Unicast Communication:

• This is one-to-one communication.
• The sender and recipient address are well known and the packet is crafted with a specific IP address.
• The address used in such communication is known as unicast addresses.
• Example: Unicast applications like HTTP, SMTP, FTP, and telnet.

Multicast Communication:

• This is one to many communication.
• In this packet is send from specific devices to multiple devices in a network.
• The address used is known as multicast addresses.
• It falls under class D of IP address( 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255)
• This is useful when the same data need to be given to a group of devices.
• Example: Multicast Routing Protocol

Broadcast Address:

• This is one to all communication.
• In this packet is send from single source to all the devices in a a network.
• An ethernet addresses are known as broadcast address(ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff).
• IP address will be 255.255.255.255
• An IP broadcast address is the highest address in its class((class C: 192.168.16.255)
• Example: ARP resolution.

Categories: Networking