What is IPv4?


IP stands for Internet Protocol version v4 stands for Version Four (IPv4), is
the most widely used system for identifying devices on a network. It uses a set
of four numbers, separated by periods (like [Link]), to give each device
a unique address. This address helps data find its way from one device to
another over the internet.

IPv4 was the primary version brought into action for production within the
ARPANET in 1983. IP version four addresses are 32-bit integers which will be
expressed in decimal notation. Example- [Link] could be an IPv4
address.
What is an IP Address?
An IP address (Internet Protocol address) is a unique identifier assigned to
each device connected to a network that uses the Internet Protocol for
communication. It serves two main purposes:
 Identification: It uniquely identifies a device on a network.
 Location Addressing: It indicates where a device is located within a
network, making data routing possible.

Understanding IPv4 Addressing

An IPv4 address consists of series of four eight-bit binary numbers which are
separated by decimal point. Although any numbering system can be used to
represent a unique 32- bit number, most commonly you see IP address
expressed in dot decimal notation. Some of the examples are :
Site Dot-decimal Binary

[Link] [Link] 01101000.11110100.00101010.10000001

[Link] [Link] 10010111.01100101.01000001.10001100

[Link] [Link] 01101100.10101110.00001010.00001010

IPv4 Address Format

An IPv4 address consists of 32 bit (binary digit), grouped into four section of
known as octets or bytes. Each octet has 8 bits and this bits can be
represented only in 0 or 1 form, and when they grouped together, they form a
binary number. Since each octet has 8 bits, it can represent 256 numbers
ranging from o to 255. These four octets are represented as decimal numbers,
separated by periods known as dotted decimal notation. For example IPv4
address [Link] consists of four octets.
Binary Representation
IPv4 is basically converted into binary form by computer although these are
usually seen in decimal form for human readability. Each octet is converted
into 8 bit binary number . For instance [Link] in binary looks like:
 185: 10111001
 107: 01101011
 80: 01010000
 231: 11100111
So [Link] in binary is: 10111001.01101011.01010000.11100111
IPv4 Address Format

Parts of IPv4
IPv4 addresses consist of three parts:
 Network Part: The network part indicates the distinctive variety that's
appointed to the network. The network part conjointly identifies the
category of the network that's assigned.
 Host Part: The host part uniquely identifies the machine on your network.
This part of the IPv4 address is assigned to every host.
For each host on the network, the network part is the same, however, the
host half must vary.
 Subnet Number: This is the non obligatory part of IPv4. Local networks
that have massive numbers of hosts are divided into subnets
and subnet numbers are appointed to that.
Types of IPv4 Addressing
IPv4 basically supports three different types of addressing modes:

 Unicast Addressing Mode: This addressing mode is used to specify

single sender and single receiver. Example: Accessing a website.
 Broadcast Addressing Mode: This addressing mode is used to send
messages to all devices in a network. Example: sending a message in
local network to all the devices.
 Multicast Addressing Mode: This addressing mode is typically used
within a local network or across networks and sends messages to a group
of devices. Example: Streaming audio to multiple devices at once.
IPv4 Datagram Header
These fields together ensure the proper delivery, routing, fragmentation, and
reassembly of IP packets across the network.

