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Zero and Broadcast

Lesson 32 of 46 in Coddy's IP Addressing and Subnetting course.

Two more addresses with special jobs:

0.0.0.0 means "no address in particular". A server listening on it accepts connections on every interface the machine has, which is why you see it constantly in server configs.
255.255.255.255 is the limited broadcast: it reaches every machine on the local network and is never forwarded by routers. DHCP discovery uses it, because a machine with no address yet has to shout.

Neither can ever be assigned to a machine.

Challenge

Beginner

Two questions, two lines:

Which address does a server bind to when it wants to listen on every interface?
Which address does a packet use to reach everyone on the local network?

Expected output:

0.0.0.0
255.255.255.255

Try it yourself

Terminal

All lessons in IP Addressing and Subnetting

1Bits and Binary

Numbers as Bits Binary to Decimal Powers of Two Recap - Binary Warm-up

4CIDR Notation

Goodbye Classes Reading CIDR Block Sizes Recap - CIDR Reading

7Special Addresses

Private Ranges Loopback Link-LocalZero and Broadcast

10Capstone - The Office

The Floor Plan Sizing Each Team Carving the Block The Router's View Recap - Ship the Plan

2IPv4 Anatomy

Four Octets The 32-Bit View Network and Host Valid or Not Recap - Read an Address

5Inside a Subnet

Network Address Broadcast Address Usable Hosts First and Last Host Recap - Subnet Facts

8Planning Networks

Right-Sizing VLSM Step by Step Allocation Order Checking for Overlap Recap - Plan a Network

3The Subnet Mask

What a Mask Does Mask to Prefix Prefix to Mask ANDing It Out Recap - Mask Basics

6Subnetting Drills

The Block Size Trick Which Subnet Am I In Splitting a /24 Splitting Again Recap - Subnetting Drills

9IPv6 First Steps

Why IPv6 Reading IPv6 Prefixes in IPv6 Recap - IPv6 Basics

Practice on your own: Terminal playground