A classful network is a network addressing architecture used in the Internet from 1981
until the introduction of Classless Inter-Domain Routing in 1993.
The method divides the address space for Internet Protocol Version 4 into five address classes.
Each class, coded in the first four bits of the address, defines either a different network
size, i.e. number of hosts for unicast addresses, or a multicast network.
The fifth class address range is reserved for future or experimental purposes.
Since its discontinuation, remnants of classful network concepts remain in practice only in
limited scope in the default configuration parameters of some network software and hardware
components.
Background Originally, a 32-bit IPv4 address was logically
subdivided into the network number field, the most significant 8 bits of an address,
which specified the particular network a host was attached to, and the local address, also
called rest field, which uniquely identifies a host connected to that network.
This format was sufficient at a time when only a few large networks existed, such as
the ARPANET, which was assigned the network number 10, and before the wide proliferation
of local area networks.
As a consequence of this architecture, the address space supported only a low number
of independent networks, and it became clear very early on that this would not be enough.
Introduction of address classes Expansion of the network had to ensure compatibility
with the existing address space and the Internet Protocol packet structure, and avoid the renumbering
of the existing networks.
The solution was to expand the definition of the network number field to include more
bits, allowing more networks to be designated, each potentially having fewer hosts.
Since all existing network numbers at the time were smaller than 64, they had only used
the 6 least-significant bits of the network number field.
Thus it was possible to use the most-significant bits of an address to introduce a set of address
classes while preserving the existing network numbers in the first of these classes.
The new addressing architecture was introduced by RFC 791 in 1981 as a part of the specification
of the Internet Protocol.
It divided the address space into primarily three address formats, henceforth called address
classes, and left a fourth range reserved to be defined later.
The first class, designated as Class A, contained all addresses in which the most significant
bit is zero.
The network number for this class is given by the next 7 bits, therefore accommodating
128 networks in total, including the zero network, and including the existing IP networks
already allocated.
A Class B network was a network in which all addresses had the two most-significant bits
set to 1 and 0.
For these networks, the network address was given by the next 14 bits of the address,
thus leaving 16 bits for numbering host on the network for a total of 65536 addresses
per network.
Class C was defined with the 3 high-order bits set to 1, 1, and 0, and designating the
next 21 bits to number the networks, leaving each network with 256 local addresses.
The leading bit sequence 111 designated an "escape to extended addressing mode", and
was later subdivided as Class D for multicast addressing, while leaving as reserved for
future use the 1111 block designated as Class E.
This addressing scheme is illustrated in the following table:
The number of addresses usable for addressing specific hosts in each network is always 2N
- 2 (where N is the number of rest field bits, and the subtraction of 2 adjusts for the use
of the all-bits-zero host portion for network address and the all-bits-one host portion
as a broadcast address.
Thus, for a Class C address with 8 bits available in the host field, the number of hosts is
254.
Today, IP addresses are associated with a subnet mask.
This was not required in a classful network because the mask was implicitly derived from
the IP address itself.
Any network device would inspect the first few bits of the IP address to determine the
class of the address.
Bit-wise representation In the following table:
n indicates a bit used for the network ID.
H indicates a bit used for the host ID.
X indicates a bit without a specified purpose.
Class A
0.
0 = 00000000.00000000.00000000.00000000 127.255.255.255 = 01111111.11111111.11111111.11111111
0nnnnnnn.HHHHHHHH.HHHHHHHH.HHHHHHHH
Class B 128.
0.
0 = 10000000.00000000.00000000.00000000 191.255.255.255 = 10111111.11111111.11111111.11111111
10nnnnnn.nnnnnnnn.HHHHHHHH.HHHHHHHH
Class C 192.
0.
0 = 11000000.00000000.00000000.00000000 223.255.255.255 = 11011111.11111111.11111111.11111111
110nnnnn.nnnnnnnn.nnnnnnnn.HHHHHHHH
Class D 224.
0.
0 = 11100000.00000000.00000000.00000000 239.255.255.255 = 11101111.11111111.11111111.11111111
1110XXXX.XXXXXXXX.XXXXXXXX.XXXXXXXX
Class E 240.
0.
0 = 11110000.00000000.00000000.00000000 255.255.255.255 = 11111111.11111111.11111111.11111111
1111XXXX.XXXXXXXX.XXXXXXXX.XXXXXXXX
Replacement of classes The first architecture change extended the
addressing capability in the Internet, but did not prevent IP address exhaustion.
The problem was that many sites needed larger address blocks than a Class
C network provided, and therefore they received a Class B block, which was in most cases much
larger than required.
In
the
rapid growth of the Internet, the pool of unassigned Class B addresses was rapidly being
depleted.
Classful networking was replaced by Classless Inter-Domain Routing, starting in 1993 with
the specification of RFC 1518 and RFC 1519, to attempt to solve this problem.
Before the introduction of address classes, the only address blocks available were what
later became known as Class A networks.
As a result, some organizations involved in the early development of the Internet received
address space allocations far larger than they would ever need.
See also IPv4 subnetting reference
Classless Inter-Domain Routing List of assigned /8 IPv4 address blocks
Subnetwork Private network - common use of classful networks
References
External links IANA, Current IPv4 /8 delegations
Overview of IP addressing, both classless and classful