 VERSION: Version of the IP protocol (4 bits), which is 4 for IPv4

 HLEN: IP header length (4 bits), which is the number of 32 bit words in
the header. The minimum value for this field is 5 and the maximum is 15.
 Type of service: Low Delay, High Throughput, Reliability (8 bits)
 Total Length: Length of header + Data (16 bits), which has a minimum
value 20 bytes and the maximum is 65,535 bytes.
 Identification: Unique Packet Id for identifying the group of fragments of
a single IP datagram (16 bits)
 Flags: 3 flags of 1 bit each : reserved bit (must be zero), do not fragment
flag, more fragments flag (same order)
 Fragment Offset: Represents the number of Data Bytes ahead of the
particular fragment in the particular Datagram. Specified in terms of
number of 8 bytes, which has the maximum value of 65,528 bytes.
 Time to live: Datagram’s lifetime (8 bits), It prevents the datagram to loop
through the network by restricting the number of Hops taken by a Packet
before delivering to the Destination.
 Protocol: Name of the protocol to which the data is to be passed (8 bits)
 Header Checksum: 16 bits header checksum for checking errors in the
datagram header
 Source IP address: 32 bits IP address of the sender
 Destination IP address: 32 bits IP address of the receiver
 Option: Optional information such as source route, record route. Used by
the Network administrator to check whether a path is working or not.
Characteristics of IPv4
 IPv4 could be a 32-bit IP Address.
 IPv4 could be a numeric address, and its bits are separated by a dot.
 The number of header fields is twelve and the length of the header field is
twenty.
 It has Unicast, broadcast, and multicast-style addresses.
 IPv4 supports VLSM (Virtual Length Subnet Mask).
 IPv4 uses the Post Address Resolution Protocol to map to the MAC
address.
 RIP may be a routing protocol supported by the routed daemon.
 Networks ought to be designed either manually or with DHCP.
 Packet fragmentation permits from routers and causes host.
Advantages of IPv4
 IPv4 security permits encryption to keep up privacy and security.
 IPV4 network allocation is significant and presently has quite 85000
practical routers.
 It becomes easy to attach multiple devices across an outsized network
while not NAT.
 This is a model of communication so provides quality service also as
economical knowledge transfer.
 IPV4 addresses are redefined and permit flawless encoding.
 IPv4 has high System Management prices and it's labor-intensive,
complex, slow & prone to errors.
 Routing is scalable and economical as a result of addressing its collective
more effectively.
 Data communication across the network becomes a lot of specific in
multicast organizations.
Limitations of IPv4
 IP relies on network layer addresses to identify end-points on the network,
and each network has a unique IP address.
 The world's supply of unique IP addresses is dwindling, and they might
eventually run out theoretically.
 If there are multiple hosts, we need the IP addresses of the next class.
 Complex host and routing configuration, non-hierarchical addressing,
difficult to re-numbering addresses, large routing tables, non-trivial
implementations in providing security, QoS (Quality of Service), mobility,
and multi-homing, multicasting, etc. are the big limitations of IPv4 so
that's why IPv6 came into the picture.

Address Space
IPv4 has a certain address space. An address space is the total number of
addresses used by the protocol. If a protocol uses N bits to define an address, the
address space is 2N

IPv4 uses 32-bit address format, which means that the address space is 2 32 or
4,294,967,296

Notations
There are two notations to show an IPv4 address:

1. Binary notation
2. Dotted decimal notation

1. Binary Notation
In binary notation, the IPv4 address is displayed as 32 bits. Each octet is often
referred to as a byte. So it is common to hear an IPv4 address referred to a 4-
byte address. The following is an example of an IPv4 address in binary
notation: 01110111 10010101 00000001 00000011

2. Dotted-Decimal Notation
IPV4 addresses are usually written in decimal form with a decimal point (dot)
separating the bytes since it’s more compatible. The following is an
example: [Link] (above one and this one is same just different notation)

N.B: Each number in dotted-decimal notation is a value ranging from 0 to 255.

 Classful vs Classless Addressing


Classful and Classless addressing are methods used in networking to manage

IP addresses. Classful addressing divides IP addresses into fixed classes (A,
B, C, D, E), each with predefined ranges. In contrast, classless addressing,
also known as CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing), offers more flexibility
by allowing addresses to be subdivided into smaller blocks called subnets.
This flexibility helps optimize address allocation and supports the growth of
the internet by efficiently managing IP address resources.
Classful Addressing
Classful addressing was introduced in 1981, with classful
routing, IPv4 addresses were divided into 5 classes(A to E), each with a
predetermined range. The class of an IP address determines the network
portion and the host portion based on its class-specific subnet mask. Classful
addressing was inflexible and led to inefficiencies in address allocation, which
prompted the development of classless addressing (CIDR) for more efficient
use of IP address space.
 Classes A-C: unicast addresses
 Class D: multicast addresses
 Class E: reserved for future use
Classful Addressing
Class A
In a class A address, the first bit of the first octet is always '0'. Thus, class A
addresses range from [Link] to [Link](as 01111111 in binary
converts to 127 in decimal). The first 8 bits or the first octet denote the network
portion and the rest 24 bits or the 3 octets belong to the host portion. Its Subnet
mask is [Link].
Example: [Link]
Exception -
- 127.X.X.X is reserved for loopback
- 0.X.X.X is reserved for default network
Therefore, the actual range of class A addresses is: [Link] to
[Link]
Class B
In a class B address, the first octet would always start with '10'. Thus, class B
addresses range from [Link] to [Link]. The first 16 bits or the
first two octets denote the network portion and the remaining 16 bits or two
octets belong to the host portion. Its Subnet mask is [Link].
Example: [Link]
Class C
In a class C address, the first octet would always start with '110'. Thus, class
C addresses range from [Link] to [Link]. The first 24 bits or the
first three octets denote the network portion and the rest 8 bits or the remaining
one octet belong to the host portion. Its Subnet mask is [Link].
Example: [Link]
Class D
Class D is used for multicast addressing and in a class D address the first
octet would always start with '1110'. Thus, class D addresses range from
[Link] to [Link]. Its Subnet mask is not defined.
Example: [Link]
Class D addresses are used by routing protocols like OSPF, RIP, etc.
Class E
Class E addresses are reserved for research purposes and future use. The
first octet in a class E address starts with '1111'. Thus, class E addresses
range from [Link] to [Link]. Its Subnet mask is not defined.
 Class A with a mask of [Link] can support 128 Network, 16,777,216
addresses per network and a total of 2,147,483,648 addresses.
 Class B with a mask of [Link] can support 16,384 Network, 65,536
addresses per network and a total of 1,073,741,824 addresses.
 Class C with a mask of [Link] can support 2,097,152 Network,
256 addresses per network and a total of 536,870,912 addresses.
But what if someone requires 2000 addresses ?
One way to address this situation would be to provide the person with class B
network. But that would result in a waste of so many addresses. Another
possible way is to provide multiple class C networks, but that too can cause a
problem as there would be too many networks to handle.

