Connected to IANA anyway, why?

May someone can answer this. Anytime I ignite my laptop to go online I see via etherape that I am connected to IANA as shown below. Is my provider redirecting me there, the cable under the sea, what is the reason for this?
This happened with a pretty normal desktop PC, as well with my ancient provider and no changes made to the dhcp or trying to superseede or append something in resolv.conf in Linux or now in BSD by changing the DNS.

NetRange	224.0.0.0 - 239.255.255.255
CIDR	224.0.0.0/4
NetName	MCAST-NET
NetHandle	NET-224-0-0-0-1
Parent	()
NetType	IANA Special Use
OriginAS	
Organization	Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)
RegDate	1991-05-22
Updated	2013-08-30
	
Ref	https://whois.arin.net/rest/net/NET-224-0-0-0-1
	
OrgName	Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
OrgId	IANA
Address	12025 Waterfront Drive
Address	Suite 300
City	Los Angeles
StateProv	CA
PostalCode	90292
Country	US
RegDate	
Updated	2012-08-31
Ref	https://whois.arin.net/rest/org/IANA

If I do a :

$ whois 224.0.0.0

#
# ARIN WHOIS data and services are subject to the Terms of Use
# available at: Whois Terms of Use
#
# If you see inaccuracies in the results, please report at
# ARIN - American Registry for Internet Numbers
#


#
# Query terms are ambiguous.  The query is assumed to be:
#     "n 224.0.0.0"
#
# Use "?" to get help.
#

#
# The following results may also be obtained via:
# https://whois.arin.net/rest/nets;q=224.0.0.0?showDetails=true&showARIN=false&showNonArinTopLevelNet=false&ext=netref2
#

NetRange:       224.0.0.0 - 239.255.255.255
CIDR:           224.0.0.0/4
NetName:        MCAST-NET
NetHandle:      NET-224-0-0-0-1
Parent:          ()
NetType:        IANA Special Use
OriginAS:
Organization:   Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)
RegDate:        1991-05-22
Updated:        2013-08-30
Comment:        Addresses starting with a number between 224 and 239 are used for IP multicast.  IP multicast is 
a technology for efficiently sending the same content to multiple destinations. It is commonly used for distributing 
financial information and video streams, among other things.
Comment:
Comment:        A full list of IPv4 multicast assignments can be found at:
Comment:
Comment:        IPv4 Multicast Address Space Registry
Comment:
Comment:        A document describing the policies for assigning multicast addresses can be found at:
Comment:        RFC 5771
Ref:            https://whois.arin.net/rest/net/NET-224-0-0-0-1


OrgName:        Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
OrgId:          IANA
Address:        12025 Waterfront Drive
Address:        Suite 300
City:           Los Angeles
StateProv:      CA
PostalCode:     90292
Country:        US
RegDate:
Updated:        2012-08-31
Ref:            https://whois.arin.net/rest/org/IANA


OrgTechHandle: IANA-IP-ARIN
OrgTechName:   ICANN
OrgTechPhone:  +1-310-301-5820
OrgTechEmail:  abuse@iana.org
OrgTechRef:    https://whois.arin.net/rest/poc/IANA-IP-ARIN

OrgAbuseHandle: IANA-IP-ARIN
OrgAbuseName:   ICANN
OrgAbusePhone:  +1-310-301-5820
OrgAbuseEmail:  abuse@iana.org
OrgAbuseRef:    https://whois.arin.net/rest/poc/IANA-IP-ARIN


#
# ARIN WHOIS data and services are subject to the Terms of Use
# available at: Whois Terms of Use
#
# If you see inaccuracies in the results, please report at
# ARIN - American Registry for Internet Numbers
#
1 Like

You are not connected via IANA. 224.0.0.0/4 is a range defined and reserved by IANA for the use of Multicast-Applications. IANA is not an internet service provider but authority responsible for global ip address assignment.

In this case the reason is most likely that your computers use multicast DNS(mDNS) prior to the finishing of the IP-configuration. mDNS may be used if a computer has no DNS-Server set up to, be able to resolve host names into ip addresses without the need of an DNS-Server. There are a lot other applications for use with multicast.

1 Like