IP4

IPv4
IPv4 formatted addresses contains 32 bits of information, limiting the address pace to 4294967296 ($$2^32$$) possibilities. Certain addressed are reserved for private networks and multicase addresses.

The typical format is view in dot-decimal notation, where four numbers ranging from 0 to 255 are separated by periods (e.g. 192.168.0.1). Each parts represents 8 bits of the address and is referred to as an "octet". IP addresses may be represented in hexadecimal, octal, or binary forms as well, though they are less common and usually still separated into octets. Likewise, IP Addresses typically are followed by a subnetwork designation, defined as a "/" at the end of the address, followed by the subnetwork number.

Reserved addresses listed in RFC 5735.

IPv4 Addresses contain a header section and a data section.

The header packet consist of 13 fields, 12 required fields. The fields have the most significant byte first (big endian), and usually the most significant bits are first (MSD 0 bit numbering).

The contents of the data field are defined in the header, and can be a variety of different transport layer protocols. For example, TCP has a value of "6", which UDP has a value of "17".

Related Pages

 * IP
 * IP6


 * RFC 4942 - Internet Protocol
 * Microsoft Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6)