ip address

(internet protocol address) the address of a device attached to an ip network (tcp/ip

network). every client, server and network device must have a unique ip address for each
network connection (network interface). every ip packet contains a source ip address and
a destination ip address.
static and dynamic ip

an ip network is somewhat similar to the telephone network in that you have to have the
phone number to reach a destination. the big difference is that ip addresses are often
temporary.
each device in an ip network is either assigned a permanent address (static ip) by the
network administrator or is assigned a temporary address (dynamic ip) via dhcp software.
routers, firewalls and proxy servers use static addresses as do most servers and printers
that serve multiple users. client machines may use static or dynamic ip addresses. the ip
address assigned to your service by your cable or dsl internet provider is typically
dynamic ip. in routers and operating systems, the default configuration for clients is
dynamic ip (see dhcp).
dotted decimals

ip addresses are written in "dotted decimal" notation, which is four sets of numbers
separated by periods; for example, 204.171.64.2. if you knew the ip address of a web site,
you could enter the dotted decimal number into your browser instead of the domain name
(which is why we have dns!).
although the next version of the ip protocol offers a virtually unlimited number of unique
addresses (see ipv6), the traditional ip address (ipv4) uses a 32-bit number that defines
both the network and the host computer. the network class determines how many of the
32 bits are used for the network address, leaving the remaining bits for use as the host
number (note the numbers of networks and hosts in the table below). the host number can
be further divided between subnetworks and hosts (see subnet mask).
class a, b and c

although the computer identifies the class by the first three bits of the address (a=0; b=10;
c=110), people identify the class by the first number in the address (see range below). this
class-based system has also been greatly expanded, eliminating the huge disparity in the
number of hosts that each class can accommodate (see cidr).

maximum maximum number of

class number hosts bits used in
number of per network/host
class range networks network id id
a 1-126 127 16,777,214 7/24
b 128-191 16,383 65,534 14/16
c 192-223 2,097,151 254 21/8
 127 reserved for loopback test

networks, subnets and hosts

an ip address is first divided between networks and
hosts. the host bits are further divided between
subnets and hosts. see subnet mask.
ip - logical or physical?
an ip address is somewhat of a hybrid, which can be thought of as either logical or
physical, depending on how you view it. it is a unique number assigned to a node, which
makes it seem physical, especially because there is so much name-to-ip address
resolution going on in the network.
there is also the ethernet address, which is built into the network adapter. that is indeed
physical, and it does not change, which is very typical of physical device names.
however, since ip addresses can be dynamically assigned, causing the same client
workstation to have a different ip address every day, the ip address seems more like a
logical address. regardless of what it is, it would make a great debate in a computer
science class. see logical vs. physical, ipv6, private ip addresses, tcp/ip abc's and ip on
everything.

• find the latest news, features and reviews relating to "ip address" from cmp's
techsearch.

wikipedia hyperlink
"/main/what_content.jsp"directory > reference > wikipedia > ip address
ip address
an ip address (internet protocol address) is a unique number that devices use in order
to identify and communicate with each other on a computer network utilizing the internet
protocol standard (ip). any participating network device — including routers, computers,
time-servers, printers, internet fax machines, and some telephones — must have its own
unique address.
an ip address can also be thought of as the equivalent of a street address or a phone
number for a computer or other network device on the internet. just as each street address
and phone number uniquely identifies a building or telephone, an ip address can uniquely
identify a specific computer or other network device on a network.

domain names
main article: domain name system
a network lookup service, the domain name system (dns), provides the ability to map
domain names to a specific ip address. the purpose of domains is that humans better
remember names than arbitrary strings of numbers. it also allows an entity to change its
ip addresses or reassign them without having to notify anyone except their dns server.
another reason for dns is to allow, for example, a web site to be hosted on multiple
servers (each with its own ip address) which allows for rudimentary load balancing.
for example, www.wikipedia.org resolves to 207.142.131.248.

dynamic and static ip addresses

ip addresses may either be assigned permanently (for example, to a server which is
always found at the same address) or temporarily, from a pool of available addresses.

dynamic
dynamic ip addresses are issued to identify non-permanent devices such as personal
computers or clients. internet service providers (isps) use dynamic allocation to assign
addresses from a small pool to a larger number of customers. this is used for dial-up
access, wifi and other temporary connections, allowing a portable computer user to
automatically connect to a variety services without needing to know the addressing
details of each network.
users with a dynamic ip may have trouble running their own email server as in recent
years services such as [[1]] have collected lists of dynamic ip ranges and blocked them.
dynamic ip address allocation requires a server to listen for requests and then assign an
address. addresses can be assigned at randomly or based on a predetermined policy. the
most common protocol used to dynamically assign addresses is dynamic host
configuration protocol (dhcp). dhcp includes a lease time which determines how long the
requester can use an address before requesting its renewal, allowing addresses to be
reclaimed if the requester goes offline.
it is common to use dynamic allocation for private networks. since private networks
rarely have an address shortage, it is possible to assign the same address to the same
computer on each request or to define an extended lease time. these two methods
simulate static ip address assignment.

