4. Advantages and Disadvantages of Private Address Space

4.1 Advantages

The major advantage of using private address space includes:

Flexibility: Enterprises can design their internal network structure freely according to their needs without obtaining globally unique addresses.
Protection: Since private addresses are not routed on the Internet, this provides a degree of security and privacy protection. An enterprise's internal network topology remains invisible to the outside.
Address Conservation: Using private addresses for hosts that do not require direct Internet connection conserves globally unique address space.
Simplified Configuration: Enterprises can use familiar address schemes, such as 10.0.0.0/8, without waiting for address allocation.

The major disadvantages of using private address space include:

Renumbering Cost: If an enterprise decides to connect to the Internet, it may need to renumber hosts and networks using private addresses, which is an expensive and time-consuming process.
Complex Routing: Network Address Translation (NAT) or application layer gateways are required to translate between private and public addresses, adding complexity to the network.
End-to-End Connectivity Limitations: The use of NAT may break certain applications and protocols that require end-to-end connectivity.
Management Overhead: Careful management of DNS configuration and router configuration is required to ensure that private addresses do not leak to the public Internet.
Scaling Limitations: Although private address space is large, it may still be insufficient for very large enterprises.