HP J7949E User's Manual | Page 208

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TCP/IP Overview 208

IP Address Structure and Class

An IP address is comprised of 32 bits of information and divided 
into 4 sections containing 1 byte each section or 4 bytes total: 
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

 

For efficiency in routing, networks were broken down into three 
classes, so routing can begin simply by identifying the leading 
byte of information in the IP address. The three IP addresses 
that InterNIC assigns are class A, B, and C. The network class 
determines what each of the four IP address sections identify as 
shown in Table A.1:

As illustrated in Table A.2, each network class differs by the leading 
bit identifier, the address range, the number of each type available, 
and the maximum number of hosts each class allows.

Table A.1

IP Address Class Format

Class

First Address 
Byte xxx.

Second 
Address 
Byte xxx.

Third Address 
Byte xxx.

Fourth 
Address 
Byte xxx

A

Network.

Host.

Host.

Host

B

Network.

Network.

Host.

Host

C

Network.

Network.

Network.

Host

Table A.2

Network Class Characteristics

Class

Leading 
Bit 
Identifier

Address Range

Maximum 
Number of 
Networks in the 
Class

Maximum 
Hosts in the 
Network

A

0

0.0.0.0 to 
127.255.255.255

126

Over 16 Million

B

10

128.0.0.0 to 
191.255.255.255

16,382

65,534

C

110

192.0.0.0 to 
223.255.255.255

Over 2 Million

254

0.715542s