What is IP Address (Internet Protocol)
An IP Address is a numeric address of a computer or host connected to a network. All Computers on a network have a unique IP Address that identifies it from all the other hosts. Internet Protocol is responsible for addressing and the routing packets between hosts on a network.
IPv4 (Internet Protocol Version 4) is the most popular networking protocol. IPv4 addresses are just a string of 32 binary digits, which consist of four sets of 8-bit numbers, each number being a value between 0 and 255.
Because of the relatively small address space and the fast growth of the internet, these addresses are becoming exhausted.
Example of an IPv4 Address:
192.168.1.2
IPv6 is the most recent version of IP and was developed to deal with the problem of IPv4 exhaustion. Internet Protocol Version 6 consist of 8 sets of 4 hexadecimal numbers and uses 128-bit addresses instead of 32-bit, as a result, it can define many more addresses.
IPv6 uses a colon as separator, instead of the period used in IPv4. Each group has a number range between 0000 and FFFF.
Example of a IPv6 Address:
2001:0:9d37:6abd:3050:1214:56fe:700b
How to find your IP Address?
There are two types of addresses: Local and Public. To find your computers local IP Address go to Command Prompt and type ipconfig
The fastest way to determine your computer’s public address is to ask Google.
Go to Google and type my IP. You will see your IP displayed at the top search results. If you have a dynamic Address, which you probably do, your address will change from time to time.
One of the reasons why ISP’s assign customers with dynamic addresses or DHCP is because they are more cost effective.
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