CompTIA Network+® Study Guide

7.2. The Hierarchical IP Addressing Scheme

An IP address consists of 32 bits of information. These bits are divided into four sections, referred to as octets or bytes, and four octets sum up to 32 bits (8×4=32). You can depict an IP address using one of three methods:

• Dotted-decimal, as in 172.16.30.56

• Binary, as in 10101100.00010000.00011110.00111000

• Hexadecimal, as in AC.10.1E.38

Each of these examples validly represents the same IP address. Hexadecimal isn't used as often as dotted-decimal or binary concerning IP addressing, but you still might find an IP address stored in hexadecimal in some programs. The Windows Registry is a good example of a program that stores a machine's IP address in hex.

The 32-bit IP address is known as a structured ...