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Dated: Apr. 02, 2012

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By Vivek Nayyar

Something About IP Address

An IP address is a 32-bit number divided in 4 octal numbers and each octal separated by a '.' (dot), technically knows as a period. Administrators assign IP addresses to the computers so that they can be uniquely identified in a local area network and can communicate and exchange information with other computers in the network. IP addresses can be assigned to the computers either manually (static IP addresses) or through DHCP servers (dynamic IP addresses). When administrators plan to assign dynamic IP addresses to the computers they must configure DHCP servers with appropriate IP addressing schemes do accomplish the task. On the other hand, if administrators plan to assign static IP addresses to the computers they must manually go to each computer system in the local area network and assign IP addresses to them individually.

An IP address comprises of two sections namely network ID and host ID. In order to make two computers in a local area network communicate with each other network IDs of the IP addresses of both the computers must be common and each computer must have unique host IDs. In case administrators assign common host IDs to two computers in a common subnet (computers that have common network IDs), IP conflict occurs and none of the machines can then communicate with the network.

Subnet mask (which also is a 32-bit number divided in 4 octal numbers and every octal is separated by a period) is yet another important part in a complete IP address. At is subnet mask that separates network ID of an IP address from its host ID. Technically, when talking about IP addresses every IP address is only considered complete if it has its corresponding subnet mask. While specifying static IP addresses to the computers when administrators type IP addresses in their respective fields, fields of subnet masks automatically get populated according to the classes to which the IP addresses belong. An example of IP address and its corresponding subnet mask can be:

IP Address: 192.168.0.1

Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0

List given below shows the classes of IP addresses according to their first octal numbers and the default subnet mask for each class:

  • Class A – IP Address: 0-126, Default Subnet Mask: 255.0.0.0
  • Class B – IP Address: 128-191, Default Subnet Mask: 255.255.0.0
  • Class C – IP Address: 192-223, Default Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
  • Class D – IP Address: 224-239, Default Subnet Mask: N/A
  • Class D – IP Address: 240-255, Default Subnet Mask: N/A

(Note: 127 is a loopback address and therefore cannot be assigned to any computer as its unique IP address.)

The very first octal number of an IP address specifies the class to which the IP address belongs. In an example given above, since the first octal number of the IP address is 192, it belongs to Class C and therefore it has 255.255.255.0 as its default subnet mask.

Assigning a Static IP Address

Assigning a static IP address to a computer requires elevated privileges and therefore administrator account must be used to log on to Windows Server 2008 R2 computer while following the steps below:

Assigning Static IP Address

  1. Log on to Windows Server 2008 R2 computer with Administrator account.
  2. Click Start and then click Run from the menu.
  3. In the opened Run command box type NCPA.CPL command and press Enter key.
  4. On the opened window right-click on the NIC on which static IP address has to be assigned and from the available context menu click Properties.
  5. On Local Area Network Properties box make sure that Networking tab is selected and from the available list of options in the middle box double-click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4).
  6. On Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties box make sure that General tab is selected and click to select Use the following IP address radio button.
  7. Populate the enabled IP address and Subnet mask fields with appropriate values, i.e. IP address and subnet mask and click OK button.
  8. Back on Local Area Connection Properties box click OK to save the changes.

 

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