Why is a network ID not needed to connect to an IP address?
- by baddogai
I know how IP basically works, and knows that an IP address composed of a network ID portion and a host ID portion, but when I type a IP address, say 8.8.8.8 into the web browser, I didn't supply any subnet mask information.
So, how does the browser know where the dividing line is between the network ID and host ID? Since 8.8.8.8 may mean 8.8.8.8/8, 8.8.8.8/24 etc.
In a nutshell, the IP address I supplied is ambiguous.