How to Assign Private IPv4 Address for Home LAN Networks

The home network is a small-scale private IP network. This article deals with the proper assignment of IPv4 addresses in a home LAN network when the network is working under NAT. Home network can be either a wired or wireless network.

Types of devices in local Home networking

  1. Network devices in a Local Area Network are devices that can connect to the network through wire or wireless medium. Examples are computers, tablets, network printers, NAS (Network Attached Storage), smart TV, smart speakers, routers, and mobile phones. Network devices are also called hosts.
  2. Router. A router is a device that connects two or more network devices and facilitates data transfer between them. In the local network, the router is used to facilitate the interconnectivity between networking devices in the home and the Internet. The router acts as a gateway for the network.

Class C Private IPv4 addresses

Home Local Area Network (LAN) have few number of devices connected to it. So it should use Class C private IPv4 Address.

Class C private IPv4 address range: 192.168.0.0 – 192.168.255.255

Class C default subnet mask is “255.255.255.0”. In binary form, this subnet mask is represented as “11111111.11111111. 11111111. 00000000”. For simplicity, it is recommended to use this subnet mask in the private home network.
Maximum number of network devices supported by Class C private network: 254

Example 1

If the IPv4 address of a network device is 192.168.20.35 and the subnet mask is 255.255.255.0, then 192.168.20 represents the Network Identifier(network address, Network ID) and 35 represents the Host Identifier( host address, Host ID) .

Example 2

  • IPv4 address: 192.168.50.80
  • Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
  • Network Identifier: 192.168.50.0
  • Host Identifier: 0.0.0.80

Subnet

Subnetting is used to subdivide the large IPv4 address range into smaller subnetwork. In IPv4 addressing a subnet mask of 32 bit size.

The default subnet mask for Class C IPv4 address is 255.255.255.0. It tells that the first 24 bits of the IP address represents Network Identifier and last 8 bits represents the Host identifier.

With the subnet mask of 255.255.255.0, the Class C private IPv4 address range can be subdivided into smaller subnetwork. Each subnetwork has a total of 256 unique IPv4 address.

Examples of Subnetworks with subnet mask 255.255.255.0.

  • Subnetwork_1: 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.0.255
  • Subnetwork_2: 192.168.1.0 to 192.168.1.255
  • Subnetwork_3: 192.168.2.0 to 192.168.2.255
  • Subnetwork_4: 192.168.10.0 to 192.168.10.255
  • Subnetwork_5: 192.168.30.0 to 192.168.30.255
  • Subnetwork_6: 192.168.156.0 to 192.168.156.255
  • Subnetwork_7: 192.168.254.0 to 192.168.254.255

Class C private IPv4 address range can be subdivided into a total of 256 subnetworks with subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 .

Class C Private IPv4 address range that should be avoided

Users must avoid assigning some IP addresses because it is commonly used by other subnetworks. If you assign these IP addresses and then it can cause network routing issues.

When multiple hosts are assigned the same IP address in a private network it causes issues with the routing of data in the network.

IP address range that should be avoided: 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.10.255

Prefered private IP address range for LAN

User should prefer using this Class C private IPv4 address range: 192.168.11.0 to 192.168.255.255

Private LAN IPv4 address that can be assigned to the devices(hosts) in the subnetwork

Example 1

  • Subnetwork IP Address Range : 192.168.11.0 to 192.168.11.255
  • Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
  • The first IP address is 192.168.11.0 represents the network address( subnet address, subnet ID). This IP address must not be assigned to any device.
  • The last IP address is 192.168.11.255. It represents the broadcast address. This IP address must not be assigned to any device.
  • The IP address range that can be assigned to the devices connected to the network is 192.168.11.1 to 192.168.11.254. The maximum number of devices supported in the subnetwork is 254.

Example 2

  • Subnetwork IP Address Range: 192.168.20.0 to 192.168.20.255
  • Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
  • Network Address: 192.168.20.0
  • Broadcast Address: 192.168.20.255
  • Usable IP address range that can be assigned to network devices: 192.168.20.1 to 192.168.20.254

Example of Class C private IPv4 Address range that can be assigned to the devices in the subnetwork with subnet mask of 255.255.255.0

  • SubNetwork 1: 192.168.11.1 to 192.168.11.254
  • SubNetwork 2: 192.168.12.1 to 192.168.12.254
  • SubNetwork 3: 192.168.20.1 to 192.168.20.254
  • SubNetwork 4: 192.168.100.1 to 192.168.100.254
  • SubNetwork 5: 192.168.254.1 to 192.168.254.254

This address range can be assigned to wireless devices which includes WiFi router, WiFi Access point and client devices( Mobile phones, desktop, laptop, tablets, etc)

Private LAN Example 1

There is only one router in the home. The router is connected to the Internet. The router can be used to create one subnetwork.

