IP address
What? 🤔
I.P address is a unique address that identifies a device on the internet or a local network. IP is short for "Internet Protocol" which is the set of rules that govern the format of data sent over the internet or local network. Example of an IP address: 192.168.1.1
Why? 🤔
An IP address allows information to be sent and received by the correct parties as each party (device) connected to the internet has a unique IP address assigned to them.
Process ⚙️
☑️ Its all part of TCP
IP addresses are only one part of the internet’s architecture. Just having a postal address for your house is meaningless unless there’s a post office responsible for delivering the mail. In internet terms, IP address is the postal address which is one part of TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) internet's postal system.
☑️ Transmission control what?
The Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) are a set of rules and procedures for connecting devices across the internet. TCP/IP specifies how data is exchanged: Data is broken down into packets and passed along a chain of routers from origin to destination.
TCP/IP
TCP defines how applications communicate across the network. It manages how a message is broken down into a series of smaller packets, which are then transmitted over the internet and reassembled in the right order at the destination address.
IP
The IP portion of the protocol directs each packet to the right destination.
☑️ Static and Dynamic IP addresses
Static addresses are mostly used by businesses, since their websites and web applications must be reliably accessible at all times.
But your home IP address doesn’t have to stay the static, since it’s only needed when you’re using the internet.
Your Internet Service Provider(ISP) will usually give you a dynamic IP address.
While your IP address may not change often, it’s possible to receive a new one from your ISP every time you reboot your computer.
The same holds true with the local IP addresses which your home wireless router assigns to your laptop, tablet, or smartphone. These devices might get a new address every time you restart your router.
When you are out and about – for example, traveling – and you take your device with you, your home IP address does not come with you. This is because you will be using another network (Wi-Fi at a hotel, airport, or coffee shop, etc.) to access the internet and will be using a different (and temporary) IP address, assigned to you by the ISP of the hotel, airport or coffee shop.
☑️ What do these numbers even mean??
An IP address is a string of numbers separated by periods. IP addresses are expressed as a set of four numbers — an example address might be 192.158.1.38. Each number in the set can range from 0 to 255. So, the full IP addressing range goes from 0.0.0.0 to 255.255.255.255.
IP addresses are not random. They are mathematically produced and allocated by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), a division of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
ICANN is a non-profit organization that was established in the United States in 1998 to help maintain the security of the internet and allow it to be usable by all. Each time anyone registers a domain on the internet, they go through a domain name registrar, who pays a small fee to ICANN to register the domain.
☑️ The parts of your IP address
An IP address has two parts: the network ID, comprising the first three numbers of the address, and a host ID, the fourth number in the address. So on your home network — 192.168.1.1, for example – 192.168.1 is the network ID, and the final number is the host ID.
The Network ID indicates which network the device is on. The Host ID refers to the specific device on that network. (Usually your router is .1, and each subsequent device gets assigned .2, .3, and so on.)
☑️ Next Post
How VPNs work and how they hide your IP address.
☑️ References
| Post by | Aftab Faisal |
|---|---|
| 🔗 | https://www.linkedin.com/in/aftab22/ |
| 🔗 | https://github.com/aftab22 |
| 🔗 | https://dev.to/aftab22 |
Top comments (2)
Very interesting.
I like the post. Even we wrote a blog on the IP Address and its types ✔Public ✔Private ✔Static and ✔Dynamic. With this blog on (different types of ip address) helps fully to understand the different types of IP addresses, and all your doubts are cleared.