What is an IP address, and what does it mean? What is your IP address, by the way?
ON THIS PAGE: What is an IP address, and what does it mean? What is your IP address, by the way?
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IP addresses provide computers on IP networks with unique identifiers that enable them to communicate with one another.
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IP is defined.
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Domain Name System (DNS): This system matches domain names to IP.
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Is your IP changing?
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Can several devices share the same IP?
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Is it possible that we'll run out of them?
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Is it a good idea to conceal your IP?
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IPv4 and IPv6 are two different types of IP.
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TIPS & HOW-TO'S
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What exactly is IPv6?
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What method is used to distribute IP?
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IP emails, static vs. dynamic, and DHCP
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IP that are public vs private
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Subnetting and subnet masks are two terms that are sometimes used interchangeably.
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What is the IP of my computer?
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Using a VPN to mask the IP
IP addresses provide computers on IP networks with unique identifiers that enable them to communicate with one another.[ps2id id='IP addresses provide computers on IP networks with unique identifiers that enable them to communicate with one another.' target=''/]
Each packet traversing TCP/IP networks seeks out an IP address that not only identifies the system that sent it, but also includes details that allows it to be routed successfully to its destination.
IP is defined.[ps2id id='IP is defined.' target=''/]
An IP address is a number that is used to identify any computer connecting to a network that uses the Internet Protocol as its communication medium. The IP in an IP address comes from the Internet Protocol Suite, which specifies all regarding how computers on the internet share details. It was created in the 1970s and is the foundation of the internet protocol suite.
The IP address is, in essence, one of the Internet Protocol's cornerstones. Information is sent across the network in separate blocks called packets; each packet contains the details the sender is attempting to communicate, as well as a header containing metadata for that packet.
The IP address of the computer that transmitted the packet, as well as the IP of the device to which the packet is headed, are contained in the packet header. This knowledge is used by routers and other network equipment to ensure the packets go to where they're meant to go.
Domain Name System (DNS): This system matches domain names to IP.[ps2id id='Domain Name System (DNS): This system matches domain names to IP.' target=''/]
Many (though not all) internet-connected machines often have human-readable addresses called domain names, and may contain terms like networkworld.com. The Domain Name System, or DNS, is another component of the Internet protocol suite that ensures domain-name queries are routed to the correct IP. On top of the IP-address architecture, DNS may be thought of as a more user-friendly layer.
However, the IP is also the most common way to locate internet-connected computers, and a domain name may often refer to several servers with separate IP addresses.
Is your IP changing?[ps2id id='Is your IP changing?' target=''/]
Yes. Even if you exclusively use the internet at home, your house's IP may change. You may alter it by contacting your internet service provider (ISP), but even something as simple as restarting your modem or router due to internet connection issues may result in a change.
Can several devices share the same IP?[ps2id id='Can several devices share the same IP?' target=''/]
This is a difficult question since the answer is both yes and no. The same exterior (public) IP address may be used by many devices, but each device has its own local (private) IP. For example, your internet service provider (ISP) assigns your house one external IP address. Because your router is the device that connects to the internet, an IP is given to it. After that, your router gives a local IP to any device that is connected to the internet at the same time. The external IP is what is visible to the rest of the world. Outside of your private home network, your local IP address is not shared.
Is it possible that we'll run out of them?[ps2id id='Is it possible that we'll run out of them?' target=''/]
When the Internet was originally created, ‘version 4' addresses were utilized. Because they are 32 bits, we might have up to 4.2 billion addresses. This looked enough at the time, but it is far from adequate in a world where the typical U.S. home has 11 connected gadgets.
Version 6 IP addresses are now available, with 128 bits per address. Unfortunately, version 4 and version 6 cannot communicate directly, thus version 4 addresses will be required for a long time.
Is it a good idea to conceal your IP?[ps2id id='Is it a good idea to conceal your IP?' target=''/]
You don't have to conceal your IP address all of the time, but there are occasions when you may wish to. The most frequent cause is concern about one's privacy. In the United States, Congress rejected privacy rules intended to safeguard broadband customers' privacy. Internet service providers may monitor your surfing patterns, what you do on the internet, and how much time you spend on each website. Because this connection is not encrypted, other parties may see which website you are viewing.
DNS-over-HTTPS is one method of dealing with issue (DoH). This encrypts your DNS (Domain Name System) data, making it more difficult for ISPs to identify which websites you are attempting to access. For US Firefox users, DoH requests are sent to trusted DNS servers by default, making it more difficult to link you with the websites you attempt to access.
