Some Important information on IP Address.
Class A IP address is used for a network with large number of hosts.
Class B IP address is used for a network with medium number of hosts.
Class C IP address is used for a network with less number of hosts.
| IP Address Class | Possible range of IP address |
| Class A | 0.0.0.0 through 127.255.255.255 |
| Class B | 128.0.0.0 through 191.255.255.255 |
| Class C | 192.0.0.0 through 223.255.255.255 |
| Class D | 224.0.0.0 through 239.255.255.255 |
| Class E | 240.0.0.0 through 247.255.255.255 |
The Class D IP addresses are used for multicasting.
The Class E IP addresses are reserved for experimental purpose.
The maximum number of networks and hosts that can be represented using the various IP address classes is shown below in the table:
| IP Address Class | Maximum number of N/W | Maximum no of host per N/W |
| Class A | 126 (2^7 - 2) | 16777214 (2^24 - 2) |
| Class B | 16384 (2^14) | 65534 (2^16 - 2) |
| Class C | 2097152 (2^21) | 254 (2^8 - 2) |
| Class D | ————————————— | ————————————— |
| Class E | ————————————— | ————————————— |
Some IP Address are not available for general internet use, They are used for special purpose:
| IP Address | Description |
| 0.0.0.0 | Local host. |
| 127.xxx.xxx.xxx | Local loopback address. The value of the last 3 bytes are ignored. The datagram with this IP address is never transmitted over the network. |
| xxx.0.0.0
xxx.xxx.0.0 xxx.xxx.xxx.0 |
Local host IP address. The x represents the network ID bits |
| 0.xxx.xxx.xxx
0.0.xxx.xxx 0.0.0.xxx |
IP address of a host in the local network. The x represents the host ID bits. |
| 255.255.255.255 | Limited Broadcast address. Datagram with this address will be received and processed by all the hosts in the local network. This datagram is not forwarded to other networks by routers. |
| xxx.255.255.255
xxx.xxx.255.255 xxx.xxx.xxx.255 |
Directed broadcast address. The datagram with this IP address is received by all the hosts in the specified network. The x represents the network ID bits |
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