What is the range of possible hosts for a Class B private IP address?

For a Class B private IP address, the range of possible hosts can be calculated using the subnetting principles. Class B addresses are defined by the range from 128.0.0.0 to 191.255.255.255, where the first two octets represent the network part, and the remaining two octets are used for hosts.

In a Class B private network, the address space specifically allocated for private use is 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255. To determine the number of possible hosts, we focus on the two octets available for host addresses. Each octet can represent 255 values, and since there are two octets for hosts (8 bits each), the formula for calculating the possible hosts is:

2^16 (total combinations for 16 bits) - 2 (to account for the network and broadcast addresses).

Calculating this gives:

2^16 = 65,536

Then, subtracting the 2 addresses results in:

65,536 - 2 = 65,534 usable host addresses.

This means during the network configuration, we can assign 65,534 unique addresses to devices within a Class B private network. Hence, the