def _ip_int_from_string(self, ip_str):
        """Turn the given IP string into an integer for comparison.

        Args:
            ip_str: A string, the IP ip_str.

        Returns:
            The IP ip_str as an integer.

        Raises:
            AddressValueError: if ip_str isn't a valid IPv4 Address.

        """
        octets = ip_str.split('.')
        if len(octets) != 4:
            raise AddressValueError(ip_str)

        packed_ip = 0
        for oc in octets:
            try:
                packed_ip = (packed_ip << 8) | self._parse_octet(oc)
            except ValueError:
                raise AddressValueError(ip_str)
        return packed_ip