To resolve problems like the one mentioned above CIDR was introduced.
Classless Addressing
Classless Addressing or Classless Inter-Domain Routing was introduced
in 1993 to replace classful addressing. Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR)
is a method for efficiently allocating IP addresses and routing Internet Protocol
(IP) packets. Unlike classful addressing, which divides IP addresses into fixed
classes (A, B, C, etc.), CIDR allows for variable-length subnet masks (VLSM).
This means that networks can be divided into smaller, more flexible subnets
according to their specific needs, rather than being constrained by predefined
class boundaries.
CIDR Notation
In CIDR subnet masks are denoted by /X. For example a subnet of
[Link] would be denoted by /24. To work a subnet mask in CIDR, we
have to first convert each octet into its respective binary value. For example,
if the subnet is of [Link]. then :

First Octet
255 has 8 binary 1's when converted to binary
Second Octet
255 has 8 binary 1's when converted to binary
Third Octet
255 has 8 binary 1's when converted to binary
Fourth Octet
0 has 0 binary 1's when converted to binary
Therefore, in total there are 24 binary 1's, so the subnet mask is /24.
While creating a network in CIDR, a person has to make sure that the masks
are contiguous, i.e. a subnet mask like 10111111.X.X.X can't exist. With CIDR,
we can create Variable Length Subnet Masks, leading to less wastage of IP
addresses. It is not necessary that the divider between the network and the
host portions is at an octet boundary. For example, in CIDR a subnet mask like
[Link] or 11111111.11100000.00000000.00000000 can exist.
Difference Between Classful Addressing and
Classless Addressing
Classless
Parameter Classful Addressing Addressing

Classless addressing
In Classful addressing IP
came to replace the
addresses are allocated
Basics classful addressing and
according to the classes- A to
to handle the issue of
E.
allocation of IP Address.

The changes in the Network ID There is no such

Network ID and
and Host ID depend on the restriction of class in
Host ID
class. classless addressing.

It does not support the It supports the Variable

VLSM Variable Length Subnet Mask Length Subnet Mask
(VLSM). (VLSM).

Classful addressing requires It requires less

more bandwidth. As a result, it bandwidth. Thus, fast
Bandwidth becomes slower and more and less expensive as
expensive as compared to compared to classful
classless addressing. addressing.

It supports Classless
It does not support Classless
CIDR Inter-Domain Routing
Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR).
(CIDR).

Updates Regular or periodic updates Triggered Updates

 Classless
Parameter Classful Addressing Addressing

Troubleshooting and problem

detection are easy than
Troubleshooting It is not as easy
classless addressing because
and Problem compared to classful
of the division of network, host
detection addressing.
and subnet parts in the
address.

Division of  Network
 Host
Address  Host
 Subnet
 Subnet

Network Address Translation (NAT)

Last Updated : 19 Sep, 2025


Network Address Translation (NAT) allows multiple devices to use the same
public IP address and access the Internet.
 There can be a total of 232 (around 4.3 billion) different IPv4 addresses,
which is very few considering the number of IPv4 devices connected to the
Internet.
 The idea of NAT saves from IP address exhaustion. Only one public IP
address is needed to access the Internet, while multiple private IP
addresses within a network can share that single public IP. To achieve this,
a private IP address must be translated into a public IP address.
Network Address Translation(NAT)
Network Address Translation (NAT) is a process in which one or more local
IP addresses are translated into one or more Global IP addresses and vice
versa to provide Internet access to the local hosts. It also does the translation
of port numbers, i.e., masks the port number of the host with another port
number in the packet that will be routed to the destination. It then makes the
corresponding entries of IP address and port number in the NAT table. NAT
generally operates on a router or firewall.

