IP ADDRESS CONCEPTS contd...

As in the preceding post we became familiar with the idea and concept behind the development of a special schema for the internet(URL) , we will learn more about IP address.

• IP address are assigned by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)
• IP address are used to identify a computer or a server on the internet or any another network(like LAN and WAN).

• IP ADDRESS IS A NUMERICAL CONSISTING OF 16 DIGITS AND FOUR OCTANT FOR THE IPv4 (internet protocol version 4) and is a 32 bit number. For the IPv6 it is of 128 bit number.
  
• Each IP address is of form xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
• Here each xxx can vary from 0 to 255
• So we have IP ranges from 0.0.0.0 to 255.255.255.255
• IP address are of two types Static and Dynamic IP address
• AS the name suggests Static IP address are those which are bounded to a certain computer or server permanently i.e. nobody can change their IP address. This are generally assigned to websites and servers that are always online. And they cost too!
  
• Dynamic address are assigned to temporary connections which are made to the internet. Like when you and I connect to the net through DSL or dial up or cable connections our computers are assigned a dynamic IP by our ISP unless you have requested your ISP for a static IP address.
  
• eg. Google has an IP address 209.85.153.104

While IP address can range from anywhere 0.0.0.0 to 255.255.255.255 but some of them are reserved for some special purposes.

• IP address of local host (i.e.) your computer is 127.0.0.1 which simply means that whenever a programs accesses a network running on same computer it will do through this ip(also called loopback address).
• 192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255 for routers(such as DSL etc.) and LAN s
• 10.0.0.0-10.255.255.255 are reserved for TCP/IP and local networks
• 255.255.255.0 is the Subnet Mask

More info soon