IP Address (Internet Protocol Address) is an exclusive number assigned to various devices (like
printers, routers, modems, etc.) in order to identify them and to communicate with them on the
computer network (internet or intranet). In layman's term it is similar to address of home or
office of a person.
IP Address Classification:
Static IP Address: When a computer is configured to use the same IP address
each time it powers up, this is known as a Static IP address. Static IP Address is fix, in contrast
to a dynamic IP address. Static IP addresses in general, are manually assigned to a computer by an
administrator.
Dynamic IP Address: Dynamic IP address is not fix and may change at any time. This IP
address is issued by ISP (Internet Service Provider) from a pool of IP addresses. Generally computer
automatically gets dynamic address as user logs on to the ISP's network, so that user need not
know the details of network configuration. Usually a dial-up connection, wireless connection etc.
use dynamic IP Address.
IP Address Versions:
IP version 4 addresses (IPv4): It uses 32-bit addresses and are usually represented in
dotted-decimal notation as four numbers, each ranging from 0 to 255, separated by dots, e.g.
147.132.42.18). Here each range from 0 to 255 can be represented by 8 bits, and hence known
as an octet. The use of 32 bits limits the number of addresses to 4,294,967,296 (i.e. 2^32) possible
unique combinations, however, some of these are reserved for special purposes such as private networks,
hence number of addresses that can be allocated as public internet addresses reduce.
IP version 6 addresses (IPv6): IPv6 is the next generation of the Internet Protocol, designed to
replace IPv4 on the Internet. These addresses are 128 bits wide and hence number of possible unique
combinations for IPv6 addresses is about 3.403 x 1038 (i.e. 2^128). An example of an IPv6 address
is 2001:0db8:85a3:08d3:1319:8a2e:0370:7334.