Network Address Translation

Network Address Translation Examples

Here are some examples of Network Address Translation.
Scenario 1 – Connecting a Private Network to the Internet
A router configured with Network Address Translation (NAT) links a private
network to the internet by converting the private IP addresses of internal
devices into a public IP address. This allows devices inside the network to
communicate with external systems while keeping their original IP addresses
hidden from public view, enhancing privacy and security
Scenario 2 – Linking Multiple Office Locations
When an organization operates across multiple office locations, NAT can
facilitate seamless communication between them. By translating the IP
addresses of devices at each site, NAT enables them to interact as though
they were on a single unified network. This approach keeps the internal IP
structure private and secure while ensuring employees at different locations
can collaborate efficiently.
Working of Network Address Translation (NAT)
When a device in a private network needs to communicate with the internet, it
sends a request to the NAT-enabled device (typically a router) using its private
IP address and source port number. The NAT device replaces the private IP
with its public IP address and assigns a unique public port number before
forwarding the request to the internet.
When the response returns, the NAT device looks up its translation table to
find the matching private IP and port. It then replaces the public IP and port in
the packet’s destination fields with the original private IP and port, delivering
the packet to the correct device inside the network.
This mechanism enables multiple internal devices to share a single public IP
address for internet access, while also hiding internal IP addresses from
external networks, adding a layer of security.

Working Of NAT
In this image, When PC0 sends a request to a web server, the packet reaches
the NAT-enabled router. NAT replaces PC0’s private IP with the router’s
public IP and assigns a unique public source port for tracking. This translated
packet is then sent to the web server over the internet. The NAT table stores
this mapping to ensure the reply reaches PC0 correctly.
The web server’s response arrives at the router’s public IP and assigned port.
NAT checks its translation table to identify the matching internal device,
replaces the public IP and port with PC0’s private IP and original port, and
then forwards the response to PC0.
PC0, PC1, and PC2 share the same public IP for internet access, and NAT
distinguishes their connections by assigning unique port mappings for each
device.
Types of Network Address Translation (NAT)
There are 3 ways to configure NAT:

Static NAT
In this, a single unregistered (private) IP address is mapped to a legally
registered (public) IP address, i.e., a one-to-one mapping between local and
global addresses. This is generally used for Web hosting. These are not used
in organizations as there are many devices that will need Internet access and
to provide Internet access, a public IP address is needed.
Suppose there are 3000 devices that need Internet access. The organization
would have to buy 3000 public addresses, which would be very costly.
Dynamic NAT
In this type of NAT, an unregistered IP address is translated into a registered
(Public) IP address from a pool of public IP addresses. If the IP address of the
pool is not free, then the packet will be dropped as only a fixed number of private
IP addresses can be translated to public addresses.
If there is a pool of 2 public IP addresses, then only 2 private IP addresses can
be translated at a given time. If 3rd private IP address wants to access the
Internet then the packet will be dropped therefore many private IP addresses
are mapped to a pool of public IP addresses. NAT is used when the number of
users who want to access the Internet is fixed. This is also very costly as the
organization has to buy many global IP addresses to make a pool.
Port Address Translation (PAT)
This is also known as NAT overload. In this, many local (private) IP
addresses can be translated to a single registered IP address. Port numbers
are used to distinguish the traffic i.e., which traffic belongs to which IP address.
This is the most frequently used method because it is cost-effective, allowing
thousands of users to connect to the Internet using only one real global (public)
IP address.
What is IPv6?
The next generation Internet Protocol (IP) address standard, known as IPv6, is
meant to work in cooperation with IPv4. To communicate with other devices, a
computer, smartphone, home automation component, Internet of Things
sensor, or any other Internet-connected device needs a numerical IP address.
Because so many connected devices are being used, the original IP address
scheme, known as IPv4, is running out of addresses. This new IP address
version is being deployed to fulfil the need for more Internet addresses. With
128-bit address space, it allows 340 undecillion unique address space. IPv6
support a theoretical maximum of 340, 282, 366, 920, 938, 463, 463, 374,
607, 431, 768, 211, 456.

Representation of IPv6
An IPv6 address consists of eight groups of four hexadecimal digits separated
by ' . ' and each Hex digit representing four bits so the total length of IPv6 is
128 bits. Structure given below.

