IPv4 Address Types

Most people use broadcast as a generic term, and most of the time, we understand what they mean. But not always. For example, you might say, “The host broadcasted through a router to a DHCP server,” but, well, it’s pretty unlikely that this would ever really happen. What you probably mean—using the correct technical jargon—is, “The DHCP client broadcasted for an IP address; a router then forwarded this as a unicast packet to the DHCP server.” Oh, and remember that with IPv4, broadcasts are pretty important, but with IPv6, there aren’t any broadcasts sent at all—as you’ll see in the next section!

Okay, I’ve referred to broadcast addresses throughout earlier chapters, and even showed you some examples of various IP addresses. But I really haven’t gone into the different terms and uses associated with them yet, and it’s about time I did. So here are the four IPv4 address types that I’d like to define for you: