IP and MAC addresses are unique identifiers for devices connected to a network or the internet. An IP address identifies a device and allows information to be sent between devices, while a MAC address specifically identifies the device's network interface card. IP addresses contain both a network ID and host ID to identify the network segment and individual device. There are two main versions of IP - IPv4 uses 32-bit addresses and IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses. IP addresses are classified into five categories - Classes A, B, C, D and E - which determine how many bits are used for the network vs host portions.

1. IP & MAC
ADDRESSING
….Classified IP Addresses & MAC Addresses…
ABSTRACT
This includes description about what is IP address
& MAC address, classification of IP addresses
and definition of network ID & Host ID.
Supervised By
Pranab Bandhu Nath
(Senior Lecturer)
CSE Department
City University, Dhaka
Submitted By
Shamima Akther| ID - 1834902616
CSE 318 : Computer Networks Laboratory

2. “IP & MAC Addressing”
IP Address: An IP address is a unique address that identifies a device on the internet or a local
network. IP stands for “Internet Protocol” which is the set of rules governing the format of data
sent via the internet or local network.
In essence, IP addresses are the identifier that allows information to be sent between devices on a
network: they contain locaton information and make devices accesible for communication.The
internet needs a way to differentiate between different computers, routers and websites. IP
addresses provide a way of doing so and from an essential part of how the internet work.
There are two versions of IP that currently co-exist in the global internet: IP version 4 (Ipv4) and
IP version 6 (IPv6). IP addresses are made up of binary values and drive the routing of all data
over the Internet. IPv4 addresses are 32 bits long and IPv6 addresses 128 bits long.
Network ID & Host ID:
An IP address consists of two components: a Network ID and a Host ID.
The Network ID identifies the network segment to which the host belongs. A network segment is
a logical division of a network into unique numeric network IDs called subnets.
The Host ID identifies an individual host on some specific network segment. A host can
communicate directly only with other hosts on the same network segment. A host must use a
router to communicate with hosts on other subnets.
A router moves packets from one subnet to another. In addition, a router reads the network ID
for a packet’s destination address and determines whether that packet should remain on the
current subnet or be routed to a different subnet. When a router delivers a packet to the correct
subnet, the router then uses the host ID portion of the destination address to deliver the packet to
its final destination.
Classification of IP address:
The 32 bit IP address is divided into five sub classes. These are:
❖ Class A:
IP address belonging to class are assigned to the networks that contain a large number of
hosts.
The first 8 bits of the IP address are used for the network ID. The final 24 bits are used
for the host ID.
❖ Class B:
IP address belonging to class B are assigned to the networks that ranges from medium-
sized to large-sized networks.
The first 16 bits of the IP address are used for the network ID. The final 16 bits are used
for the host ID.

3. ❖ Class C:
IP address belonging to class C are assigned to small-sized networks.
The first 24 bits of the IP address are used for the network ID. The final 8 bits are used
for the host ID.
❖ Class D:
IP address belonging to class D are reserved for multi-casting. The higher order bits of
the first octet of IP addresses belonging to class D are always set to 1110. The remaining
bits are for the address that interested hosts recognize.
❖ Class E:
IP address belonging to class E are reserved for experimental and research purposes. IP
addresses of class E ranges from 240.0.0.0 - 255.255.255.254. This class doesn’t have
any sub-net mask. The higher order bits of first octet of class E are always set to 1111.
Range of special IP addresses: Among these IP addresses some of IP addresses are special.
They are:-
(169.254.0.0 – 169.254.0.16) : Link local addresses.
(127.0.0.0 – 127.0.0.8) : Loop-back addresses.
(0.0.0.0 – 0.0.0.8) : used to commuicate within the current network.
MAC Address: It stands for Media Access Control Address. A MAC address is a hardware
identification number that uniquely identifies each device on a network.
So MAC address is the physical address. It is assigned to the NIC (Network Interface Card) of
each device that can be connected to the internet.
To make communication between to networked devices, we need two addresses: IP address &
MAC address.