IPV6-Representation
[Link]
The first 48 bits represent Global Routing Prefix. The next 16 bits represent the
student ID and the last 64 bits represent the host ID. The first 64 bits represent
the network portion and the last 64 bits represent the interface id.
 Global Routing Prefix: The Global Routing Prefix is the portion of an IPv6
address that is used to identify a specific network or subnet within the
larger IPv6 internet. It is assigned by an ISP or a regional internet registry
(RIR).
 Student Id: The portion of the address used within an organization to
identify subnets. This usually follows the Global Routing Prefix.
 Host Id: The last part of the address, is used to identify a specific host on a
network.
Example: 3001:0da8:75a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334
Types of IPv6 Address
Now that we know about what is IPv6 address let’s take a look at its different
types.
 Unicast Addresses : Only one interface is specified by the unicast
address. A packet moves from one host to the destination host when it is
sent to a unicast address destination.
 Multicast Addresses: It represents a group of IP devices and can only be
used as the destination of a datagram.
 Anycast Addresses: The multicast address and the anycast address are
the same. The way the anycast address varies from other addresses is that
it can deliver the same IP address to several servers or devices. Keep in
mind that the hosts do not receive the IP address. Stated differently,
multiple interfaces or a collection of interfaces are assigned an anycast
address.
 IPV6
 The wonder of IPv6 lies in its header. An IPv6 address is 4 times larger than IPv4,
but surprisingly, the header of an IPv6 address is only 2 times larger than that of
IPv4. IPv6 headers have one Fixed Header and zero or more Optional (Extension)
Headers. All the necessary information that is essential for a router is kept in the
Fixed Header. The Extension Header contains optional information that helps
routers to understand how to handle a packet/flow.
 Fixed Header
  [Image: IPv6
Fixed Header]
 IPv6 fixed header is 40 bytes long and contains the following information.

S.N. Field & Description

1
Version (4-bits): It represents the version of Internet Protocol, i.e. 0110.

2
Traffic Class (8-bits): These 8 bits are divided into two parts. The most significant 6 bits are
used for Type of Service to let the Router Known what services should be provided to this
packet. The least significant 2 bits are used for Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN).

3
Flow Label (20-bits): This label is used to maintain the sequential flow of the packets
belonging to a communication. The source labels the sequence to help the router identify
that a particular packet belongs to a specific flow of information. This field helps avoid re-
ordering of data packets. It is designed for streaming/real-time media.

4
Payload Length (16-bits): This field is used to tell the routers how much information a
particular packet contains in its payload. Payload is composed of Extension Headers and
Upper Layer data. With 16 bits, up to 65535 bytes can be indicated; but if the Extension
Headers contain Hop-by-Hop Extension Header, then the payload may exceed 65535 bytes
and this field is set to 0.

5
Next Header (8-bits): This field is used to indicate either the type of Extension Header, or if
the Extension Header is not present then it indicates the Upper Layer PDU. The values for
the type of Upper Layer PDU are same as IPv4’s.

6
Hop Limit (8-bits): This field is used to stop packet to loop in the network infinitely. This is
same as TTL in IPv4. The value of Hop Limit field is decremented by 1 as it passes a link
(router/hop). When the field reaches 0 the packet is discarded.
7
Source Address (128-bits): This field indicates the address of originator of the packet.

8
Destination Address (128-bits): This field provides the address of intended recipient of the
packet.

Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)

Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is a communication protocol used to find the
MAC (Media Access Control) address of a device from its IP address. This protocol
is used when a device wants to communicate with another device on a Local Area
Network or Ethernet.

Address Resolution Protocol is a communication protocol used for

discovering physical address associated with given network address.
Typically, ARP is a network layer to data link layer mapping process, which
is used to discover MAC address for given Internet Protocol Address. In
order to send the data to destination, having IP address is necessary but not
sufficient; we also need the physical address of the destination machine.
ARP is used to get the physical address (MAC address) of destination
machine.

Before sending the IP packet, the MAC address of destination must be

known. If not so, then sender broadcasts the ARP-discovery packet
requesting the MAC address of intended destination. Since ARP-discovery is
broadcast, every host inside that network will get this message but the
packet will be discarded by everyone except that intended receiver host
whose IP is associated. Now, this receiver will send a unicast packet with its
MAC address (ARP-reply) to the sender of ARP-discovery packet. After the
original sender receives the ARP-reply, it updates ARP-cache and start
sending unicast message to the destination.

Types of ARP
There are four types of Address Resolution Protocol, which is given
below:

o Proxy ARP
o Gratuitous ARP
o Reverse ARP (RARP)
o Inverse ARP
Proxy ARP - Proxy ARP is a method through which a Layer 3 devices
may respond to ARP requests for a target that is in a different network
from the sender. The Proxy ARP

configured router responds to the ARP and map the MAC address of the
router with the target IP
address and fool the sender that it is reached at its destination.

At the backend, the proxy router sends its packets to the appropriate
destination because the packets contain the necessary information.

