SCS 3004

Networking Technologies

IP Addressing

Dr. Ajantha Atukorale / UCSC

IP Addresses

• Structure of an IP address
• Classful IP addresses
• Limitations and problems with classful IP addresses
• Subnetting
• CIDR
• Supernetting
• NAT
IP Addresses

32 bits
version header Type of Service/TOS Total Length (in bytes)
(4 bits) length (8 bits) (16 bits)
flags
Identification (16 bits) Fragment Offset (13 bits)
(3 bits)
TTL Time-to-Live Protocol
Header Checksum (16 bits)
(8 bits) (8 bits)

Source IP address (32 bits)

Destination IP address (32 bits)

Ethernet Header IP Header TCP Header Application data Ethernet Trailer

Ethernet frame
IP Addresses

32 bits

0x4 0x5 0x00 44 10

9d08 010 2 0000000000000 2

128 10 0x06 8bff

128.143.137.144

128.143.71.21

Ethernet Header IP Header TCP Header Application data Ethernet Trailer

Ethernet frame
What is an IP Address?

• An IP address is a unique global address for a network

interface
• Exceptions:
– Dynamically assigned IP addresses
– IP addresses in private networks

• An IP address:
- is a 32 bit long identifier
- encodes a network number (network prefix)
and a host number
Network prefix and host number

• The network prefix identifies a network and the host number

identifies a specific host (actually, interface on the network).

network prefix host number

• How do we know how long the network prefix is?

– Before 1993: The network prefix is implicitly defined (see
class-based addressing)
or
– After 1993: The network prefix is indicated by a netmask.
Dotted Decimal Notation

• IP addresses are written in a so-called dotted decimal

notation
• Each byte is identified by a decimal number in the range
[0..255]:

• Example:
10000000 10001111 10001001 10010000
1st Byte 2nd Byte 3rd Byte 4th Byte
= 128 = 143 = 137 = 144

128.143.137.144
Example

• Example: cs.virginia.edu

128.143 137.144

• Network address is: 128.143.0.0 (or 128.143)

• Host number is: 137.144
• Netmask is: 255.255.0.0 (or ffff0000)

• Prefix or CIDR notation: 128.143.137.144/16

» Network prefix is 16 bits long
Special IP Addresses

• Reserved or (by convention) special addresses:

Loopback interfaces
– all addresses 127.0.0.1-127.255.255.255 are reserved for loopback interfaces
– Most systems use 127.0.0.1 as loopback address
– loopback interface is associated with name “localhost”
IP address of a network
– Host number is set to all zeros, e.g., 128.143.0.0
Broadcast address
– Host number is all ones, e.g., 128.143.255.255
– Broadcast goes to all hosts on the network
– Often ignored due to security concerns
• Test / Experimental addresses (Private IPs)
Certain address ranges are reserved for “experimental use”. Packets should get dropped if
they contain this destination address (see RFC 1918):
10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255
172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255
192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255
• Convention (but not a reserved address)
Default gateway has host number set to ‘first’ or ‘last’ number: 192.0.1.1 or 192.0.1.254
Subnetting

• Problem: Organizations
have multiple networks University
which are independently UniversityNetwork
Network
managed Engineering Medical
– Solution 1: Allocate a School School
separate network address for
each network
• Difficult to manage Library
• From the outside of the
organization, each network
must be addressable.
– Solution 2: Add another
level of hierarchy to the
Subnetting
IP addressing structure
Address assignment with subnetting

• Each part of the organization is allocated a range of IP addresses

(subnets or subnetworks)
• Addresses in each subnet can be administered locally

128.143.0.0/16
University
UniversityNetwork
Network
128.143.71.0/24 Engineering Medical 128.143.56.0/24
128.143.136.0/24 School School

Library

128.143.121.0/24
Basic Idea of Subnetting
• Split the host number portion of an IP address into a
subnet number and a (smaller) host number.
• Result is a 3-layer hierarchy

network prefix host number

network prefix subnet number host number

extended network prefix

• Then:
• Subnets can be freely assigned within the organization
• Internally, subnets are treated as separate networks
• Subnet structure is not visible outside the organization
Subnetmask

• Routers and hosts use an extended network prefix

(subnetmask) to identify the start of the host numbers

128.143 137.144

network prefix host number

128.143 137 144

network prefix subnet host number

number
extended network prefix

1111111111111111 1111111100000000

subnetmask
Advantages of Subnetting

• With subnetting, IP addresses use a 3-layer hierarchy:

» Network
» Subnet
» Host

• Reduces router complexity. Since external routers do not

know about subnetting, the complexity of routing tables at
external routers is reduced.

