Introduction

In the preface to this book, I briefly mentioned a few of the reasons behind the need to become knowledgeable concerning IP addressing. As an introduction, in this chapter we will expand our knowledge of the need for understanding IP addressing as well as focus attention on reviewing the manner by which the Internet operates. In doing so we will note the use of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) and the manner by which near-English names are converted into IP addresses. We will also examine the growth in the use of the Internet and how this growth results in the need for techniques that conserve the use of IP addresses as well as the creation of a

next generation

(ng) IP address structure. Because this is an introductory chapter, there will be a sneak preview of the contents of succeeding chapters in this book. You may use this preview information either as is or in conjunction with the index to locate information of immediate interest.