Example - If Host A wants to transmit data to Host B, which is on the

different network, then Host A sends an ARP request message to receive
a MAC address for Host B. The router responds to Host A with its own
MAC address pretend itself as a destination. When the data is transmitted
to the destination by Host A, it will send to the gateway so that it sends to
Host B. This is known as proxy ARP.

Gratuitous ARP - Gratuitous ARP is an ARP request

of the host that helps to identify the duplicate IP address. It is a

broadcast request for the IP address of the router. If an ARP request is
sent by a switch or router to get its IP address and no ARP responses are
received, so all other nodes cannot use the IP address allocated to that
switch or router. Yet if a router or switch sends an ARP request for its IP
address and receives an ARP response, another node uses the IP address
allocated to the switch or router.

There are some primary use cases of gratuitous ARP that are given
below:

o The gratuitous ARP is used to update the ARP table of other devices.
 o It also checks whether the host is using the original IP address or a
duplicate one.

Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RARP) -

Reverse ARP is a networking protocol used by a client machine in a local
area network to request its Internet Protocol address (IPv4) from the
gateway-router's ARP table. The network administrator creates a table in
gateway-router, which is used to map the MAC address to corresponding IP
address. When a new machine is setup or any machine which don't have
memory to store IP address, needs an IP address for its own use. So the
machine sends a RARP broadcast packet which contains its own MAC
address in both sender and receiver hardware address field.

A special host configured inside the local area network, called as RARP-
server is responsible to reply for these kind of broadcast packets. Now the
RARP server attempt to find out the entry in IP to MAC address mapping
table. If any entry matches in table, RARP server send the response packet
to the requesting device along with IP address.
 LAN technologies like Ethernet, Ethernet II, Token Ring and Fiber
Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) support the Address Resolution
Protocol.
 RARP is not being used in today's networks. Because we have much
great featured protocols like BOOTP (Bootstrap Protocol) and DHCP(
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol).

Inverse Address Resolution Protocol (InARP) -

Instead of using Layer-3 address (IP address) to find MAC address, Inverse
ARP uses MAC address to find IP address. As the name suggests, InARP is
just inverse of ARP. Reverse ARP has been replaced by BOOTP and later
DHCP but Inverse ARP is solely used for device configuration. Inverse ARP
is enabled by default in ATM(Asynchronous Transfer Mode) networks. InARP
is used to find Layer-3 address from Layer-2 address (DLCI in frame relay).
Inverse ARP dynamically maps local DLCIs to remote IP addresses when
you configure Frame Relay. When using inverse ARP, we know the DLCI of
remote router but don’t know its IP address. InARP sends a request to obtain
that IP address and map it to the Layer-2 frame-relay DLCI.

ICMP Protocol
The ICMP stands for Internet Control Message Protocol. It is a network layer protocol. It
is used for error handling in the network layer, and it is primarily used on network devices
such as routers. As different types of errors can exist in the network layer, so ICMP can be
used to report these errors and to debug those errors.

For example, some sender wants to send the message to some destination, but the router
couldn't send the message to the destination. In this case, the router sends the message
to the sender that I could not send the message to that destination.

The IP

protocol does not have any error-reporting or error-correcting mechanism, so it uses a message to
convey the information. For example, if someone sends the message to the destination, the
message is somehow stolen between the sender and the destination. If no one reports the error,
then the sender might think that the message has reached the destination. If someone in-between
reports the error, then the sender will resend the message very quickly.

Position of ICMP in the network layer

The ICMP resides in the IP

layer, as shown in the below diagram.

Messages
The ICMP messages are usually divided into two categories:

o Error-reporting messages

The error-reporting message means that the router encounters a problem when it
processes an IP packet then it reports a message.

o Query messages

The query messages are those messages that help the host to get the specific information
of another host. For example, suppose there are a client and a server, and the client wants
to know whether the server is live or not, then it sends the ICMP message to the server.

ICMP Message Format

The message format has two things; one is a category that tells us which type of message
it is. If the message is of error type, the error message contains the type and the code.
The type defines the type of message while the code defines the subtype of the message.

The ICMP message contains the following fields:

o Type: It is an 8-bit field. It defines the ICMP message type. The values range from
0 to 127 are defined for ICMPv6, and the values from 128 to 255 are the
informational messages.
o Code: It is an 8-bit field that defines the subtype of the ICMP message
o Checksum: It is a 16-bit field to detect whether the error exists in the message or
not.
Note: The ICMP protocol always reports the error messages to the original source. For
example, when the sender sends the message, if any error occurs in the message then the
router reports to the sender rather than the receiver as the sender is sending the message.

