IP Addressing Overview

IPv4 is the Internet protocol that is most commonly used currently throughout the world. IPv4 uses a 32-bit addressing system designed for use in packet-switched networks and is represented in a 4-byte dotted decimal format: x.x.x.x.

RUCKUS Layer 3 devices support Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) and IPv6. IP support on RUCKUS Layer 2 switches consists of host services and functionality to support management access and access to a default gateway.

Note: For information about IPv6 addresses, refer to IPv6 Addressing.

All RUCKUS IP addresses can be configured and displayed in two formats:

  • Classical subnet format with the IP address in dotted decimal with a subnet mask (for example, 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0).
  • Classless Interdomain Routing (CIDR) format with the IP address in dotted decimal but followed by a forward slash and a number representing the subnet mask (for example, 192.168.1.1/24).

You can use either format when configuring IP address information. IP addresses are displayed in classical subnet format by default, but you can change the display format to CIDR.

IP support on RUCKUS devices operating at Layer 3 includes basic IP services such as Address Resolution Protocol (ARP), ICMP Router Discovery Protocol (IRDP), and Reverse ARP (RARP) and the following types of networking protocols:

  • Dynamic routing protocols: All these protocols provide routes to the IP route table. You can use one or more of these protocols, in any combination. These protocols are disabled by default.
    • Routing Information Protocol (RIP)
    • Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)
    • Border Gateway Protocol version 4 (BGP4)
  • Router redundancy protocols: Only one of these protocols can be enabled at the same time.
    • Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol Extended (VRRP-E)
    • Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP)
  • Multicast protocols: RUCKUS devices can forward IP multicast packets.
    • Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP)
    • Protocol Independent Multicast Dense (PIM-DM)
    • Protocol Independent Multicast Sparse (PIM-SM)

For more details on these protocols, refer to specific protocol chapters in this book. For multicast protocols, refer to the RUCKUS FastIron IP Multicast Configuration Guide.

In this section:

  1. IP interfaces
    IP addresses can be configured on a variety of interfaces.
  2. IP Route Table
    The IP route table contains paths to IP destinations.
  3. ACLs and IP Access Policies to Filter IP Traffic
    You can use several methods to filter IP traffic.
  4. IP Packet Flow Through a Layer 3 Device
  5. Encapsulation Type and MTU Packet Parameters
    Several packet parameters can be configured for your network.
Parent topic: IP Addressing