There are other contextual reasons to conceal your IP address. When traveling, you may wish to conceal it. A VPN will also provide you with more anonymity while connecting to WiFi to watch and shop when traveling across the globe.
IPv4 and IPv6 are two different types of IP.[ps2id id='IPv4 and IPv6 are two different types of IP.' target=''/]
IP addresses are divided into two types: IPv4 and IPv6, each with its own format. The only distinction between the two is that IPv6 addresses may be generated in much greater numbers (2128) than IPv4 addresses (232).
This is due to the format they employ. IPv4 addresses are divided into four sections, each separated by a dot, as follows:
- 45.48.241.198 is the IP of a server located in the United States.
- Each element, written in Base 10 numerals, corresponds to an eight-bit binary number ranging from 0 to 255.
Each of these four numbers is written in regular decimal notation, separated by dots. However, computers work for binary numbers (which are made up entirely of zeros and ones), and each number in an IPv4 address represents an 8-bit binary number (which ensures that none of them may be greater than 255). (111111 in binary).
Since IP have been around since 1983, it's quite possible that you've seen one like that already. IPv6 is a newer variant of the protocol that is gradually displacing IPv4, and its addressing is as follows:
2620:cc:8000:1c82:544c:cc2e:f2fa:5a9b 2620:cc:8000:1c82:544c:cc2e:f2fa:5a9b
There are eight numbers instead of four, and they are divided by colons rather than commas. They are, after just, all numbers. Since IPv6 addresses are written in hexadecimal (Base 16) notation, which requires 16 separate symbols to uniquely reflect Base 10 numbers 1-16, there are letters in there. The numbers 0-9, as well as the letters A-F, are included. The disparity between the 8-bit components of an IPv4 address and the 16-bit components of an IPv6 address is the key explanation for IPv6's presence.
TIPS & HOW-TO'S[ps2id id='TIPS & HOW-TO'S' target=''/]
What exactly is IPv6?[ps2id id='What exactly is IPv6?' target=''/]
IPv4 addresses are 32-bit numbers, and there are a total of 232 possible addresses of that length—roughly 4.3 billion. The number seemed sufficient in the early days of the internet, but as the number of internet-connected devices grew, it started to loom as a possible problem. IPv6 addresses are 128-bit integers, which implies there are 2128 valid addresses. We won't write out the number because it's 39 digits long, so it's called 340 undecillion.
The fear that IPv4 addresses might run out was the driving force behind the introduction of IPv6. However, IPv4 addresses are still commonly used and relatively easy to come across in reality. As we'll see in the next two pages, this has to do with how IP are allocated to network-connected devices and how private networks with their own collection of IP can be developed.
What method is used to distribute IP?[ps2id id='What method is used to distribute IP?' target=''/]
“Both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses are usually allocated in a hierarchical manner,” according to the International Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), with IANA at the peak of the hierarchy. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) assigns IP blocks to municipal internet registries (you can see which address ranges go with which regions here).
Regional registries also delegate smaller blocks to national registries, and so forth, before blocks are allocated to specific internet service providers (ISPs), which in this case involve cell phone firms. ISPs are the ones that allocate unique IP to individual devices, and they may do so in a few different forms.
IP emails, static vs. dynamic, and DHCP[ps2id id='IP emails, static vs. dynamic, and DHCP' target=''/]
A static IP address is one that is allocated to a computer by an ISP and is guaranteed to stay the same. If the address of your machine is 45.48.241.198, it will remain that way for as long as you want it to. Static IP are important for computers that cannot be located conveniently on the internet, such as database servers or gaming servers. In general, an ISP will charge a customer extra for a static IP that is allocated to them.
The disadvantage of leasing a static address from the standpoint of the ISP, which has a finite amount of IPv4 addresses to distribute, is that the address is inaccessible to someone else. However, the vast majority of end users only need an address while using the internet.
ISPs give dynamic IP addresses to those devices, giving each client a new address each time it connects to the network and returning the address to a list of available addresses when the device disconnects. This method aids in the preservation of IP. If an ISP has a million clients but just half of them are online at any given moment, the pool of addresses would not need to be a million.
The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) governs the mechanism of dynamically assigning IP in IPv4 networks, which, among other aspects, automates much of the process and guarantees that no two users are allocated the same address at the same time.
When a computer connects to the network, IPv6 was built to allow stateless IP address autoconfiguration (SLAAC), in which the device selects an address from the accessible pool. However, there's also DHCPv6, a modified variant of the DHCP protocol that gives network operators more flexibility.
