To which Internet protocol (IP) class does the address 68.56.189.17 belong?

The address 68.56.189.17 falls within Class A of Internet Protocol addressing. IP addresses are segmented into classes based on their leading bits and the range of their first octet. Class A addresses are defined as those where the first bit is 0, which means that the first octet ranges from 0 to 127.

In this particular case, the first octet is 68. Since 68 falls within the range of 0 to 127, it corresponds to a Class A address. Class A is typically used for very large networks, allowing for a high number of hosts per network.

Class B and Class C addresses have different ranges. Class B addresses begin from 128 to 191, while Class C addresses begin from 192 to 223. Class D is reserved for multicast groups and does not apply to the classification of standard unicast IP addresses. Thus, the correct classification for the address 68.56.189.17 is indeed Class A.