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Networking Fundamentals · Foundational

Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4)

The fourth version of IP, using 32-bit addresses written in dotted-decimal notation, defined in RFC 791.

Definition

IPv4 provides about 4.3 billion addresses (2^32), a number exhausted at the regional registry level, which led to widespread NAT and the move to IPv6. Addresses are divided into network and host portions by a subnet mask or prefix length. IPv4 supports unicast, broadcast and multicast.

Example

192.168.10.25/24 is an IPv4 address with a 24-bit network prefix.

Exam tip

IPv4 has broadcast; IPv6 does not, which is a frequent comparison question.

Don't confuse it with

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