Network Addressing

Network refers to the collection of components in a specified network or region.

Network address refers to the number of terminals connected within the network.

The addressing is mainly done to identify the nodes in the network and then the process of sending and receiving is been initiated.

The network address is assigned and configured to the NIC Network Interface Card  that is mainly mapped with the MAC address of the terminal.

There are different kinds of network addresses in existence:

• IP

• IPX

• AppleTalk

IP addressing provides the way to differentiate between the hosts and the network that we are in .

The allocation of IP address is in the hierarchical manner , so the host is always under a specific network.

IP address acts like a identifier for any host for sending and receiving data/packets in the network.

IP address is like a gateway through which your message and data gets passed from one end to the other end.

Network address can be of one of the following:

• Unicast (destined to one host)

• Multicast (destined to group)

• Broadcast (destined to all)

• Anycast (destined to nearest one)