Week 3: Clear on IP Addresses

What is an IP Address?

Great question! First off, IP Address is short for Internet Protocol Address. An IP Address is four 1 byte numbers separated by a period or in easier terms, four numbers between 0 and 255 separated by a period.  This address identifies you from someone else on the internet. Please note that an IP Address is similar to a MAC Address, but is more specific to your connection to the internet with your specific computer.

An example of an IP Address would be: 128.227.36.209

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There are two different kinds of IP Addresses on the internet. 

• One type, static IP addresses, are IP's that stay the same and never change. 
• The second type, Dynamic IP addresses, on the other hand, change every time you access the internet. 

An IP Address has two different parts.

Say our IP address is the following:

128.227.36.209

The first part of an IP Address is whats called the subnet. For example, a LAN can be identified with the first 3 sets of numbers in the IP Address. Although there are exceptions, its usually the first 3 sets of numbers. In this case, the subnet would be "128.227.36".

• The second part of an IP Address is the host. The host section of an IP Address identifies the specific computer/node that we're talking about on the network.  In this case, the host would be ".209".

IP addresses are very important to the business environment because they narrow down who is who, and can be traced back to certain people. If someone is unknowingly leaking the companies information, a reverse look-up of an IP address can sometimes help to find who the culprit is. 

A website that I found particularly interesting when doing research on IP Addresses was: http://whatismyipaddress.com/ip-address

This website tells it all when it comes to IP Addresses! I highly suggest taking a look at the website and reading a few of the facts!

Thanks for reading! I'll catch you next week!   :)