What is IP Address in a Network?

I bet you heard of “What is your/ my IP Address? “, “Device/Router IP” couple of times somewhere at some point right? What is IP Address then? Well IP stands for Internet Protocol. IP Address is an unique address assigned to every single device be it router, PC, tablets, phones, IoT devices to communicate in a network. Without IP communication between devices is not possible at all. Think of it as an unique number your student ID card when you go to a college or passport ID when you go to airport where they will recognize you. guess most of us are familiar with 192.168.1.2 etc. right? Yeah, you heard that right that’s IP Address. When I say unique I meant it. But wait a sec, Smart. You might have a question like “Hey you said IP Address is unique but I have IP Address of 192.168.1.2 and my friend on the other house has got 192.168.1.2 IP Address too , so what is going on? How on earth is it unique then. It doesn’t make sense”. Whoa !! Hold your horses , I will explain all of this here. Have patience my friend.

Before we answer the question, we need to know there are different types of IP Address by their respective category.

A) Reachability

B) IP Address versions

C) Assignment

A) Reachability

Private IP Adress

Remember the question striking in your mind above ? “How can me and my neighbour collegue can have same IP Address even when IP Address should be unique. Well, that’s where Private IP come into play. These IP are known as private IP. A private IP are IP addresses used in an internal network or home network. Private IP generally ranges from 10.0.0.0 to 192.168.255.255. They are not recognized outside internet. For example, you and your friend cannot communicate with each other using this IP address thats where public IP comes into play.

Public IP Address

Public IP Address are the unique address which is reachable throughout the internet. This address is assigned by your internet service provider (ISP). You cannot communicate to internet without this address. For example Bob in USA cannot send a cheeky text or lovely image to you living in Nepal without Public IP Address. Wanting to know your public IP? Just type “What is my IP address” on google. These address are actually unique and cannot be reused. Wait, you mean if Public IP address are unique then there must be limited IP right? Yes, it is. That’s why we have 2 versions of IP which we will discuss below.

B) IP Address versions

IPv4 (Internet Protocol Version 4)

IPv4 addresses are 32 bits long. The one most of us in modern world are using today is IPv4 and it is very limited and are about to be exhausted for the fact that IPv4 address can only have 2³², or 4,294,967,296 (4.29 billion). This is why we are gradually adopting to IPv6.

IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version 6)

IPv6 is the new protocol launched to rectify the limited address space of IPv4 for it uses 128 bit address space hence permitting whopping 2¹²⁸ address i.e.340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 (340 duodecillion) a galaxy more compared to IPv4. IPv6 is now becoming more prevalent in cloud provider and consumer access networks these days. At the time of this writing, In Nepal, Classitech and Worldlink are already proving IPV6 address to users.

C) Assignment

Dynamic IP Address

Both private and public IP addresses can be either static or dynamic. A static IP address is manually configured and will never change. It is a permanent internet address. Dynamic IP addresses change automatically and regularly. ISPs buy a large pool of IP addresses and assign them automatically to their customers. Periodically, they re-assign them and put the older IP addresses back into the pool to be used for other customers. The rationale for this approach is to generate cost savings for the ISP.

Static IP Address

In contrast to dynamic IP addresses, A static IP address is simply an address that doesn’t change. Once your device is assigned a static IP address, that number typically stays the same until the device is decommissioned or your network architecture changes.

For businesses that plan to host their own server, it is crucial to have one. This is because a static IP address ensures that websites and email addresses tied to it will have a consistent IP address — vital if you want other devices to be able to find them consistently on the web.