Chapter 7: IP Addressing and DNS


Overview

Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) is commonly known as the network protocol used on the Internet. IPv4 is widely available on most computer operating systems and can be used on most local area networks (LANs), such as a small network in your office, and on wide area networks (WANs), such as the Internet. With the explosion of computers on the Internet, the limitations of IPv4 are becoming apparent, and as a result, the next generation of Internet Protocol was developed, IP version 6 (IPv6).

When a computer or a device is connected to an IP network, it must obtain at least one or more IP addresses either dynamically or statically for it to communicate over an IP network. Static IPs are configured manually by the administrator of the machine or device, and dynamic IPs are automatically assigned to a computer over a network using one of the following methods : Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) or Router Advertisement (RA). DHCP is commonly used on IPv4 networks, while RA is typically found on IPv6 networks. As you ll see in this chapter, IP addresses are represented in numerical form, which makes it difficult for users to remember a computer or device identification on an IP network. To make addressing more flexible, IP networks typically have a Domain Name System (DNS) available, which allows you to identify machines or devices by a more meaningful, friendly name instead of the difficult-to-remember numerical identification.

In this chapter, we ll describe how computers identify and address one another using the IPv4 and IPv6 protocols. Understanding IP addressing is essential for working with the Microsoft Windows .NET Framework networking classes, which allow you to communicate over IP networks. These classes will be discussed in the next two chapters. The .NET Framework networking classes also support addressing non-IP address-based communications using Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX), AppleTalk, Infrared, and so on. However, the focus of this book is only the IP-based classes. Once IP addressing is explained, we ll explain name resolution techniques using DNS through the .NET Framework that can simplify the complexities of IP addressing.




Network Programming for the Microsoft. NET Framework
Network Programming for the MicrosoftВ® .NET Framework (Pro-Developer)
ISBN: 073561959X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 121

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