- Basic Characteristics
- 172 IP addresses are a class B range from 128.0.0.0 to 191.255.255.255
- The range contains 16,777,214 unique IP addresses
- The second octet determines whether an address is private or public
- Private IP Range
- Private addresses are 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255
- These addresses are reserved for internal networks only
- Private IPs cannot be accessed directly from the Internet
- Advantages
- Provides ample address space for multiple devices
- Easy to manage within private networks
- Enhances network security by being unreachable from the Internet
- Disadvantages
- Not globally unique, allowing multiple organizations to use same range
- Not routable on the public Internet without additional configuration
- Troubleshooting can be challenging due to non-unique addresses