Types of Error Reporting messages

The error reporting messages are broadly classified into the following categories:

o Destination unreachable

The destination unreachable error occurs when the packet does not reach the destination.
Suppose the sender sends the message, but the message does not reach the destination,
then the intermediate router reports to the sender that the destination is unreachable.

Source quench

There is no flow control or congestion control mechanism in the network layer or the IP
protocol. The sender is concerned with only sending the packets, and the sender does not
think whether the receiver is ready to receive those packets or is there any congestion
occurs in the network layer so that the sender can send a lesser number of packets, so
there is no flow control or congestion control mechanism. In this case, ICMP provides
feedback, i.e., source quench. Suppose the sender resends the packet at a higher rate, and
the router is not able to handle the high data rate. To overcome such a situation, the
router sends a source quench message to tell the sender to send the packet at a lower
rate.

Time exceeded
Sometimes the situation arises when there are many routers that exist between the sender
and the receiver. When the sender sends the packet, then it moves in a routing loop. The
time exceeded is based on the time-to-live value. When the packet traverses through the
router, then each router decreases the value of TTL by one. Whenever a router decreases
a datagram with a time-to-live value to zero, then the router discards a datagram and
sends the time exceeded message to the original source.

Parameter problems

The router and the destination host can send a parameter problem message. This
message conveys that some parameters are not properly set.

Redirection

When the packet is sent, then the routing table is gradually augmented and updated. The
tool used to achieve this is the redirection message. For example, A wants to send the
 packet to B, and there are two routers exist between A and B. First, A sends the data to
the router 1. The router 1 sends the IP packet to router 2 and redirection message to A so
that A can update its routing table.

Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP)


Overview :
In this article, we will discuss the bootstrapping protocol and how it plays its
important role in maintaining the protocol between connected devices on a
network. Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP) is a networking protocol which is used
by networking administration to give IP addresses to each member of that
network for participating with other networking devices by the main server.

Important Features of Bootstrap Protocol

Here, we will discuss the features of Bootstrap Protocol as follows.
 Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP) is a basic protocol that automatically
provides each participant in a network connection with a unique IP
address for identification and authentication as soon as it connects to the
network. This helps the server to speed up data transfers and connection
requests.
 BOOTP uses a unique IP address algorithm to provide each system on
the network with a completely different IP address in a fraction of a
second.
 This shortens the connection time between the server and the client. It
starts the process of downloading and updating the source code even
with very little information.
 BOOTP uses a combination of TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol)
and UDP (User Datagram Protocol) to request and receive requests from
various network-connected participants and to handle their responses.

 In a BOOTP connection, the server and client just need an IP address

and a gateway address to establish a successful connection. Typically, in
a BOOTP network, the server and client share the same LAN, and the
routers used in the network must support BOOTP bridging.
 A great example of a network with a TCP / IP configuration is the
Bootstrap Protocol network. Whenever a computer on the network asks
for a specific request to the server, BOOTP uses its unique IP address to
quickly resolve them.
the uses of Bootstrap Protocol as follows.
1. Bootstrap (BOOTP) is primarily required to check the system on a
network the first time you start your computer. Records the BIOS cycle of
each computer on the network to allow the computer's motherboard and
network manager to efficiently organize the data transfer on the computer
as soon as it boots up.
2. BOOTP is mainly used in a diskless environment and requires no media
as all data is stored in the network cloud for efficient use.
3. BOOTP is the transfer of a data between a client and a server to send
and receive requests and corresponding responses by the networking
server.
4. BOOTP supports the use of motherboards and network managers, so no
external storage outside of the cloud network is required.

DHCP
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, or DHCP, is a network
management protocol that dynamically assigns IP addresses and other
network configuration settings to devices on a network.
DHCP uses a client-server model, where individual devices request for IP
address from a DHCP server when they join a network. DHCP reduces
the need for manual configurations for network admins, and DHCP
automatically manages the IP address and other network settings for a
device.

DHCP Handshake Process

The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) operates through a
series of steps known as the DHCP handshake.
The DHCP handshake is a process by which a device (like a computer or
phone) automatically obtains an IP address and other network
configuration details from a DHCP server. There are four steps in a DHCP
handshake called DORA (Discover, Offer, Request, Acknowledge).
.

Let's understand each step in the DHCP Handshake process:

1. Discover
When a device (DHCP client) connects to a network, it broadcasts a
DHCP Discover message within the subnet to find available DHCP
servers. This message signals the client’s need for an IP address and
configuration details.

