In network programming, IP address and gateway are two very important concepts. There is a close relationship between them to ensure the effectiveness and reliability of network communication. The relationship between IP addresses and gateways will be explained in detail below, and corresponding source code examples will be provided.
An IP address is a unique address used in the Internet Protocol (IP) to identify a device (such as a computer, server, router, etc.). It consists of a 32-bit or 128-bit binary number, usually expressed in the form of IPv4 and IPv6. An IP address can be divided into two parts: a network address and a host address. The network address identifies the network, and the host address identifies the specific device in the network.
A gateway is a device, usually a router, that connects two or more networks. It acts as a bridge between networks and is responsible for delivering packets from the source network to the destination network. A gateway has at least two network interfaces, each connected to a different network. When a device attempts to communicate with a device that is not on the same network, it sends the packet to the gateway, which is responsible for delivering the packet to the network where the target device is located.
In programming, we can use various programming languages and network libraries to configure and manage IP addresses and gateways. Below is a sample code using Python and the socket library to demonstrate how to set the IP address and gateway.
import socket
import subprocess
def set_ip_address(interface, ip_address, netmask)