What is an IP address?

What is an IP address? How can I know my IP?

It is not very easy to find someone who knows what an IP address is and how, thanks to them, the Internet works as we know it today. Before continuing, I will tell you that we will know what a public IP address and a private IP address are.

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What is an IP address?
IP stands for "Internet Protocol". This protocol, like many others such as HTTP, TCP, UDP, etc., is responsible for establishing communications in most of our networks. To do this, assign a unique and unrepeatable address to each device that tries to communicate on the Internet. Even a fridge can have an IP address! We understand a device such as a router, a server, a telephone, a computer, a television, etc.
There is no device within the world that may communicate with associates others while not having an IP. IP addresses are the numerical names that are assigned to a device as a "license plate" so that it can be called by other devices.

There are two types of IP: public IP addresses and private IP addresses. Both public and private IP addresses are built in four number blocks. Each block is a number from 0 to 255 and is separated by a period ("."). For example, a public IP address could be 119.45.42.34 and a private IP address, 192.168.1.19.

What is a public IP address?
A public IP is that the identification allotted by your net supplier to be recognized on the web. Just like you, you can't go outside with the car without a license plate, you can't go online without a reference or identification.
Normally these IP addresses are typically revolved by your ISP (internet provider) on every occasion you restart the router or from time to time. These IP addresses are called dynamic IP addresses. If for a few reasons we'd like to possess a static or mounted IP address for a tool, we must contact the ISP and request that they put it manually.

What is a private IP address?
A private IP address is exactly the same as public IP addresses, only these are characterized by being fixed for each device and are not accessible from the Internet. The typical example is that of a house wherever devices like a laptop, a mobile, a television, and even a washing machine are connected to the same WiFi or cable network. This network assigns a fixed and unrepeatable IP address to each device so that they can recognize each other.
There are totally different ranges of personal IP addresses that we are going to see below. For now, I want to give you an example of what it would be like to have private IP addresses in a small home environment:
Router: 192.168.5.1
Dad's mobile: 192.168.5.10
Mom's mobile: 192.168.5.11
My mobile: 192.168.5.13
Printer: 192.168.5.12
Tablet: 192.168.5.98

The ranges of private IP addresses
Unlike public IP addresses, private ones are assigned a range based on the type of network that we will see next. Public IP addresses are free, anyone can touch you:
Class A range: 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255.
Class B range: 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255.
Class C range: 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255.

CLASS A: Used for large networks, such as those of international companies. The first block of the address is used to identify the network, while the other three blocks are used to identify the devices (xxx.yyy.yyy.yyy). This allows United States to make up to 126 totally different networks and have a most of sixteen,777,214 computers connected per network.

CLASS B: Used by medium-sized networks, such as a university or institutions of similar size. It uses the first two blocks to identify the network, while the remaining two are used to identify connected devices (xxx.xxx.yyy.yyy). This allows United States to make a bigger variety of networks, but fewer computers connected per network (16,384 networks and 65,534 computers).

CLASS C: those who ninety nine of the population use. They are reserved for small home networks. The first 3 blocks are wont to establish the network and also the last one as a tool symbol (xxx.xxx.xxx.yyy). This makes the United States have even additional totally different networks, however fewer computers per network (2,097,152 networks and 254 computers per network).


What are IPv4 and IPv6 IP addresses?
If explaining what IP addresses are a bit messy, imagine when I explain now what IPv6 addresses are. As it turns out, IPv4 addresses are what we have been seeing now and IPv6 addresses are a new type of protocol that comes to replace IPv4 because there are almost no IPv4 addresses left and you have to jump to IPv6 addresses. We are not going to go into much matter, I just want to leave as a curious fact:
While IPv4 supports 4,294,967,296 (232) addresses, which is just under 4.3 billion, IPv6 offers 3.4 x 1038 (2128) addresses, a number similar to 6.67126144781401e + 23 IP addresses for every square meter on the Earth's surface. Source.
Curious, right? IPv6 addresses are the future. Well, rather the present already. Its composition is completely different from that of IPv4 addresses since the former play with alphanumeric characters. Therefore, the combinations are endless.
How am i able to understand my non-public science address in Windows?
On the contrary, in this case, you need to know what your private IP address is in Windows. Unlike to know the public, this process requires a somewhat more complex path. But it is not difficult, just follow the steps you will see below. We will use Windows 10 although in Windows the form is common in all its versions. On a UNIX operating system or Macintosh, these are other steps, which we will see later.

Conclusions:
It is important to understand however the fundamental net design works. Even more, if you choose to hire a web host. If you need to hire a dedicated IP for one of your projects, be it web hosting or specific servers, you can ask us and we will be happy to help you.