IP addressing

For the purposes of the Server+ exam, we really don't need to cover the entire history of network addressing, from the development of packet switching 50 or so years ago to IP version 6 addressing today.

When TCP replaced the earlier Network Control Protocol (NCP) in 1974, it performed both data transmission and message routing. These two functions were later split into what we know today as TCP and IP, as in the TCP/IP protocol suite.

IP version 4

The primary purpose of an IP is to provide a path through a network of computing and routing devices interconnected by communication links in an unstructured manner.

Early on, it became clear that one of the underlying design features of the internet was that...