An IP address-short for Internet Protocol address-is a unique numerical label assigned to each device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. It serves two major purposes:
- Identification: It identifies a device or network interface on a network, much like the address of a house identifies it in a neighborhood.
- Location addressing: It detects the location of the device in a network hence routing data to the correct destination.
Types of IP Addresses
The major categories of IP addresses are:
- **Internet Protocol version 4:
The most common form of IP address.
It consists, in a word, of four groups of numbers ranging from 0 to 255, in octets, separated by a period. Example:192.168.0.1.
- IPv4 can allow for roughly 4.3 billion unique addresses, which is becoming small against the number of currently connecting devices to the internet.
- **IPv6 – Internet Protocol version 6:
It is designed to overcome the weaknesses of IPv4 and support a huge number of devices over the Internet. However, IPv6 addresses – much longer – were written in hexadecimal, divided into eight groups of four characters separated by colons. For example: 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334. – IPv6 supports an extremely large address space that could make almost unlimited numbers of unique addresses available.
Static versus Dynamic IP Address
- Static IP address: It is the IP address that does not change in a device. It hosts services; for example, hosting websites and email servers. – Dynamic IP Address: It is provided by the DHCP server; this will be changed periodically. Most of the devices use dynamic IP addresses, like Home Computers and Smartphones.
Private vs. Public IP Address – Public IP address: It derives its Reachability from the Internet. Usually assigned to a router or server. – Private IP address: This is an address that is used within a local network-such as in home and business networks-and which, from the outside, cannot be accessed in a direct manner. Such addresses are within specific ranges, defined by standards; examples are 192.168.x.x. The IP address identifies it in some ways and helps route internet traffic so data packets can find their way correctly to a website, an email server, or your very own device.