IP addressing

Comparision between IP address and MAC address

IP (Internet Protocol)/  logical address	MAC (Media access control) address/  Physical address
It is a 32 bit address                        [8.8.8.8]	It is a 48 bit address            [8:8:8:8:8:8]
It is represented in doted decimal representation	It is represented in hexadecimal representation
It is used to uniquely identify a device within different network	It is used to uniquely identify a device within the same network
	Note: first 24 bits represents manufacturer           Last 24 bits represents device

These are the organisations that deals with the Public IP address management

• ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers)
• IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) – it is responsible for Global co-ordination of DNS roots.
• ISP (Internet Service Provider) – it provide Internet to users through some plans or leased lines

IP address range:

• Class A 0 – 126
• Class B 128 – 191
• Class C 192 – 223
• Class D 224 – 239  à it is used for Multicast.
• Class E 240 – 255  à it is used for Research & Development.

    *127.0.0.0 is a Loopback address, it is used to find weather TCP/IP protocol stack is properly installed and working properly or not *

IP address are again divided into Public IP range and Private IP rang, if we want to use Public IP means we have to buy them from IANA and then we have to use. public IP's are used to route in the public internet. where as Private IP's are not route able in Public  networks.

for making any internal network like LAN for any organisation, depends upon there requirement the have to choose and use the private IP range. 

Private IP ranges:

•   Class A        – 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255                  – Subnet mask 255.0.0.0
•   Class B        – 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255               – Subnet Mask 255.255.0.0
•   Class C        – 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255           – Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0

    Comparision between IPv4 and IPv6:

IPv4		IPv6
IPv4 addresses are 32 bit length.		IPv6 addresses are 128 bit length.
IPv4 addresses are binary numbers represented in decimals.		IPv6 addresses are binary numbers represented in hexadecimals.
IPSec support is only optional.		Inbuilt IPSec support.
Fragmentation is done by sender and forwarding routers.		Fragmentation is done only by sender.
No packet flow identification.		Packet flow identification is available within the IPv6 header using the Flow Label field.
Checksum field is available in IPv4 header		No checksum field in IPv6 header.
Options fields are available in IPv4 header.		No option fields, but IPv6 Extension headers are available.
Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is available to map IPv4 addresses to MAC addresses.		Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is replaced with a function of Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP).
Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) is used to manage multicast group membership.		IGMP is replaced with Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) messages.
Broadcast messages are available.		Broadcast messages are not available. Instead a link-local scope "All nodes" multicast IPv6 address (FF02::1) is used for broadcast similar functionality.
Manual configuration (Static) of IPv4 addresses or DHCP (Dynamic configuration) is required to configure IPv4 addresses.		Auto-configuration of addresses is available.