What is an IP Address?
Requested and Answered by Gene Amtower [pcbgene] on 24-Jun-2009 10:32 (3140 reads)
IP is an acronym that stands for Internet Protocol. It is a unique computer address that allows a computer to communicate with another computer. All requests and responses that pass through a network are directed to their destination by this address, so that's why it must be unique.
Of course, communications between computers are rarely initiated using an IP address - this would be cumbersome and error prone. So, typically a computer name is used to represent each computer or server, and these names are then translated through background processes into the equivalent IP address of the intended target computer.
Now, many personal computers have an IP address that is not actually an IP address on the Internet, possibly because they are part of a private network of computers in a home or business. In addition to providing additional security for the private network, this also reduces the number of public IP addresses required on the Internet. The number of computers in the world exceeds the number of public IP addresses available under the standard address format known as Internet Protocol Version 4 or IPV4. A new scheme for IP addresses, Internet Protocol Version 6 or IPV6, is extending the number of available addresses, but that's another discussion altogether.
Using private network addresses is possible because the network hardware that connects each private network to the Internet performs what's called Network Address Translation, or NAT. Essentially, the network hardware takes a request intended for the Internet and replaces the private address from the requester with its own public Internet address, causing it to be identified as the requester. Then it translates the target address of any responses from the Internet back to the original private address that requested it and sends the response back to the private network address.
In a network like you might have in a home or small business, these private IP addresses frequently start with "192.168" to indicate that they are not public Internet addresses. In a larger business setting, the administrators of the network may choose to use other network address ranges due to the number of computers on their network. Either way, these internet IP addresses are used for communication within the network but are hidden during any Internet transaction through the NAT process described above.
Of course, communications between computers are rarely initiated using an IP address - this would be cumbersome and error prone. So, typically a computer name is used to represent each computer or server, and these names are then translated through background processes into the equivalent IP address of the intended target computer.
Now, many personal computers have an IP address that is not actually an IP address on the Internet, possibly because they are part of a private network of computers in a home or business. In addition to providing additional security for the private network, this also reduces the number of public IP addresses required on the Internet. The number of computers in the world exceeds the number of public IP addresses available under the standard address format known as Internet Protocol Version 4 or IPV4. A new scheme for IP addresses, Internet Protocol Version 6 or IPV6, is extending the number of available addresses, but that's another discussion altogether.
Using private network addresses is possible because the network hardware that connects each private network to the Internet performs what's called Network Address Translation, or NAT. Essentially, the network hardware takes a request intended for the Internet and replaces the private address from the requester with its own public Internet address, causing it to be identified as the requester. Then it translates the target address of any responses from the Internet back to the original private address that requested it and sends the response back to the private network address.
In a network like you might have in a home or small business, these private IP addresses frequently start with "192.168" to indicate that they are not public Internet addresses. In a larger business setting, the administrators of the network may choose to use other network address ranges due to the number of computers on their network. Either way, these internet IP addresses are used for communication within the network but are hidden during any Internet transaction through the NAT process described above.
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