static
static ip addresses are used to identify semi-permanent devices with constant ip
addresses. servers typically use static ip addresses. the static address can be configured
directly on the device or as part of a central dhcp configuration which associates the
device's mac address with a static address.

allocation
main article: internet assigned numbers authority
ip addresses are allocated by a regional internet registry (rir). there are five rirs, which are
delegated by the internet assigned numbers authority. ip addresses are allocated in blocks
to an organization or business, which then suballocates them to other organizations.
for example, en.wikipedia.org resolves to 207.142.131.247, which belongs to the
207.142.0.0 - 207.142.255.255 block operated by agis. this block belongs to the
207.0.0.0 - 207.255.255.255 block operated by american registry for internet
numbers (the rir for north america).
since ip address blocks are assigned to rirs, which are geographically distributed, it is
somewhat possible to geolocate an ip address based on its registration.
subnetworks are used to further divide networks.

ip versions
the internet protocol has two primary versions in use. each version has its own defintion
of an ip address. because of its prevalence, "ip address" typically refers to those defined
by ipv4.
ip version 4
main article: ipv4#addressing
ipv4 uses 32-bit (4 byte) addresses, which limits the address space to 4,294,967,296
possible unique addresses. however, many are reserved for special purposes, such as
private networks (~18 million addresses) or multicast addresses (~1 million addresses).
this reduces the number of addresses that can be allocated as public internet addresses,
and as the number of addresses available is consumed, an ipv4 address shortage appears
to be inevitable in the long run. this limitation has helped stimulate the push towards
ipv6, which is currently in the early stages of deployment and is currently the only
contender to replace ipv4.

ip version 5
what would be considered ipv5 existed only as an experimental non-ip real time
streaming protocol called st2, described in rfc 1819. in keeping with standard unix release
conventions, all odd-numbered versions are considered experimental, and this version
was never intended to be implemented; the protocol was not abandoned. rsvp has
replaced it to some degree.

ip version 6
main article: ipv6#addressing
in ipv6, the new (but not yet widely deployed) standard protocol for the internet,
addresses are 128 bits wide, which, even with generous assignment of netblocks, should
suffice for the foreseeable future. in theory, there would be exactly 2128, or about 3.403 ×
1038 unique host interface addresses. that translates into
340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 addresses. this large address
space will be sparsely populated, which makes it possible to again encode more routing
information into the addresses themselves.

addressing
a version 6 address is written as eight 4-digit hexadecimal numbers separated by colons.
for readability, addresses may be shortened in two ways. within each colon-delimited
section, leading zeroes may be truncated. secondly, one string of zeroes (and only one)
may be replaced with two colons (::). for example, all of the following addresses are
equivalent:

• 1080:0000:0000:0000:0000:0034:0000:417a

• 1080:0:0:0:0:34:0:417a
 • 1080::34:0:417a

global unicast ipv6 addresses are constructed as two parts: a 64-bit routing part followed
by a 64-bit host identifier.
netblocks are specified as in the modern alternative for ipv4: network number, followed
by a slash, and the number of relevant bits of the network number (in decimal). example:
12ab::cd30:0:0:0:0/60 includes all addresses starting with 12ab00000000cd3.
ipv6 has many improvements over ipv4 other than just bigger address space, including
autorenumbering and mandatory support for ipsec.

routing
main article: routing
both ipv4 and ipv6 addresses are assigned in blocks which drastically reduces the
complexity of routing.

see also
• ping

• µαχ αδδρεσσ

• ρεγιοναλ ιντερνετ ρεγιστρψ

• african network information center

• αµεριχαν ρεγιστρψ φορ ιντερνετ νυµβερσ

• ριπε νετωορκ χοορδινατιον χεντρε

• ασια−παχιφιχ νετωορκ ινφορµατιον χεντρε

• λατιν αµεριχαν ανδ χαριββεαν ιντερνετ αδδρεσσεσ ρεγιστρψ

• subnet address

• γεολοχατιον

• γεολοχατιον σοφτωαρε

• ιντερνετ προτοχολ αδδρεσσ σποοφινγ

• πριϖατε νετωορκ
external links
• articles on circleid about ip addressing

• ιπ−αδδρεσσ µαναγεµεντ ον λανσ - article in byte magazine

• ιντροδυχτιον το ιπ αδδρεσσ αλλοχατιον

rfcs
• ipv4 addresses: rfc 791, rfc 1519

• ipv6 addresses: rfc 2373

this entry is from wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. it may not have
been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)