Here's a pair of methods to convert from IPv4 to a correct integer and back:
public static uint ConvertFromIpAddressToInteger(string ipAddress)
{
var address = IPAddress.Parse(ipAddress);
byte[] bytes = address.GetAddressBytes();
// flip big-endian(network order) to little-endian
if (BitConverter.IsLittleEndian)
{
Array.Reverse(bytes);
}
return BitConverter.ToUInt32(bytes, 0);
}
public static string ConvertFromIntegerToIpAddress(uint ipAddress)
{
byte[] bytes = BitConverter.GetBytes(ipAddress);
// flip little-endian to big-endian(network order)
if (BitConverter.IsLittleEndian)
{
Array.Reverse(bytes);
}
return new IPAddress(bytes).ToString();
}
Example
ConvertFromIpAddressToInteger("255.255.255.254"); // 4294967294
ConvertFromIntegerToIpAddress(4294967294); // 255.255.255.254
Explanation
IP addresses are in network order (big-endian), while int
s are little-endian on Windows, so to get a correct value, you must reverse the bytes before converting on a little-endian system.
Also, even for IPv4
, an int
can't hold addresses bigger than 127.255.255.255
, e.g. the broadcast address (255.255.255.255)
, so use a uint
.