• Note: Length of the subnet mask need not be identical at all

subnetworks.
Example: Subnetmask

• 128.143.0.0/16 is the IP address of the network

• 128.143.137.0/24 is the IP address of the subnet

• 128.143.137.144 is the IP address of the host

• 255.255.255.0 is the subnetmask of the host

• When subnetting is used, one generally speaks of a “subnetmask”

(instead of a netmask) and a “subnet” (instead of a network)
• Use of subnetting or length of the subnetmask if decided by the network
administrator
• Consistency of subnetmasks is responsibility of administrator
No Subnetting

• All hosts think that the other hosts are on the same network

1 2 8 .1 4 3 .1 3 7 .3 2 /1 6 1 2 8 .1 4 3 .1 3 7 .1 4 4 /1 6 1 2 8 .1 4 3 .7 1 .2 1 /1 6 1 2 8 .1 4 3 .7 1 .2 0 1 /1 6
s ubnetm ask : 255.255.0.0 su b n e tm a sk: 2 5 5 .2 5 5 .0 .0 su b n e tm a sk: 2 5 5 .2 5 5 .0 .0 subnetm ask: 255.255.0.0

1 2 8 .1 4 3 .7 0 .0 /1 6
With Subnetting

• Hosts with same extended network prefix belong to the same

network

1 2 8 .1 4 3 .1 3 7 .3 2 /2 4 1 2 8 .1 4 3 .1 3 7 .1 4 4 /2 4 1 2 8 .1 4 3 .7 1 .2 1 /2 4 1 2 8 .1 4 3 .7 1 .2 0 1 /2 4
subnetm ask: 255.255.255.0 subnetm as k: 255.255.255.0 s ubnetm ask: 255.255.255.0 subnetm as k: 255.255.255.0

1 2 8 .1 4 3 .1 3 7 .0 /2 4 1 2 8 .1 4 3 .7 1 .0 /2 4
Subnet Subnet
1 2 8 .1 4 3 .0 .0 /1 6
With Subnetting

• Different subnetmasks lead to different views of the size of the

scope of the network

12 8 .1 4 3 .1 3 7 .3 2 /2 6 1 2 8.1 4 3 .1 3 7 .1 4 4/2 6 1 2 8 .14 3 .7 1 .2 1 /2 4 1 2 8 .1 43 .7 1 .2 0 1 /1 6

subnetm ask : 255.255.255.192 subnetm as k: 255.255.255.192 subnetm as k: 255.255.255.0 subnetm as k: 255.255.0.0

1 2 8 .1 4 3 .71 .0 /2 4
1 2 8 .1 4 3 .13 7 .0 /2 6 1 2 8.1 4 3 .1 3 7 .1 28 /2 6
Subnet
S u b n et Subnet

1 2 8 .1 4 3 .0 .0 /1 6
Classful IP Addresses (Until 1993)

• When Internet addresses were standardized (early 1980s),

the Internet address space was divided up into classes:
– Class A: Network prefix is 8 bits long
– Class B: Network prefix is 16 bits long
– Class C: Network prefix is 24 bits long

• Each IP address contained a key which identifies the class:

– Class A: IP address starts with “0”
– Class B: IP address starts with “10”
– Class C: IP address starts with “110”
The old way: Internet Address Classes

bit # 0 1 7 8 31

Class A 0
Network Prefix Host Number
8 bits 24 bits

bit # 0 1 2 15 16 31

Class B 10 network id host

Network Prefix Host Number

16 bits 16 bits

bit # 0 1 2 3 23 24 31

Class C 110 network id host

Network Prefix Host Number

24 bits 8 bits
The old way: Internet Address Classes

bit # 0 1 2 3 4 31

Class D 1110 multicast group id

bit # 0 1 2 3 4 5 31

Class E 11110 (reserved for future use)

Problems with Classful IP Addresses

• By the early 1990s, the original classful address scheme had

a number of problems
– Flat address space. Routing tables on the backbone Internet
need to have an entry for each network address. When Class C
networks were widely used, this created a problem. By the 1993, the
size of the routing tables started to outgrow the capacity of routers.

