What's the idea behind a network address?

Question

I want to block an entire ip range from my webserver but I'm not sure if it's possible with lighttpd. What exactly is the idea behind a network address for example 10.0.0.0/8 or 176.4.8.0/24? Especially the backslash and the number confuse me?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subnetwork – moodywoody Jul 03 '12 at 06:18 — moodywoody, Jul 03 '12 at 06:18

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 03 '12 at 06:26

That is the netmask. (A binary mask that tells the router which part of the IP to use)

/24 stands from 24 ones so 174.4.8.0/24

10110000.00000010.00000100.00000000 Address 11111111.11111111.11111111.00000000 Netmask

This is kind of a pain to get right but its not hard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subnetwork

What's the idea behind a network address?

1 Answers1