduced with IPv6

IGMP

IPsec

OSI

Open Systems Interconnection. A conceptual model that characterises the communication protocols in telecommunication

Internet Layer

The layer at which IP packets reside. It sits at layer 4 in the OSI model

Classful Ranges IPv4

Term Description
A

0.0.0.0 – 127.255.255.255

B

128.0.0.0 - 191.255.255.255

C

192.0.0.0 - 223.255.255.255

D

224.0.0.0 - 239.255.255.255

E

240.0.0.0 - 255.255.255.255

Reserved Ranges IPv4

Reserved Range
Localhost

127.0.0.0 - 127.255.255.255

RFC 1918

10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255

RFC 1918

172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255

RFC 1918

192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255

IPv4 Subnetting

Subnets and Subnetmasking

Subnet AddressesNetmask
/31

2

255.255.255.254

/30

4

255.255.255.252

/29

8

255.255.255.248

/28

16

255.255.255.240

/27

32

255.255.255.224

/26

64

255.255.255.192

/25

128

255.255.255.128

/24

256

255.255.255.0

/23

512

255.255.254.0

/22

1024

255.255.252.0

/21

2048

255.255.248.0

/20

4096

255.255.240.0

/19

8192

255.255.224.0

/18

16384

255.255.192.0

/17

32768

255.255.128.0

/16

65536

255.255.0.0

/15

131072

255.254.0.0

/14

262144

255.252.0.0

/13

524288

255.248.0.0

/12

1048576

255.240.0.0

/11

2097152

255.224.0.0

/10

4194304

255.192.0.0

/9

8388608

255.128.0.0

/8

16777216

255.0.0.0

IPv6 Subnetting

Subnets and Subnetmasking

Subnet AddressesAmount of a /64
/128

1

/127

2

/126

4

/125

8

/124

16

/123

32

/122

64

/121

128

/120

256

/119

512

/118

1,024

/117

2,048

/116

4,096

/115

8,192

/114

16,384

/113

32,768

/112

65,536

/111

131,072

/110

262,144

/109

524,288

/108

1,048,576

/107

2,097,152

/106

4,194,304

/105

8,388,608

/104

16,777,216

This is equivalent to an IPv4 Internet or IPv4 /8

/103

33,554,432

/102

67,108,864

/101

134,217,728

/100

268,435,456

/99

536,870,912

/98

1,073,741,824

/97

2,147,483,648

/96

4,294,967,296

/95

8,589,934,592

/94

17,179,869,184

/93

34,359,738,368

/92

68,719,476,736

/91

137,438,953,472

/90

274,877,906,944

/89

549,755,813,888

/88

1,099,511,627,776

/87

2,199,023,255,552

1/8,388,608

/86

4,398,046,511,104

1/4,194,304

/85

8,796,093,022,208

1/2,097,152

/84

17,592,186,044,416

1/1,048,576

/83

35,184,372,088,832

1/524,288

/82

70,368,744,177,664

1/262,144

/81

140,737,488,355,328

1/131,072

/80

281,474,976,710,656

1/65,536

/79

562,949,953,421,312

1/32,768

/78

1,125,899,906,842,620

1/16,384

/77

2,251,799,813,685,240

1/8,192

/76

4,503,599,627,370,490

1/4,096

/75

9,007,199,254,740,990

1/2,048

/74

18,014,398,509,481,900

1/1,024

/73

36,028,797,018,963,900

1/512

/72

72,057,594,037,927,900

1/256

/71

144,115,188,075,855,000

1/128

/70

288,230,376,151,711,000

1/64

/69

576,460,752,303,423,000

1/32

/68

1,152,921,504,606,840,000

1/16

/67

2,305,843,009,213,690,000

1/8

/66

4,611,686,018,427,380,000

1/4

/65

9,223,372,036,854,770,000

1/2

/64

18,446,744,073,709,500,000

This is the standard end user allocation

/63

36,893,488,147,419,100,000

2

/62

73,786,976,294,838,200,000

4

/61

147,573,952,589,676,000,000

8

/60

295,147,905,179,352,000,000

16

/59

590,295,810,358,705,000,000

32

/58

1,180,591,620,717,410,000,000

64

/57

2,361,183,241,434,820,000,000

128

/56

4,722,366,482,869,640,000,000

256

/55

9,444,732,965,739,290,000,000

512

/54

18,889,465,931,478,500,000,000

1,024

/53

37,778,931,862,957,100,000,000

2,048

/52

75,557,863,725,914,300,000,000

4,096

/51

151,115,727,451,828,000,000,000

8,192

/50

302,231,454,903,657,000,000,000

16,384

/49

604,462,909,807,314,000,000,000

32,768

/48

1,208,925,819,614,620,000,000,000

65,536 This is the standard business allocation

/47

2,417,851,639,229,250,000,000,000

131,072

/46

4,835,703,278,458,510,000,000,000

262,144

/45

9,671,406,556,917,030,000,000,000

524,288

/44

19,342,813,113,834,000,000,000,000

1,048,576

/43

38,685,626,227,668,100,000,000,000

2,097,152

/42

77,371,252,455,336,200,000,000,000

4,194,304

/41

154,742,504,910,672,000,000,000,000

8,388,608

/40

309,485,009,821,345,000,000,000,000

16,777,216

/39

618,970,019,642,690,000,000,000,000

33,554,432

/38

1,237,940,039,285,380,000,000,000,000

67,108,864

/37

2,475,880,078,570,760,000,000,000,000

134,217,728

/36

4,951,760,157,141,520,000,000,000,000

268,435,456

/35

9,903,520,314,283,040,000,000,000,000

536,870,912

/34

19,807,040,628,566,000,000,000,000,000

1,073,741,824

/33

39,614,081,257,132,100,000,000,000,000

2,147,483,648

/32

79,228,162,514,264,300,000,000,000,000

4,294,967,296 This is the standard ISP Allocation

/31

158,456,325,028,528,000,000,000,000,000

8,589,934,592

/30

316,912,650,057,057,000,000,000,000,000

17,179,869,184

/29

633,825,300,114,114,000,000,000,000,000

34,359,738,368

/28

1,267,650,600,228,220,000,000,000,000,000

68,719,476,736

/27

2,535,301,200,456,450,000,000,000,000,000

/26

5,070,602,400,912,910,000,000,000,000,000

/25

10,141,204,801,825,800,000,000,000,000,000

/24

20,282,409,603,651,600,000,000,000,000,000

/23

40,564,819,207,303,300,000,000,000,000,000

/22

81,129,638,414,606,600,000,000,000,000,000

/21

162,259,276,829,213,000,000,000,000,000,000

/20

324,518,553,658,426,000,000,000,000,000,000

/19

649,037,107,316,853,000,000,000,000,000,000

/18

1,298,074,214,633,700,000,000,000,000,000,000

/17

2,596,148,429,267,410,000,000,000,000,000,000

/16

5,192,296,858,534,820,000,000,000,000,000,000

/15

10,384,593,717,069,600,000,000,000,000,000,000

/14

20,769,187,434,139,300,000,000,000,000,000,000

/13

41,538,374,868,278,600,000,000,000,000,000,000

/12

83,076,749,736,557,200,000,000,000,000,000,000

/11

166,153,499,473,114,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

/10

332,306,998,946,228,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

/9

664,613,997,892,457,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

/8

1,329,227,995,784,910,000,000,000,000,000,000,000