Other problems:
– Too few network addresses for large networks
• Class A and Class B addresses were gone
– Limited flexibility for network addresses:
• Class A and B addresses are overkill (>64,000 addresses)
• Class C address is insufficient (requires 40 Class C addresses)
Allocation of Classful Addresses
CIDR - Classless Interdomain Routing

• IP backbone routers have one routing table entry for each

network address:
– With subnetting, a backbone router only needs to know one entry for
each Class A, B, or C networks
– This is acceptable for Class A and Class B networks
• 27 = 128 Class A networks
• 214 = 16,384 Class B networks
– But this is not acceptable for Class C networks
• 221 = 2,097,152 Class C networks
• In 1993, the size of the routing tables started to outgrow the
capacity of routers
• Consequence: The Class-based assignment of IP addresses
had to be abandoned
CIDR - Classless Interdomain Routing

• Goals:
– New interpretation of the IP address space
– Restructure IP address assignments to increase efficiency
– Permits route aggregation to minimize route table entries

• CIDR (Classless Interdomain routing)

– abandons the notion of classes
– Key Concept: The length of the network prefix in the IP
addresses is kept arbitrary
– Consequence: Size of the network prefix must be provided
with an IP address
CIDR Notation

• CIDR notation of an IP address:

192.0.2.0/18
• "18" is the prefix length. It states that the first 18 bits are the network
prefix of the address (and 14 bits are available for specific host
addresses)

• CIDR notation can replace the use of subnetmasks (but is more general)
– IP address 128.143.137.144 and subnetmask 255.255.255.0 becomes
128.143.137.144/24

• CIDR notation allows to drop traling zeros of network addresses:

192.0.2.0/18 can be written as 192.0.2/18
Why do people still talk about

• CIDR eliminates the concept of class A, B, and C networks and replaces it

with a network prefix

• Existing classful network addresses are converted to CIDR addresses:

128.143.0.0 Æ 128.143.0.0/16

• The change has not affected many (previously existing) enterprise

networks
– Many network administrators (especially on university campuses) have
not noticed the change (and still talk about

(Note: CIDR was introduced with the role-out of BGPv4 as interdomain

routing protocol. )
CIDR address blocks

• CIDR notation can nicely express blocks of addresses

• Blocks are used when allocating IP addresses for a company and for routing tables
(route aggregation)

CIDR Block Prefix # of Host Addresses

/27 32
/26 64
/25 128
/24 256
/23 512
/22 1,024
/21 2,048
/20 4,096
/19 8,192
/18 16,384
/17 32,768
/16 65,536
/15 131,072
/14 262,144
/13 524,288
CIDR and Address assignments

• Backbone ISPs obtain large block of IP addresses space and

then reallocate portions of their address blocks to their
customers.

Example:
• Assume that an ISP owns the address block 206.0.64.0/18, which
represents 16,384 (214) IP addresses
• Suppose a client requires 800 host addresses
• With classful addresses: need to assign a class B address (and
waste ~64,700 addresses) or four individual Class Cs (and introducing 4
new routes into the global Internet routing tables)
• With CIDR: Assign a /22 block, e.g., 206.0.68.0/22, and allocated a
block of 1,024 (210) IP addresses.
CIDR and Routing Information

Company X :
206.0.68.0/22
ISP X owns:
206.0.64.0/18
204.188.0.0/15
209.88.232.0/21
Internet
Backbone ISP y :
209.88.237.0/24

Organization z1 : Organization z2 :
209.88.237.192/26 209.88.237.0/26
CIDR and Routing Information
Backbone routers do not know
anything about Company X, ISP
Y, or Organizations z1, z2.
Company X :
206.0.68.0/22
ISP X does not know about ISP
ISP X owns:
y sends everything which matches
Organizations z1, z2. the prefix:
206.0.64.0/18
209.88.237.192/26 to Organizations z1
204.188.0.0/15
209.88.237.0/26 to Organizations z2
209.88.232.0/21
Internet
ISP X sends everything which
Backbone
matches the prefix: ISP y :
206.0.68.0/22 to Company X,
209.88.237.0/24 to ISP y 209.88.237.0/24

Backbone sends everything

which matches the prefixes
Organization z1 : Organization z2 :
206.0.64.0/18, 204.188.0.0/15,
209.88.232.0/21 to ISP X. 209.88.237.192/26 209.88.237.0/26
Subnetting
Consider a class “C” IP address : 200.10.15.x
Default (subnet) mask (SM): 255.255.255.0
Borrowing 2 bits: SM 255.255.255.192 /26 → 4 subnets @ 62 hosts
Borrowing 3 bits: SM 255.255.255.224 /27 → 8 subnets @ 30 hosts
Borrowing 4 bits: SM 255.255.255.240 /28 → 16 subnets @ 14 hosts
Borrowing 5 bits: SM 255.255.255.248 /29 → 32 subnets @ 6 hosts
Borrowing 6 bits: SM 255.255.255.252 /30 → 64 subnets @ 2 hosts

Ex.
1. Find the SM for 192.168.2.0 that specifies 5 bits of sub-netting?
2. Divide the IP address 172.10.0.0 into 100 sub-nets
3. What is the network ID of the following: IP=192.234.34.32
SM=255.255.255.240?
4. How SMs are used to determine the network ID?
Variable Length SM (VLSM)
is the process by which we take a major network
address and use different subnet masks at different
points.
A fixed length mask has the advantage of simplicity. It will be
easy for the network staff/users to remember the SM.
However, if we have to keep the subnet mask the same we
encounter severe problems concerning addressing space.

