What is an IP address?
You already know that a group numbers in the following format are called IP addresses right? How do they work? Why are they important?
120.28.240.3
192.168.1.1
216.27.61.137
When you come to think about it, they are more than just numbers. They play a very vital role in the exchange of information between computers.
An IP address is also called an Internet Protocol address, a unique identifying number for your computer in a network of computers. Think of it as a home address in a very crowded street.
When you are using the internet or simply using a computer in your office network, you are sending and receiving big and small amounts of data. It works pretty much like sending and receiving packages via FedEx. Without a specific address, it will be very hard for the FedEx guy to deliver a package and knock on every door while he’s at it. We don’t really want that kind of hassle because time is always of the essence. Same goes for a network with a lot of computers.
There are two popular ways to get an IP address. There’s the static IP which you can forcibly assign to your computer. The other one is called DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol), wherein the network will automatically assign you an IP address. The latter often proves to be more convenient since no two computers can have the same IP address in one network.
You can check your computer’s IP address using http://whatismyip.com/.
Tags: network, networking
