IP Address

IP Address

IP (Internet Protocol) Address

A numeric address

It’s an identifier for a computer or a device on a network.

Every device on a network needs to have an ip address to communicate.

Consists of two parts : A network address and a host address

Two types - IPv4 and IPv6.

IPv4

Ipv4 is the current version of IP addresses

32 bit numeric address written as four numbers separated by periods. Ex- 66.94.234.13 (No. separated by period is called octet)

The number range in each octet is from 0-255.

This address version can produce over 4 billion unique addresses.

IPv4 is made of 4 sets of 8 binary bits and those sets are called octets.

The bits in each octet is represented by a number

The first bit has the value 128 then 64 and so on all the way down to one.

Each bit on the octet can either be 1 or 0.

If the number is 1 then the number that it represents counts and if the number is 0 then the no. that it represents does not count.

So by manipulating the 1’s and 0’s in the octet, we can come up with range from 0 to 255.

IP address - 66.94.29.13

To get 66, we can add 64+2 = 66

128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 - Binary bit version of 66

66. 94. 29. 13

01000010 01011110 00011101 00001101

IPv6

When internet first developed, programmers did not realize how big it would become. They thought that IPv4 would be enough but it was not so.

IPv6 is the next generation of IP addresses.

The main difference between IPv4 and IPv6 is the link of the address.

The IPv4 address is the 32-bit numeric address whereas IPv6 is 128-bit hexadecimal address.

Hexadecimal was both numbers and alphabets.

Capable of producing over 340 undecillion address.

It is made up of 8 sets of 16 bits with each set separated by colon.

Each hexadecimal character represents 4 bits.

So we need to convert 4 bits at a time to get one hexadecimal character.

Ex –

0010011011011011 : 0100001100001101 :

8 4 2 1 8 4 2 1 8 4 2 1

0 0 1 0 = 2 0 1 1 0 = 6 1 1 0 1 =13 = D

13 is a double digit number and we cannot use a double digit number to represent 4 bits.

In hexadecimal format, double digit numbers are represented with a single alphabet (A-F).