2. Offer
After receiving the discover message, DHCP servers respond with
a DHCP Offer message. This offer includes a proposed IP address from
the server's pool, along with critical parameters such as:
1. Subnet mask
2. Default gateway
3. DNS server addresses
4. Lease duration
3. Request
The client may receive multiple offers but selects one and broadcasts
a DHCP Request message back to the chosen server, confirming its
acceptance of the offered IP address and requesting the associated
configuration.

4. Acknowledgment (ACK)
The DHCP server that received the request sends a DHCP ACK
message to the client, confirming that it can use the offered IP address
and providing all necessary configuration details. The client then
configures its network interface based on this information.

IGMP is an acronym for Internet Group Management Protocol. IGMP is a

communication protocol used by hosts and adjacent routers for multicasting
communication with IP networks and uses the resources efficiently to transmit
the message/data packets. Multicast communication can have single or
multiple senders and receivers and thus, IGMP can be used in streaming
videos, gaming, or web conferencing tools. This protocol is used on IPv4
networks and for using this on IPv6, multicasting is managed by Multicast
Listener Discovery (MLD).
Like other network protocols, IGMP is used on the network layer. MLDv1 is
almost the same in functioning as IGMPv2 and MLDv2 is almost similar to
IGMPv3. The communication protocol, IGMPv1 was developed in 1989 at
Stanford University. IGMPv1 was updated to IGMPv2 in the year 1997 and
again updated to IGMPv3 in the year 2002. The IGMP protocol is used by the
hosts and router to identify the hosts in a LAN that are the members of a group.
IGMP is a part of the IP layer and IGMP has a fixed-size message. The IGMP
message is encapsulated within an IP datagram.

Routing
Routing refers to the process of directing a data packet from one node to
another. It is an autonomous process handled by the network devices to direct
a data packet to its intended destination. Note that, the node here refers to
a network device called - 'Router'.
Routing is a crucial mechanism that transmits data from one location to another
across a network (Network type could be any like LAN, WAN, or MAN). The
process of routing involves making various routing decisions to ensure reliable
& efficient delivery of the data packet by finding the shortest path using various
routing metrics which we will be discussing in this article.
Routing of a data packet is done by analyzing the destination IP Address of the
packet. Look at the below image:

Routing of packets
 The Source Node (Sender) sends the data packet on the network,
embedding the IP in the header of the data packet.
 The nearest router receives the data packet, and based on some metrics,
further routes the data packet to other routers.
 Step 2 occurs recursively till the data packet reaches its intended
destination.
Note: There are limits to how many hop counts a packet can do if it is
exceeded, the packet is considered to be lost.

FUNCTIONS OF ROUTING PROTOCOLS

1. Path Determination:
Routing protocols select the best path for data to travel from the
 source to the destination based on metrics like hop count,
bandwidth, or delay.
2. Routing Table Maintenance:
They update and maintain the routing table with current route
information to ensure efficient data forwarding.
3. Routing Information Exchange:
Routers exchange routing information with each other to learn
about the network topology and available paths.
4. Adaptation to Network Changes:
Routing protocols detect changes in the network (like link failures
or new routes) and update routing information accordingly to
maintain connectivity.

1. Unicast Routing:
Definition:
Unicast routing is a one-to-one communication where data is
sent from one source to one specific destination.
How it works:
The router forwards packets to a single destination IP address
based on the routing table.
Example:
A user browsing a website. When you open [Link],
your computer sends a request directly to the web server’s IP
address, and the server responds only to your device.
Routing Protocols Used:
 OSPF (Open Shortest Path First)
 RIP (Routing Information Protocol)
 BGP (Border Gateway Protocol)
2. Multicast Routing:
Definition:
Multicast routing is one-to-many communication where data is
sent from one source to multiple specific receivers who are part
of a multicast group.
How it works:
Routers forward packets only to networks where there are
members of the multicast group, reducing unnecessary traffic.
Example:
Live video streaming of a sports event to multiple subscribers.
The server sends one copy of the stream, and routers replicate it
only to those who subscribed (joined the multicast group).
Routing Protocols Used:
 PIM (Protocol Independent Multicast)
 DVMRP (Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol)
 IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol) – used by
hosts to join multicast groups

Main Routing Protocols

 RIP (Routing Information Protocol): It is a distance-vector

protocol that uses hop count as a metric.

 OSPF (Open Shortest Path First): OSPF is a link-state
protocol that finds the shortest path using the Dijkstra
algorithm.
 EIGRP (Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol): It
is a hybrid protocol that combines features of distance-vector
and link-state.
 BGP (Border Gateway Protocol): It is a path-vector
protocol that is used for routing between different
autonomous systems on the internet.
 IS-IS (Intermediate System to Intermediate System): It is a
link-state protocol that is primarily used in large networks like
ISPs.