IP ADDRESS STRUCTURE:



Note: the terms multicast address and MSB are explained at the end.





Every station on a PSN (packet switched network) that is based on the TCP/IP

protocol (your computer is one, for example. Yes, we're referring to a host

that is connected to the net) must have an IP address, so it can be identified,

and information can be relayed and routed to it in an orderly fashion.





An IP address consists of a 32 bit logical address. The address is divided

into two fields:





1) The network address:


Assigned by InterNIC (Internet Network Information Center).

In fact most ISPs (internet service providers) purchase a number of addresses

and assign them individually.





2) The host address:


An address that identifies the single nodes throughout the network. It can be assigned

by the network manager, by using protocols for it such as DHCP, or the workstation itself.



[The IP networking protocol is a logically routed protocol, meaning that address 192.43.54.2

will be on the same physical wire as address 192.43.54.3 (of course this is not always true. It depends on the
 subnet mask of the network, but all of that can fill a text of its own)

    ---.---.---.---



    ^             ^

    |             |

 network    |    host



 Every " --- " = 8 bits.

 The first bits ===> network address

 The last bits  ===> host address.

Example:

11000010.01011010.00011111.01001010 (binary)

194.90.31.74 (decimal)

type  | model  | target | MSB |addr.range    |bit number| max.stations|

      |        | groups |     |              |net./hosts|             |

------|--------|--------|-----|--------------|----------|-------------|

  A   |N.h.h.h | ALL    |  0  | 1.0.0.0      |   24/7   | 16,777,214  |

      |        | ACCEPT |     |    to        |          |             |

      |        | HUGE   |     | 127.0.0.0    |          |             |

      |        | CORPS  |     |              |          |             |

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

      |N.N.h.h | TO ALL | 10  | 128.1.00     | 16/14    | 65,543      |

  B   |        | LARGE  |     |    to        |          |             |

      |        | CORPS  |     | 191.254.00   |          |             |

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

      |N.N.N.h |TO ALOT | 110 | 192.0.1.0    | 8/22     |  254        |

  C   |        |OF      |     |    to        |          |             |

      |        |SMALL   |     | 223.225.254  |          |             |

      |        |CORPS   |     |              |          |             |

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 D    | NONE   |MULTI-CA|1110 | 224.0.0.0     | NOT FOR |   UNKNOWN   |

      |        |ST ADDR.|     |    to         | USUAL   |             |

      |        |RFC-1112|     |239.255.255.255| USE     |             |

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 E    | NOT FOR|EXPERIME|1,1,1,1| 240.0.0.0     |NOT FOR|  NOT FOR USE|

      |  USE   |NTAL    |       |   to          |USE    |             |

      |        |ADDR.   |       |254.255.255.255|       |             |

-----------------------------------------------------------------------



N=NETWORK , h=HOST .




Notice the address range 127.X.X.X.

These addresses are assigned to internal use to the network device, and are

used as an application tool only. For example: 127.0.0.1, the most common one,

is called the loopback address - everything sent here goes directly back to

you, without even traveling out on the wire.

Also, some IPs are reserved for VPNs - Virtual Private Networks. These are

local area networks over wide area networks that use the Internet Protocol to

communicate, and each computer inside the network is assigned with an IP

address. So, suppose a certain computer wants to send a data packet to

another host on the network with the IP 'x', but there's also another host on

the Internet that has the same IP - what happens now? So this is why you

cannot use these and other forms of reserved IPs on the Internet.



EXTRA:



Distinguishing different groups:



You have to compare the first byte on the left in the address as follows:









Type |    First byte  | MSB

     |    in decimal  |

----------------------------

A    | 1-127          | 0

----------------------------

B    | 128-191        | 10

----------------------------

C    | 192-223        | 110

----------------------------

D    | 224-239        | 1110

----------------------------

E    | 240-254        | 1111

----------------------------





NOTES: Yes, we know, we've left A LOT of things unexplained in this text.

With time, we will write more tutorials to cover these and other subjects. So

in the meantime, I suggest that you go to http://blacksun.box.sk, find the

tutorials page and see if there's anything else that's interesting to you.

And remember - we also have a message board, so if you have any questions,

feel free to post them there.





weird shit (newbie note):



1) Multicast: (copied from RFC 1112)

   IP multicasting is the transmission of an IP datagram to a "host

   group", a set of zero or more hosts identified by a single IP

   destination address.  A multicast datagram is delivered to all

   members of its destination host group with the same "best-efforts"

   reliability as regular unicast IP datagrams, i.e., the datagram is

   not guaranteed to arrive intact at all members of the destination

   group or in the same order relative to other datagrams.



   The membership of a host group is dynamic; that is, hosts may join

   and leave groups at any time.  There is no restriction on the

   location or number of members in a host group.  A host may be a

   member of more than one group at a time.  A host need not be a member

   of a group to send datagrams to it.



   A host group may be permanent or transient.  A permanent group has a

   well-known, administratively assigned IP address.  It is the address,

   not the membership of the group, that is permanent; at any time a

   permanent group may have any number of members, even zero.  Those IP

   multicast addresses that are not reserved for permanent groups are

   available for dynamic assignment to transient groups which exist only

   as long as they have members.



   Internetwork forwarding of IP multicast datagrams(ip packets)is handled by

   "multicast routers" which may be co-resident with, or separate from,

   internet gateways.  A host transmits an IP multicast datagram as a

   local network multicast which reaches all immediately-neighboring

   members of the destination host group.  If the datagram has an IP

   time-to-live greater than 1, the multicast router(s) attached to the

   local network take responsibility for forwarding it towards all other

   networks that have members of the destination group.  On those other

   member networks that are reachable within the IP time-to-live, an

   attached multicast router completes delivery by transmitting the

   datagram(ip packet) as a local multicast.



   *if you donot understand the above do not worry, it is complicated and dry

   but reread it and read it again get a dictionary if it helps.

   Hacking is not easy.



2) MSB: Most Significent Bit:

   In set numbers the first number on the left is the most important because it

   holds the highest value as opposed to the LSB=> least significent bit, it

   always holds the the smallest value.

   Further information can be acquired from the number systems tutorial at

   http://blacksun.box.sk