What Is An IP Address

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What Is An IP Address?

IP address stands for Internet Protocol Address. An IP is a unique number assigned to all information technology connected devices such as printers, routers, modems, and even refrigerators. The IP address identifies and allows these devices the ability to communicate with each other on an internal or external computer network. Any device that transmits or receives internet traffic will be assigned an IP address.

IP addresses may either be assigned static or dynamic. Static IPs are reserved for an Email server/Business server or a permanent home resident. These IPs are assigned from a pool of available addresses from your Internet Service Provider. A static IP may not be available in all areas and may cost extra.

Dynamic IP address are usually assigned on a first come, first served basis. The types of IP addresses that are dynamic are often assigned to residential customers.

Public vs. Private IP likely means someone wants to remain anonymous. The best way to accomplish this is by using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) service or proxy servers.

However, in tech terms private IP addresses are those addresses that are reserved for internal network use only. Your home router has an external IP address and internal IP address. The internal IP address is likely 192.168.1.1. Your router will assign private IPs to all connected devices on your home network.

The current versions of IP addresses being assigned are IPv4 and IPv6.

What Is IPv4?

IP version 4 is currently used by most network devices. However, with more and more computers accessing the internet, IPv4 addresses are running out quickly. Just like in a city, addresses have to be created for new neighborhoods but, if your neighborhood gets too large, you will have to come up with an entire new pool of addresses.

What Is IPv6?

Internet Protocol version 6 is the replacement for the aging IPv4. An IPv6 address consists of 8 groups of four hexadecimal digits (0-9 and a-f) separated by colons and looks like this fe80::4546:3d22:1b5a:efe4%12. If one of the groups only contains zeros, that group can be omitted.