DG-BG4100NU User Manual
129
IP Address and Network (Subnet) Mask: IP stands for Internet Protocol. An IP address
consists of a series of f our numbers separated by periods, which identifies a single, unique
Internet computer host in an IP network. Example: 192.168.2.1. It consists of 2 portions: the IP
network address and the host identif ier.
The IP address is a 32-bit binary pattern, which can be represented as four cascaded decimal
numbers separated by ―.‖: aaa.aaa.aaa.aaa, where each ―aaa‖ can be a ny thing f rom 000 to
255, or as f our cascaded binary numbers separated by ―.‖:
bbbbbbbb.bbbbbbb b.bbbbbbbb.bbbbbbbb, wher e each ―b‖ can either be 0 or 1.
A network mask is also a 32-bit binary pattern, and consists of consecutive leading
1‘s f ollowed by consecutiv e trailing 0‘s, such as
11111111.11111111.11111111.00000000. Theref ore sometimes a network mask can also be
described simply as ―x‖ number of leading 1‘s.
When both are represented side by side in their binary forms, all bits in the IP address that
correspond to 1‘s in the network mask become part of the IP network address, and the
remaining bits correspond to the host ID.
For example, if the IP address for a device is, in its binary f orm,
11011001.10110000.10010000.00000111, and if its network mask is,
11111111.11111111.11110000.00000000
It means the dev ice‘s network address is
11011001.10110000.10010000.00000000, and its host ID is,
00000000.00000000.00000000.00000111.
This is a conv enient and eff icient method f or routers to route IP packets to their destination.
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