Understanding IP Address or IP Address
IP Address Class. standing IP Address is the identity of a computer in the form of a row of binary numbers 32 bits to 128 bits, as the address used to exchange data with computers or other devices on the internet network. IP stands for “Internet Protocol” as the basic procedure for exchanging data on the internet network between data packets and connected hosts, so that the data flow can be recognized by the sender and recipient. The host can be a server computer and a computer that accesses a website.
IP Address Function on the Internet
In practice, when we access the website using a mobile phone, the data package will request data on the server computer that stores the website data. In theory, our cellphone is a host that receives data and a server computer acts as a host that sends data. And vice versa, when we upload photos on social media, our cellphone acts as a host that sends data and the social media server computer acts as a host that receives data. This is where the role of the IP Address is to address every computer (host) connected to the internet, so that data exchange can be in line with Internet Protocol procedures.
The house has a street address to receive and send letters from the post office, while the computer has an IP address to receive and send data from the internet
Before DNS technology was created, internet users used IP addresses directly to access a web page. DNS allows a website to have an address that is easy to remember for example; google.com, facebook.com, and others
Example IP Address Version 4
IPv4 addresses are commonly recognized IP addresses, here is one example:
172.217.10.14
This address is the IP address of the Google site
You can try typing the IP Address number in the browser address bar, to access websites stored on that host. However, unfortunately the IP Address is not permanent, we can change the IP Address of our computer easily using a VPN.
IPv4 addresses have 4 blocks of numeric numbers, each block can contain a number with 1 to 3 digits. Each number in each block is in the interval 0-255. Because it consists of 4 blocks with each containing a number from 0-225 in binary 00000000 to 11111111, IP Address version 4 is called using a 32-bit numeric number.
IPv4 = 172.217.10.14
Binary = 10101100.11011001.00001010.00001110
Seen the length of the number is 32 bits (32 digits).
IP Address Class
The IP address consists of a network id and a host id. Network Id is the address of a network and Host Id is the address of the computer in the network. The following class IP address version 4;
- Class A; The first 8 bits (0 – 127) are the network Id, and the next 24 bits (128 – 191) are the host Id.
- Class B; The first 16 bits (0 – 128) are the network Id, and the next 16 bits (128 – 191) are the host Id.
- Class C, the first 24 bits (0 – 191) are the network Id, and the next 8 bits (192 – 223) are the host Id.
- Class D, this class uses a multi-casting procedure, the IPs that can be used are 224.0.0.0 – 239.255.255.255.
- Class E, this class has an interval of 240.0.0.0 – 254.255.255.255.
Example IP Address Version 6
IP Address version 6 is an IP address that uses a 128-bit binary number to address computers on the network. Here’s an example of an IPv6 address
21da:00d3:0000:2f3b:02aa:00ff:fe28:9c5a
With a length of 128 bits, the use of IPv6 can address 2128 = 3.4 x 1038 host computers around the world.
So the article “Understanding IP Addresses and Its Functions along with IP Address Classes”, hopefully can provide benefits for readers.
Read:
- How do I find my IP address?
- What is that IP address?
- What is a 192.168 IP address?
- Can we find IP address?
