IP Address Basic

Can some one explain to me in a nut shell, what do they mean and how they are related:

IP address
Subnet Mask
Primary DNS
Gateway
Domain Name

There are hundrends of tutorials on the internet which explain all of this. In a "nutshell" will take a couple of pages. Try a google search on phrases such as "IP tutorial"

In a nutshell

IP Address stands for Internet Protocol Address. You can consider it as a street address for a computer (or other networked device). If you are going to send data to a device on a network, that device has to have an address in order to receive it.

Subnet Mask. The subnet mask it used to allow your computer to communicate with only those computers in your network. Taking the street address example, if my computer’s address was 100 Anywhere Street, TX., and I was on the Texas network, the subnet mask would be set-up to allow me to talk to all the computers in Texas, so it would mask off all the other states. Depending on how big my network is, I could mask off the state or maybe I have a small network, that being only the computers on my street, then I would mask off the state and the street, then I would only be able to talk to the computers on my street.

Primary DNS. DNS stands for Domain Name Server, a Primary DNS is the main DNS that your computer accesses. A DNS converts domain names into IP addresses. When you use your web browser to go to www.yahoo.com, your computer needs to know what the IP address is of yahoo’s web server. So your computer will ask the primary DNS for the IP address of www.yahoo.com.

Gateway. A gateway is a link to another network. A gateway could link a company’s Accounting network with the Management network. Or it could link a company’s internal network with the internet.

Domain Name. You sure you don’t know what a domain name is?

Here's my understanding in automobile analogy, and by the way you left out MAC address.

MAC address - like the VIN number of the car, which stays with it always. This is a number embedded in the Ethernet chip on your computer. If you have an Ethernet port AND wireless on a laptop you probably have at least 2 MAC addresses. This is 6 16 bit words, usually written in hexadecimal with the words seperated by dashes.

IP address - this is 4 16 bit words with each word expressed in octal and seperated by dots. This is like the parking space I drove into this morning. If I have a reserved parking space that I always have then you could refer to it as a 'fixed address' (The car at reserved slot 5 in the parking lot at 5th and Elm). But, if I have to ask the parking attendent each morning for a free slot, this is like DHCP. Someone from outside couldn't locate my car exactly. They would have to wait for me to send out a message which gets tagged with a message number by the parking lot attendent (the router). The responder can only reply (this is for a car in the parking lot at 5th and Elm. He just sent me a question as message number ### and here's the answer. The parking lot attendedent - the router - has kept track of my question and can deliver the answer to the proper parking slot.)

Tark's description of the subnet mask, Primary DNS and gateway are sufficient.

Domain names come in a variety of flavors:

Top Level Domain Names - these are .com, .net, .org etc

Domain Name - this is a name (theplcguy) combined with a Top Level Domain Name (.com) yielding a complete domain name (theplcguy.com)

Subdomain - this is another name just before the regular domain name seperated from it by a dot.

Combine this with your other readings. I hope it helps.

Thanks Guys!!!!

Thanks!!!!

I like your analogy Bernie, but I'd modify it a little bit...

MAC address, very good...it is the ultimate address, and unless spoofed, is globally unique.

IP Address - More like a license plate.. Affixed to the vehicle with removable screws, and is the 'Public' address, but is not globally unique. The number may be duplicated in different states or countries, which leads to...

Subnet mask - The 'Region' part of a license plate, in the US, that would be the issuing state name.

Note that Car dealers would then use DHCP for test drives, where they slap a magnetic temporary tag on the car !

Also, one correction, IP Addresses are given in decimal, not octal. Each dot segment is called an octet, as it resolves 8 bits of the 32 bit address.

Thanks for the correction concerning the bits and the octal part. It hit me in the middle of sleeping that I got that wrong and I had to get up early because I knew someone whould pounce on it. I just hope I didn't mess up Peng too much.

Really quick and simple - try the following links.

http://www.ciscoknowledge.net/Tutorials/TCP_IP.asp

http://domino.automation.rockwell.com/applications/kb/RAKB.nsf/0/8252ADD06C94BD9185256F9D00537FC1?OpenDocument

http://domino.automation.rockwell.com/applications/kb/RAKB.nsf/0/4F2F01F3D80DF52E85256AFB0056AB17?OpenDocument


http://pclt.cis.yale.edu/pclt/COMM/TCPIP.HTM