Some useful tips on VLSM:

¾Use as few different masks as possible
¾Keep lookup table to figure out the masks for a given subnet
¾Make sure not to overlap subnets with VLSM

When do we need to use different subnet masks?

Variable Length SM (VLSM)

E1 E2

R R
Leased Line

Colombo Kandy
Head Branch Office
Office 25 users
50 users
Variable Length SM (VLSM)

E1 E2

R R

Subnet 2
Colombo Kandy
Head Branch
Office Office
50 users 25 users

Subnet 1 Subnet 3
Variable Length SM (VLSM)

E E
1 2
1 R 1 1
R 1
50 25

Colombo Kandy
Head Office Branch Office
50 users 25 users
No of IP Addresses
Required
50+25+1+1+1+1 = 79
Variable Length SM (VLSM)
For the serial link – needs only 2 IPs
SM – 255.255.255.252
IPs – 200.10.15.5 /30 and 200.10.15.6 /30

For Kandy subnet – needs 26 IPs

SM – 255.255.255.224
IPs – 200.10.15.33 /27 → E2 and
200.10.15.34 /27 to 200.10.15.59 /27 (m/c)

For Colombo subnet – needs 51 IPs

SM – 255.255.255.192
IPs – 200.10.15.65 /26 → E1 and
200.10.15.66 /26 to 200.10.15.117 /26 (m/c)

When can VLSM be used?

VLSM can only be used with a classless routing protocol.
Classless routing protocols: RIP Version 2, OSPF
Variable Length SM (VLSM)

200.10.15.6/30
200.10.15.5/30
E1 E2

200.10.15.33/27
200.10.15.65/26
R R

Colombo Kandy
Head Office Branch Office
50 users 25 users

200.10.15.66 – 200.10.15.34 –
200.10.15.117/26 200.10.15.59 /27

An approach to assigning subnets with VLSMs is documented in RFC 1219.

Variable Length SM (VLSM)
Ex:
Consider a 20-bit address block 172.16.0.0/20. Let’s assume that we need 1
subnet for about 400 machines, 10 subnets for about 100 machines each, 12
subnets for about 45 machines each, and 6 subnets for 2 machines; these small
subnets are for WAN links to connect remote offices.
Assign subnet Nos. to support Aggregation:
Try to keep subnet nos. group topologically in your network to allow
aggregation. This saves routing table space.
It is nearly impossible to achieve 100% aggregation in any real network, and
you are likely to make changes that will cause exceptions as the network
grows and changes.
What are the range of IP addresses the block 192.168.10.0/22 will cover?
What is the aggregated IP block for the IP addresses 172.16.0.0/24 through
172.16.3.0/24?
CIDR and Routing

• So what is IP Address Aggregation? Quite simply, IP Address

Aggregation means that several networks can be spanned by a single
routing entry. Consider the following case:
• Our router needs to route traffic for eight separate networks through
the same gateway (ip address 194.1.1.1):
• ip route 66.100.50.0 255.255.255.224 194.1.1.1
• ip route 66.100.50.32 255.255.255.224 194.1.1.1
• ip route 66.100.50.64 255.255.255.224 194.1.1.1
• ip route 66.100.50.96 255.255.255.224 194.1.1.1
• ip route 66.100.50.128 255.255.255.224 194.1.1.1
• ip route 66.100.50.160 255.255.255.224 194.1.1.1
• ip route 66.100.50.192 255.255.255.224 194.1.1.1
• ip route 66.100.50.224 255.255.255.224 194.1.1.1
– ip route 66.100.50.0 255.255.255.0 194.1.1.1
Route Summarization (Aggregation)
CIDR and Routing

• Aggregation of routing table entries:

– 128.142.0.0/16 and 128.143.0.0/16 are represented as
128.142.0.0/15 (142=10001110)
• Longest prefix match: Routing table lookup finds the routing entry
that matches the longest prefix

For example, consider this routing table:

192.168.20.16/28
192.168.0.0/16
• When the address 192.168.20.19 needs to be looked up, both entries
in the routing table "match". That is, both entries contain the looked up
address. In this case, the longest prefix of the candidate routes is
192.168.20.16/28, since its subnet mask (/28) is higher than the other
entry's mask (/16), making the route more specific.