A
IP ADDRESSING
The Internet
Protocol Suite
The Internet Protocol suite consists of a well-defined set of
communications protocols and several standard application protocols.
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is probably the
most widely known and is a combination of two of the protocols (IP and
TCP) working together. TCP/IP is an internationally adopted and
supported networking standard that provides connectivity between
equipment from many vendors over a wide variety of networking
technologies.
Managing the
Router over the
Network
To manage a device over the network, the Router must be correctly
configured with the following IP information:
■ An IP address
■ A Subnet Mask
IP Addresses and
Subnet Masks
Each device on your network must have a unique IP address to operate
correctly. An IP address identifies the address of the device to which data
is being sent and the address of the destination network. IP addresses
have the format n.n.n.x where n is a decimal number between 0 and 255
and x is a number between 1 and 254 inclusive.
However, an IP address alone is not enough to make your device operate.
In addition to the IP address, you need to set a subnet mask. All networks
are divided into smaller sub-networks and a subnet mask is a number
that enables a device to identify the sub-network to which it is
connected.