  • SubNetwork IPv4 address range for wireless enabled devices: 192.168.100.1 to 192.168.100.254
  • Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
  • Router/Access Point IP Address: 192.168.100.1
  • IP address of devices connected to the router: 192.168.100.2 to 192.168.100.254

Private LAN Example 2

There are two routers in the home network. Using two routers you can create two subnetwork in an area.

The router_1 is connected to the Internet and acts as a gateway for the LAN Network_1. It let the network devices connected to it access the internet.

  • SubNetwork_1 IPv4 address range: 192.168.10.1 to 192.168.10.254
  • Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
  • Router_1 IP Address: 192.168.10.1
  • IP address of devices connected to the router: 192.168.10.2 to 192.168.10.254

The Router_2 accesses the internet through the router_1. So Router_1 is the gateway for the Router_2. Router_2 acts as the gateway for the Network_2.

  • SubNetwork_2 IPv4 address range: 192.168.50.1 to 192.168.50.254
  • Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
  • Router_2 IP Address: 192.168.50.1
  • IP address of devices connected to the router: 192.168.50.2 to 192.168.50.254

Private LAN Example_3

There are four routers in the home network.

The Router_1 is connected to the Internet through the ISP and acts as a gateway for the Network_1. It let the network devices connected to it access the internet.

  • SubNetwork_1 IPv4 address range: 192.168.10.1 to 192.168.10.254
  • Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
  • Router_1 IP Address: 192.168.10.1
  • IP address of devices connected to the router: 192.168.10.2 to 192.168.10.254

The Router_2 accesses the internet through the router_1. So Router_1 is the gateway for the Router_2. Router_2 acts as the gateway for the Network_2.

  • SubNetwork_2 IPv4 address range: 192.168.50.1 to 192.168.50.254
  • Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
  • Router_2 IP Address: 192.168.50.1
  • IP address of devices connected to the router: 192.168.50.2 to 192.168.50.254

The Router_3 accesses the internet through the router_1. So Router_1 is the gateway for the Router_3. Router_3 acts as the gateway for the Network_3.

  • SubNetwork_3 IPv4 address range: 192.168.210.1 to 192.168.210.254
  • Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
  • Router_3 IP Address: 192.168.210.1
  • IP address of devices connected to the router: 192.168.210.2 to 192.168.210.254

The Router_4 accesses the internet through the router_3. So Router_3 is the gateway for the Router_4. Router_4 acts as the gateway for the Network_4.

  • SubNetwork_4 IPv4 address range: 192.168.254.1 to 192.168.254.254
  • Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
  • Router_4 IP Address: 192.168.254.1
  • IP address of devices connected to the router: 192.168.254.2 to 192.168.254.254

Using the DHCP server for IP address assignment in a subnetwork

In a home subnetwork, the router DHCP server service is used to automatically assign IP addresses to the devices(hosts) connected to the subnetwork.

Example_1

DHCP server setting in the router is used to assign IP addresses to the devices connected to the subnetwork.

  • Class C subnetwork Private IPv4 address range for assignment to devices: 192.168.100.1 to 192.168.100.254
  • Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
  • Router/Access Point/Gateway IP address: 192.168.100.1
  • IP address range that can be assigned to devices in the subnetwork except the router: 192.168.100.2 to 192.168.100.254

Example_2

DHCP server setting in the router is used to assign IP addresses to the devices connected to the subnetwork.

  • Class C subnetwork Private IPv4 address range for assignment to devices: 192.168.50.1 to 192.168.50.254
  • Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
  • Router/Access point/Gateway IP address: 192.168.50.1
  • IP address range that can be assigned to devices in the subnetwork except the router: 192.168.50.2 to 192.168.50.254

Reference

One thought on “How to Assign Private IPv4 Address for Home LAN Networks”

  1. A solid overview of private IPv4 address assignments! One suggestion is to highlight the importance of avoiding overlapping IP ranges when integrating multiple networks, especially with VPN setups. Also, using a subnet like 192.168.100.0/24 can reduce conflicts with default router IPs. For deeper insights into addressing and subnetting strategies, 100001.me covers related topics in detail.

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