What is the IP address?

The shortcut IP means Internet Protocol. The IP address is a combination of numbers. The combination is always unicate in the specific net or subnet. Every computer, laptop, printer, smart socket, or TV has an IP address. The IP address in version IPv4 is composed of four numbers from 0 to 255. Each number is split by a dot. The IP address is usually supplemented by a subnet mask. The subnet mask is written at the end of the IP address after a slash. The subnet mask means how many bits are immutable.

If you have an IP address 192.168.1.10/24 before the slash is the IP address (192.168.1.10) and after the slash is the subnet mask (24). The binary representation of the IP address 192.168.1.10 is 11000000.10101000.00000001.00001010. The network part of the IP address is bold. This part is determined by the subnet mask.

What types of IP addresses are there?

Private IPv4 address

Private IP addresses are used in corporate or home networks. The private IP addresses are in the ranges:

• from 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255 (there are 16 777 216 IP addresses)
• from 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255 (there are 1 048 576 IP addresses)
• from 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255 (there are 65 536 IP addresses)

The private IP addresses are usually assigned automatically from the DHCP server. The IP range is set in the router, where the DHCP server is running. The networks from IP range from 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255 are usually used in companies, schools or other institutions. There are a lot of devices with a network connection. The networks from IP range from 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255 are usually used in small home networks.

The public IPv4 address

The public IP addresses are used for communication out of the private network. There is usually a translation of several private IP addresses to one public address. This translation of the IP addresses is called NAT. The NAT saves IP addresses. If you adminer the public web server, the web server uses a public IP address. The public IP address can be assigned to a DNS record.

Does my IP address change?

The private IP address is changed by the local DHCP server. If you don't want to change your local private IP address, you can set in your operation system a local static IP address.

The public IP address is changed by contract with your internet provider. If you pay for the public static IP address, your public IP address will be immutable.

Can the IP addresses run out?

The IP addresses in version IPv4 are used when the internet began. The addresses use 32 bits - there are 4.2 billion addresses. This seemed like a sufficient amount of IP addresses at the time. However, as the number of devices with the IP address increased (mobiles, tablets, smart TVs, servers..), the IPv4 addresses began to run out.

The solution to the lack of IPv4 addresses is the IP address in version IPv6. The IPv6 addresses use 128 bits and usually are written in hexadecimal systems. The problem is that IPv4 and IPv6 addresses aren't compatible. The solution is double addressing - the device gets both IP addresses. The next solution is to use an IP tunnel from IPv4 to IPv6.

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