What is an IP address?
Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a logical digital address assigned to each computer, printer, adapter, router, or any other device that is part of the TCP / IP network. The IP address is the primary component on which the network architecture is built where you use it. Devices used to surf the Internet, such as personal computers, tablets, and smartphones, to identify themselves and communicate with other devices in the TCP / IP network; There is no network without it.
So an IP address is a logical address that is used to identify each node in the network distinctly from others, and since the IP addresses are logical, therefore, they can be changed, and they are similar to addresses in a city because the IP address gives the network an address so that it can communicate with the nodes or other networks as it is sent Mail to friends and relatives. The numbers in the IP address are divided into two parts; One part identifies the network to which this address belongs while the other part identifies the site.
Types of IP addresses
Even if you have heard an IP address before, you may not realize that there are different types of IP addresses, but despite this diversity all addresses are used for the same purpose. There are private IP addresses, public IP addresses, static IP addresses and dynamic IP addresses, in addition to that each type of IP address can be either an IPv4 address or an IPv6 address.
Private IP addresses
Private IP addresses are used within a single network, such as devices associated with the home network, as these types of IP addresses for your devices provide a way to communicate with the router and all other devices in your private network. Private IP addresses can be assigned manually or set automatically by the router.
Public IP addresses
Public IP addresses are used on the public internet and are assigned by the Internet service provider, it is the main address that your home or business network uses to communicate with the rest of the devices connected to networks around the world as it happens when you use the Internet it provides a way for devices in your home to access the private internet service provider To you, and therefore to the outside world, allowing these devices to do things like accessing websites and communicating directly with other people's computers.
Dynamic and static IP addresses
Both private IP addresses and public IP addresses are either dynamic or static, which means they either change or not change. The IP address assigned by the DHCP server is a dynamic IP address, and if DHCP is not enabled or the device does not support it, it must Assign an IP address manually, in which case the IP address is called a static address.
What is IPv4
It is an Internet addressing system that has proven its worth and has been adopted for many years, it uses 32 bits of numbers that are arranged differently to give different addresses divided into four boxes separated by three points, each box represents 8 bits and is called the octets, an example of this address (76.240.249.145), with a simple calculation, IPv4 has a maximum of 4.3 billion possible addresses. Despite this huge number of addresses, there are not enough IPv4 addresses to accommodate all computers, smartphones, mobile devices and other devices that need addresses on the network, this required a new addressing system to meet these increasing needs, and IPv6 was the solution.
What is IPv6
It is a new addressing scheme developed by IETF, launched in 2012, designed to solve the problem of IPv4 address access, it uses 128-bit processing to support approximately 340 trillion different addresses (2 power 128), instead of four sets of numbers consisting from one to Three numbers As in IPv4, IPv6 uses eight groups of four hexadecimal numbers that separate these groups with two points, as in this address 2001: 0db8: 0012: 0001: 3c5e: 7354: 0000: 5db1.
IETF has included improvements to IPv6 in its work compared to IPv4, as IPv6 can handle packets more efficiently, improve performance and increase security, and with these specifications may last for decades.
The fate of IPv4
IPv4 addresses will not disappear anytime soon, they are still in use, and although new addresses are exhausted, old devices can still be bought and sold. Maybe one day IPv6 certification will reach 100% and there will be no IPv4 addresses in use, but this will take very long.
How do I know my IP address
Different devices and operating systems require several steps to find the IP address. There are also various steps you should take if you are looking for the public IP address provided to you by your ISP, or if you need to know the private IP address distributed by the router.
How do I know the public IP address
To find the public IP address of your router there are many ways to find it, but websites like IP Chicken, WhatsMyIP.org, WhatIsMyIPAddress.com make this very easy, it works on any networked device that supports web browser, like smartphone or iPod Or laptop, just visit the site to display the address.
How do I know the private IP address
The command is simple for Windows users, just go to the command prompt and enter the following command ipconfig then press enter.
As for Android users, they should go to the setting, then Wi-Fi and then click on the network used to bring up a new window displaying the network information that includes the private IP address.
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