What’s an IP Address and How Do I Find Mine?
Whenever you want to browse the web or send an email, your computer needs to exchange information with a web server or with another computer. But how exactly do computers and servers locate one another when there are more than 7 billion devices sharing the internet?
 
The short answer: computers find one another by searching for each other’s IP address
 
What’s an IP Address and How Do I Find Mine?
 

What’s an IP address?

Think of an IP address like a mailing address:
 
[ADD A MAILBOX THAT HAS THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS: 1501 Page Mill Rd, Palo Alto, CA]
 
An IP address (which stands for “Internet Protocol address”) identifies the computer so other devices on the internet can find it and share information with it
 
Every computer has a unique IP address
 

What’s IPv4?

The most common type of IP address is IP Version 4 (IPv4). An IPv4 address consists of 4 numbers separated by dots:
 
192.23.57.125
 
Each of those 4 numbers is represented by 8 binary digits (also known as an octet). Binary is a language that consists of alternating 0s and 1s:
 
192: 11000000
 
23: 00010111
 
57: 00111001
 
125: 01111101
 
In binary code, that IP address would look like:
 
11000000.00010111.00111001.01111101
 
Binary numbers can only go as high as 255, which is the maximum number in 8-digit binary: 11111111
 

Meet IPv6

As more and more computers were connected to the internet, there were concerns that there wouldn’t be enough IP addresses for every device! That’s why IPv6 was invented
 
IPv6 uses:
 
  • Numbers 1-9
  • Letters A, B, C, D, E, F
 
It also doubles the length of an IPv4 address
 
IPv6 has more possible IP combinations than IPv4. Rest assured there won’t be an IP Address shortage anytime soon
 
IPv6 is slowly being adopted by tech companies worldwide. As of 2019, nearly 30% of Google users connect to the site with an IPv6 address [1]. But IPv4 is still expected to be in use for years to come.
 

How does your computer get its IP address?

Your computer’s IP address is assigned by a program called the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). Usually, the DHCP is built into your network router
 
When your computer connects to a network:
 
  • Your computer sends off a message requesting an IP address from a DHCP
  • The DHCP issues an IP address to your computer that doesn’t match other IP addresses on the network
 
IP addresses have an expiration date. When your IP address expires, your computer will request a new one from the DHCP

Breaking down an IP address

A mailing address gives you several different kinds of identifiers:
 
1501: Building number
 
Page Mill Rd: Street name
 
Palo Alto: City name
 
CA: State name
 
An IP address can be broken down in the same way. There are 2 separate parts of an IP address: the Network ID and the Host ID
 
  • Network ID: Identifies the network you’re connected to
  • Host ID: Identifies your computer
 
192.23.57.125
 
Red: Network ID
 
Black: Host ID

How do computers use IP addresses to find one another?

Let’s say that you’re trying to visit a website on your web browser. First, you connect your computer to the internet:
 
  • Your computer is given an IP address by your internet service provider (ISP)
  • You enter the website name in the address bar in your browser - your computer sends a request for the website’s data
  • Your data request first goes to a domain name server (DNS), which is also provided by your ISP
  • The DNS translates the website name into an IP address {Store.HP.com

Article reposted with permission from HP Tech Takes