IP that are public vs private[ps2id id='IP that are public vs private' target=''/]
So far, we've spoken about IP addresses and how they could run out as though there were just one collection of addresses for the whole world, with no duplicates. However, this isn't entirely accurate. In reality, most of the devices you use on a daily basis are unlikely to have this capability, because not all of the 4.3 billion IPv4 addresses are accessible to publicly linked devices.
A router links a standard home or corporate network to the public internet, and the ISP assigns an IP address to this router. All traffic from devices on the local network comes from the public IP address from the outside world; however, each computer (including the router) has a local private IP address, which is normally allocated by the router through DHCP.
These addresses are called confidential since they are only used to guide packets inside the local, private network and are not visible to everyone outside of it. As a consequence, a single IP may be used on an unlimited amount of private networks without creating problems. In particular, blocks of IP have been set aside expressly for usage on these private networks. (Addresses beginning with 192.168 are very popular for small home networks.)
The router's task is to change the origin and destination IP in each packet's headers as required as it travels from the private network to the public internet, a mechanism known as network address translation, or NAT. This can be accomplished in a number of ways.
One standard method is to assign a network port to each computer on the internal network, which is specified in the packet header. The final destinations of incoming packets that have all been addressed to the router's public-facing IP are determined by the port details.
The boom in local networks has been a major factor in staving off a complete IPv4 address drought even as network-connected devices grow in every household, and this topic is unique to IPv4 addresses. IPv6 addresses, on the other hand, are so plentiful that it's expected that private networks would become obsolete until IPv6 is widely adopted.
There are private IPv6 address ranges available if you choose to set up a private internal IPv6 network that links to the internet via IPv4.
Subnetting and subnet masks are two terms that are sometimes used interchangeably.[ps2id id='Subnetting and subnet masks are two terms that are sometimes used interchangeably.' target=''/]
IP are arranged in a hierarchy. The numbers to the left indicate the network to which the computer with that IP is connected, while the numbers to the right describe the particular device. The Internet Protocol, on the other hand, does not specify where the dividing line is, and any of the bits in an address may be used to describe a subnetwork, or subnet.
A subnet mask is used by routers to specify which portions of an IP correspond to networks, subnets, and computers. A network mask in IPv4 is an 8-bit integer, similar to an IP except with all of the ones on the left and all of the zeroes on the right; in essence, the dividing line between the ones and zeroes determines the division inside an IP in the address space the subnet mask belongs to.
The nitty-gritty includes binary bitwise operations and is reasonably precise. (Microsoft provides a clear explanation.) Subnetting in IPv6 is much easier, and it often entails removing digits from addresses to indicate a list of subnetted addresses.
It's crucial to remember the subnet knowledge isn't used in packet headers and isn't identified by the source or destination computers. Instead, it's used for routers and other infrastructure to figure out how to get packets to the correct computers on the right physical networks using IP.
A network administrator may, for example, take a sequential block of IP addresses and scatter them through three different physical subnetworks using subnetting. The packet does not need to be aware of such subnetworks; when the time arrives, the router can use its lookup tables to determine where to deliver the packet.
What is the IP of my computer?[ps2id id='What is the IP of my computer?' target=''/]
You may be wondering what your IP address is if you're reading this on a networked computer. There are several websites that can answer you—for example, whatismyipaddress.com—which is simple enough because any network packet you send out to the internet includes the details.
If, for the majority of citizens, you link your laptop to a local network, the result you'll get from these pages is the public-facing IP address allocated to your router. You'll need to dig through your device's network settings to locate your private IP on your local network. On Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android, Lifehacker sets out the moves you'll need to take.
Using a VPN to mask the IP[ps2id id='Using a VPN to mask the IP' target=''/]
You will learn a lot about yourself by looking at your IP address. It would, for example, reveal your estimated geographic position to others, which you might wish to conceal for a variety of purposes. Using a virtual private network, or VPN, is one way to do it. A VPN service may provide an encrypted tunnel from your laptop to the VPN provider's private network over the public internet.
It's similar to connecting to your home network, but the router may be halfway across the planet. Your IP would be the one allocated to your VPN host to external pages. While IP addresses do not have anything in the way of protection, VPNs provide a clever way to get around this.
If both devices have compatible VPN applications, VPN tunnels may be built from the originating device and terminated on the destination device. Many businesses have VPN gateways that enable them to build tunnels between themselves and remote devices that have VPN applications.
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