Anyone
who uses a computer has heard the term “IP Address”, but what exactly does that
mean? What is an IP Address?
An
IP Address, or Internet Protocol Address, is the digital “address” assigned to
every device connected to the Internet. Internet Protocol is the technical
standard that should be followed while using the Internet. This protocol was developed in the 1970s.
There
are two versions of IP that support the computer network addressing. They are:
Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) and Internet Protocol version 6
(IPv6). The most commonly used version
is IPv4. With this version, the IP
Addresses are four bytes (or 32 bits) long.
IPv6 is the newer version, which allows IP Addresses of 16 bytes (or 128
bits) long. Whichever version is used,
the IP Address has two main purposes:
host or network interface identification and location addressing.
IPv4
addresses are typically shown in a “dot-decimal” sequence. They are made up of four parts, using numbers
that range from 0 to 255. Each part is
separated by a decimal (or dot) and each group consists of 8 bits. An example of this is shown below:
The
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is responsible for coordinating the
global pool of IP Addresses and then providing them to the Regional Internet
Registries (RIRs) so they can be assigned to end users, including Internet
service providers. The main address pool
used by IANA was depleted on February 3, 2011.
This is the date that the last blocks were assigned to the 5 RIRs.
IPv4
addresses were depleting so rapidly due to the explosive growth of the Internet,
that the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) was forced to look into new
technologies in order to expand the address capacities. The solution they decided on was to
completely redesign the Internet Protocol.
In 1995, IPv6 was named as a means to replace IPv4.
In
this new version, the address size was increased to 128 bits from the original
32 bits. Even considering a growth
explosion, this should give a sufficient amount of available addresses well
into the future. A typical IPv6 address
would look like this:
This
new formula is capable of automatically changing the routing prefix of whole
networks without the need to redesign or renumber the system. This will be necessary if global routing
policy changes.
