We have already discussed IP in a number of chapters already while touching upon some of the basics. IP addresses provide a hierarchical means of identifying devices on networks. Hierarchical in this context means that we can identify which network an IP address resides on through the use of the IP address and it's subnet mask. Don't worry if the latter term is unfamiliar to you – we will cover it in this chapter.
In this chapter, we will cover arguably one of the primary functions of this ubiquitous protocol: addressing. There are currently two main versions of IP address that are used in everyday networking:
- IPv4
- IPv6
In this chapter, we will focus on IPv4, and in the next chapter, we will cover IPv6.
