Inter-Networks

Any network technology has limitations on the maximum number of computers it can support. So it’s
common to have to break networks into several smaller networks and build a “network of networks”.
● An internetwork is a network of networks and is sometimes called an internet, which is not to
be confused with the Internet.
● A subnetwork or subnet is part of an internetwork that is bounded by routers.

1.1 Routers
The devices that connect networks are called routers. A router is a device that has the intelligence to
forward messages from one network to another as required.
Q1:What is a router?

A device which allows devices to connect to a network

Q2:On the above diagram circle the separate subnetworks.

1.2 IP addresses
Q3:How many bits are there in an IP address?

32

Q4:Why do all public IP addresses need to be registered?

To ensure all public IP addresses are unique

Q5:What is the name of the global registrar and the five regional Internet registries?

African Network Information Centre

American Registry for Internet Numbers

Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre

Latin America and Caribbean Network Information Centre

Q6:What is the difference between routable and non-routable IP addresses?

Routable IP addresses allow the device to access the internet and send packets using it whereas a non
routable IP address cannot transfer packets between networks

1.3 Address Classes

Each host on a TCP/IP network must have a unique IP address that distinguishes it from all other
hosts on that network. That means that every host that can communicate with the Internet must have
an IP address that is unique on the entire Internet.
A host’s IP address contains two pieces of information:
● Netid is the network to which the host is attached.
● Hostid is the host’s IP unique ID on its network.
Because the IP address serves two functions, the Internet designers had to decide how many bits
would serve as the hostid. Did the Internet need a few networks with many hosts per network, or did
it need a large number of networks with few hosts per network? Well, the answer was, “Both, and we
need something in between as well.” That answer resulted in the establishment of address classes.
Class A 0NNNNNNN HHHHHHHH HHHHHHHH HHHHHHHH
Class B 10NNNNNN NNNNNNNN HHHHHHHH HHHHHHHH
Class C 110NNNNN NNNNNNNN NNNNNNNN HHHHHHHH
Key: N=Network ID bit H = Host ID bit
Q7:What is the possible range of values for the first octet in a
(a) Class A address: 0-127
(b) Class B address: 128-191
(c) Class C address: 192-223
Activity: Research the Internet for a list of companies with class A addresses.
The following figure demonstrates the use of IP addresses. This network consists of four network
segments that communicate through routers. Although it is improbable, I have included examples of
all three classes of network address in the figure.
Notice that each network segment is associated with a single netid. All hosts on a give network
segment are give IP addresses that share a common netid.
Routers attach to the network as ordinary hosts. A router is assigned an IP address on each network to
which it is attached. Actually, the IP address isn’t assigned to the router, but to the interface in the
router. So, a router has at least two interfaces, each of which is assigned to its own IP address.

Q8:Circle each sub-network on the diagram above and say whether it has a class A address, a class B
address or a class C address.

1.4 Special IP Addresses on a Network

● Address 255 (all 1s in binary) is used to address broadcast messages, which are received by all
hosts on a give network. The most common broadcast address is 255.255.255.255, what
addresses messages that are to be received by all hosts on the local network.
● The fourth octet cannot be all 1s or all 0s in binary. A hostid that is all 0s refers to this
network. So, the IP address 155.38.0.0 refers to the entire network with the netid 155.38. A
hostid that is all 1s is a broadcast address, referring to all hosts on a specific network.
● The netid cannot be all 0s because all 0s means “this network”. That’s why the class A
network number 0 is unavailable.
● Netid 127 is a reserved address called the loopback address, and is used in testing.

1.5 Subnetting and Subnet masks

Subnetting is a technique that lets the network administrators use the 32 bits available in an IP address
more efficiently by creating networks that aren’t limited to the scales provided by Class A, B and C IP
addresses.
How many bits are used for the networkID in a:
Q9:Class A address? 8 Class B address? 16 Class C address?24
Approximately how many different IP address are available for hosts in a:
Q10: Class A address? 128 Class B address? 64 Class C address? 32
Too many devices on a single network would cause so many packet collisions on the network that the
network performance would degrade.
Subnets
Subnets are created by using one or more of the Class A, B or C host bits to extend the network ID.

Example
The router needs to know which portion of the IP address is the netid and which is the hostid. This is
achieved by the subnet mask. The parts of the IP address which belong to the netid are represented by
a 1 in the mask and those that represent the host ID appear as a 0 in the mask.
In the above diagram if 16 bits were used for the network ID then the subnet mask would be
11111111 11111111 11110000 00000000. = 255.255.240.0
Q11: Are the following two devices on the same network, given that the subnet mask is
255.255.240.0? Device A: 172.16.17.30, and device B: 172.16.28.15.
(a) Convert both IP addresses into binary.
Device A: 10101100 00010000 00010001 00011110
Device B: 10101100 00010000 00011100 00001111
(b) Perform the AND operation with the subnet mask above.
Device A: 10101100 00010000 00010000 00000000
Device B: 10101100 00010000 00010000 00000000
(c) Compare the two results. Are they on the same network? Yes

Q12: For the IP address 10.86.45.3 and subnet mask 255.255.0.0 answer the following questions:

1. What is the class of this IP address? B

2. What is the netid of the IP address? 10

3. What is the subnetid of the IP address? 86

4. What is the hostid of the IP address? 45.3

5. What host IP addresses permit host to communicate directly with this host, assuming all hosts
are connected to the same network segment? 10.86.xxx.xxx

Q13: For the IP address 192.168.45.109 and subnet mask 255.255.255.240 answer the following
questions:

1. What is the class of this IP address? C

2. What is the netid of the IP address? 192

3. What is the subnetid of the IP address? 168.45

4. What is the hostid of the IP address? 109

5. What host IP addresses permit host to communicate directly with this host, assuming all hosts
are connected to the same network segment? 192.168.45.xxx
Q14: For the IP address 192.168.87.94 and subnet mask 255.255.255.224 answer the following
questions:

1. What is the class of this IP address? C

2. What is the netid of the IP address? 192

3. What is the subnetid of the IP address? 168.87

4. What is the hostid of the IP address? 94

5. What host IP addresses permit host to communicate directly with this host, assuming all hosts
are connected to the same network segment? 192.168.87.xxx

1.6 Gateways
Q15: How are gateways different from routers?

A router routes IP packets between networks whereas a Gateway allows packets to be transferred into/
out of the local network, a gateway must be a router but a router doesn’t have to be a gateway

Q16: How does a gateway achieve this extra functionality?

They can operate at any of the OSI layers while a router operates at level 3, a gateway can change the
IP address on the packet and perform many other layer 2-7 functions

Q17: What is a default gateway on a network?

The device to which IP packets are sent when they have a destination outside of the local network but
there is no more optimal route

DHCP
Q18: What Is The Dhcp Process For Client Machine?

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, automatically assigns an IP address and other details to the
hosts on the network so their communication is more efficient. The client machine receives
information from the DHCP server, such as a router, which configures the IP address and related
information. It ensures that no two hosts can have the same IP address while reducing the chance of
errors caused by manual configuration.