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Writer's pictureSourav Roy

Choosing the Right Static IP Address for Your Windows Server: Tips and Best Practices

When it comes to setting up a static IP address for your Windows Server, there are a few factors to consider. The specific IP address you can use will depend on your network configuration and any policies or guidelines set by your organization. However, generally speaking, any valid IP address within your network's address range can be used, as long as it's not already in use by another device on the network. To avoid conflicts, it's common to reserve a range of IP addresses for static assignments, like the last 50 IP addresses in the range. This way, you can assign static IPs to important devices like servers while still having enough room for dynamic IP addresses for other devices.


To find out the network address range of your computer, you can follow a few simple steps:

  1. Open the Command Prompt: Press the "Windows + R" key combination to open the "Run" dialog box, type "cmd" and press "Enter".

  2. Type "ipconfig" command: In the Command Prompt window, type "ipconfig" and press "Enter". This will display information about your network configuration.

  3. Look for the "IPv4 Address" entry: Scroll through the output of the "ipconfig" command and look for the "IPv4 Address" entry. This will display the network address of your computer.

  4. Determine the subnet mask: Look for the "Subnet Mask" entry in the output of the "ipconfig" command. The subnet mask is a 32-bit number that determines the range of IP addresses on your network. It is typically displayed in the format "255.255.255.0".

  5. Calculate the network address range: To calculate the network address range, you can use the bitwise AND operation between your computer's IP address and the subnet mask. This will give you the network address of your computer's network. For example, if your computer's IP address is "192.168.1.10" and the subnet mask is "255.255.255.0", you can perform the following calculation: 192.168.1.10 AND 255.255.255.0 = 192.168.1.0

  6. This gives you the network address range of "192.168.1.0 - 192.168.1.255". Any IP address in this range can be assigned to a device on your network.

Bitwise AND operation: The bitwise AND operation is a fundamental operation in digital circuits and computer programming. It's a binary operation that is performed on two binary numbers. Each bit of one number is compared to its corresponding bit in the other number, and the result of the operation is a new binary number. The operation works in such a way that each bit in the result is set to 1 only if the corresponding bits in both input numbers are also 1. If any of the bits are 0, the resulting bit is also 0. For instance, if we have the binary numbers 11011010 and 10110111, performing a bitwise AND operation on these numbers will give the result 10010010. This means that only the bits that are 1 in both input numbers are set to 1 in the result, while the rest of the bits are set to 0.


Steps for calculating the bitwise AND operation:


Below are the steps for calculating the bitwise AND operation between a computer's IP address and subnet mask:

  1. Convert the IP address and subnet mask to binary format: The IP address and subnet mask are both 32-bit numbers, so you'll need to convert them to binary format to perform the bitwise AND operation. You can use an online converter or calculate them manually. I will demonstrate how to do it manually.

  2. Align the IP address and subnet mask: Write the binary representation of the IP address and subnet mask next to each other, aligning the digits so that each column represents a bit position. If necessary, add leading zeros to ensure that both binary numbers have 32 digits.

  3. Perform the bitwise AND operation: Compare each pair of corresponding bits in the IP address and subnet mask. If both bits are 1, write a 1 in the corresponding bit position of the result. Otherwise, write a 0. Repeat this for all 32 bits.

  4. Convert the result to decimal format: The result of the bitwise AND operation is a binary number that represents the network address. Convert this number to decimal format to get the network address range.

  5. Determine the network portion of the IP address: The network address range is determined by the network portion of the IP address and the subnet mask. If the subnet mask is 255.255.255.0, which means that the first three groups of the IP address represent the network, and the last group represents the host portion of the address.

Converting the IP address and subnet mask to binary format:


Below are the steps for converting a decimal number to binary format:

  1. Divide the decimal number by 2: Write down the quotient (the result of the division) and the remainder (either 0 or 1).

  2. Repeat the division process: Divide the quotient from the previous step by 2, and write down the new quotient and remainder. Keep repeating this process until the quotient is 0.

  3. Write the binary number: Write the remainders in reverse order. This is the binary representation of the decimal number.

  4. Let's apply these steps to convert 192 to binary:

    1. 192 / 2 = 96 remainder 0

    2. Note down 0

    3. 96 / 2 = 48 remainder 0

    4. Note down 0

    5. 48 / 2 = 24 remainder 0

    6. Note down 0

    7. 24 / 2 = 12 remainder 0

    8. Note down 0

    9. 12 / 2 = 6 remainder 0

    10. Note down 0

    11. 6 / 2 = 3 remainder 0

    12. Note down 0

    13. 3 / 2 = 1 remainder 1

    14. Note down 1

    15. 1 / 2 = 0 remainder 1

    16. Note down 1

So, the remainders in reverse order are 11000000. Therefore, the binary representation of the decimal number 192 is 11000000. Let's say your computer's IP address is 192.168.1.10 and the subnet mask is 255.255.255.0. So, Binary format of the IP address and subnet mask would be:


IP address (192.168.1.10 ): 11000000.10101000.00000001.00001010

Subnet mask (255.255.255.0): 11111111.11111111.11111111.00000000


Aligning the IP address and subnet mask:

IP address: 11000000.10101000.00000001.00001010

Subnet mask: 11111111.11111111.11111111.00000000


Performing the bitwise AND operation:

Result: 11000000.10101000.00000001.00000000


Converting the result to decimal format:


Below are the steps to convert the binary IP address 11000000.10101000.00000001.00000000 to decimal form:

  1. Separate the binary number into four groups of 8 bits each, as the IP address is represented in four octets. The groups are: 11000000 (first octet) 10101000 (second octet) 00000001 (third octet) 00000000 (fourth octet)

  2. Convert each group of 8 bits to its equivalent decimal value. To do this, we can use the following formula:

Decimal value = (bit7 x 2^7) + (bit6 x 2^6) + ... + (bit0 x 2^0)

Where bit7 is the leftmost bit (most significant bit) and bit0 is the rightmost bit (least significant bit). For example, to convert the first octet 11000000 to decimal:

Decimal value = (1 x 2^7) + (1 x 2^6) + (0 x 2^5) + (0 x 2^4) + (0 x 2^3) + (0 x 2^2) + (0 x 2^1) + (0 x 2^0) decimal value = 192

Similarly, we can convert the remaining octets to decimal values as follows:

  • 10101000 = 168

  • 00000001 = 1

  • 00000000 = 0

Combine the decimal values to form the IP address in decimal form. The IP address in decimal form is: 192.168.1.0

So the binary IP address 11000000.10101000.00000001.00000000 is equivalent to the decimal IP address 192.168.1.0.


Determining the network portion of the IP address:

The network address range is determined by the network portion of the IP address and the subnet mask. In this case, the subnet mask is 255.255.255.0, which means that the first three groups of the IP address (11000000.10101000.00000001) represent the network, and the last group (00000000) represents the host portion of the address.


When we perform the bitwise AND operation between the IP address and the subnet mask, we effectively "mask out" the host portion of the address, leaving only the network portion.


So, the network address range is determined by the network portion of the IP address, which in this case is 192.168.1, and the subnet mask, which is 255.255.255.0.


Since the host portion of the address can take on any value between 0 and 255, the network address range for this subnet is 192.168.1.0 to 192.168.1.255.




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