What is an IP address? It is a data communication protocol over a network. In other words, it is a set of numbers that are assigned randomly and automatically, although it can also be assigned manually to each device that is part of the network.
The IP address, in simpler words, is a unique number that is assigned to a computer to accurately identify it when it connects to the network.
Differences between public and private IP
If our devices connect to the Internet through our home network, they will have two different IPs assigned, which will identify it in the two different network environments to which they are connected, the local network environment, and the Internet environment.
The public IP identifies our device on the internet.
This IP is assigned to us by our internet provider and normally it varies every time the router is restarted or simply every so often, therefore, if we need to maintain a fixed IP that does not vary, we will have to contact our internet provider.
What is a private IP address?
The private IP differs from the public IP, in that the private IP is fixed for each device and is not accessible from the internet.This type of IP is often used to connect a device (for example a mobile phone) with an internet connection (for example the Wifi router).
In addition, we can find different private IP ranges, being able to find:
Class A range
This type of range is commonly used in large companies that need thousands of connections, this type of range allows 126 different networks and a maximum of 16,777,214 network-connected computers.
This type of range is made up of two blocks, the first block is used for network identification and the other three blocks for device identification (xxx.yyy.yyy.yyy).
Class B range
Rank B is often used by universities or organizations of a similar size.Unlike range A, we can create a greater number of networks in range B (12,384) but we can have a smaller number of connected computers.
Regarding the composition, the class B range consists of two blocks for identifying the network and another two for identifying devices.
Class C range
The class C range is the most common because it is usually used in domestic use.
Unlike the range A and B we will have a greater number of different networks (2,097,152), but with a smaller number of computers (254 per network).
What are IPv4 and IPv6 addresses?
The IPv4 IP addresses are in a few words the IP addresses that we were talking about before, in this case, we have a 32-bit space which allows 4,294,967,296 addresses.
This number of addresses is insufficient for today's needs, which is why IPv6 was born, which is longer and more complex than IPv4 addresses, having a space of 128 bits, which translates to 340 sextillion addresses.
Relationship between IP and Domain
In the early years of the Internet, the only way to access a website was through the IP address, because there were no domain names such as mydomain.com.
As the use of the internet and the creation of web pages became popular, remembering different IP addresses to access a web became an increasingly complicated job.
To solve this, domains were born, and with the help of DNS (Domain name server), we can access a website without having to remember or identify a specific IP address for a website.It is much easier to remember the name of a domain than an IP address.
As you can see, the information about the world of IP is quite broad and can sometimes be complex.But its operation is basic for all web hosting or web domain, being a key part of all browsers such as the use of the IP in Google Chrome.