> > Thank you for the information. What do the classes mean and what is
old
> > style - and i guess there is then a new style too.
My info is out of date, so I suppose I only know about "old style". It's to
do with how IP numbers are assigned to entities on the net. Everyone has to
have a unique 32-bit number to identify them, so someone has got to parcel
IP numbers out. Many entites need blocks of numbers (having several machines
on the net).
Basically, If you purcase a "class A address", the first couple of bits is
some specific number that all class A addresses have, the next few bits
identify you, and the remainder of the bits are yours to assign througout
your subnet - you effectively get given 64K of IP numbers which you may
assign. However, there are only 256 possible class A adresses, so not
everyone can have one. Class B and C have fewer bits you can assign, but
there are more potential B and C addresses.
However, all this is old info. The internet is way too big for this scheme
to be workable anymore.
Check out the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority at http://www.iana.net/ .
