Week 5 Midterm: What is the octet?

The octets are the numbers that make up an IP address. In IPv4 there are 4 octets and in IPv6 there are 6 octets. When viewed in binary form they each have eight positions. 1 octet = 8 bits. Octets are distributed in classes A,B, and C. Each octet can contain any value between 0 and 255. “The octets serve a purpose other than simply separating the numbers. They are used to create classes of IP addresses that can be assigned to a particular business, government or other entity based on size and need.” (http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/basics/question549.htm) Octets can be split into two sections: Net and Host. The first octet is contained in the net section used to identify the network that a computer belongs to. The computer on the network is identified by the host (or Node). The host section contains the last octet.