B IP A DDRESSINGThe InternetProtocol SuiteThe Internet protocol suite consists of a well-defined set ofcommunications protocols and several standard application protocols.Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is probably themost widely known and is a combination of two of the protocols (IP andTCP) working together. TCP/IP is an internationally adopted andsupported networking standard that provides connectivity betweenequipment from many vendors over a wide variety of networkingtechnologies.Managing theAccess Point overthe NetworkTo manage a device over the network, the Access Point must be correctlyconfigured with the following IP information:■ An IP address■ A Subnet MaskIP Addresses andSubnet MasksEach device on your network must have a unique IP address to operatecorrectly. An IP address identifies the address of the device to which datais being sent and the address of the destination network. IP addresseshave the format n.n.n.x where n is a decimal number between 0 and 255and x is a number between 1 and 254 inclusive.However, an IP Address alone is not enough to make your device operate.In addition to the IP address, you need to set a subnet mask. All networksare divided into smaller sub-networks and a subnet mask is a numberthat enables a device to identify the sub-network to which it isconnected.