The acronym IP stands for Internet Protocol and is a protocol that is responsible for establishing communications between the different networks on the planet. For this reason, each IP is unique for each device to be able to communicate with each other without interference or confusion. Keep in mind that every time a device communicates with another via the internet, each one must have its own IP address, since it is like its registration on the internet so as not to be confused as the recipient when communicating the information.
Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán from Pexels
However, a distinction must be made between public and private IP addresses.
What are the IP addresses like? Examples
Public and private IP addresses are made up of four blocks of numbers separated by periods. Each of its blocks contains a number between 0 and 255 and passes to the next one through a point that acts as a separator.
Therefore,
A public IP address could be 55.65.10.120.
A private IP address could be 192.20.55.90.
Is there the same public or private IP addresses?
A public IP address can never be duplicated since it would then be impossible to locate a device on the internet. It is as if there were two identical license plates. Which would be the correct one? Exactly, it would not be known. Therefore, a public IP can never be duplicated. On the other hand, a private IP cannot be duplicated, although a colleague of yours may have the same one at home.
That is, if you are at home, your router can assign private IPs to each device in your home, and these IPs may be the same as those of your neighbor. However, being a private network, there will be no interference since the routers of each are independent and will not interfere.
What is a public IP address?
A public IP address is an identification that your internet provider assigns you when you connect to the internet. It is your virtual license plate, so to speak. This IP can be changed every time you restart the router or modified every X time by your internet provider.
– If your public IP every time you restart the router changes, you will have a dynamic IP in your house.
– If your public IP never changes, you will have a fixed IP (Manually set by your internet provider with prior notice and consent from you).
Relationship between public IP address and web domain
In the early days of the internet, a few servers and hostings hosted a small number of web pages. For this reason, the only way to access these servers and their hosted web pages were by entering your public IP to connect to them.
However, as this was not practical (since learning numbers was never easy), today’s domain names were invented. Thanks to domains and DNS, we can easily remember a domain name to access a web page without remembering numbers.
The use of these domain names had a multitude of advantages on the internet, such as:
The names were easier to remember than the IP numbers.
Domains are shorter than the IPs in many cases.
They improved the user experience on the internet.
They allowed the creation of branding and the Top Of Mind brands to have their own identity on the internet.
What is a private IP address?
A private IP address is the same as a public IP except that it cannot be dynamic (they are fixed). Besides, these private IPs can be accessed directly from the internet. First, you must access the router that is the one that has the public IP. These private IPs are mainly used to connect household devices within the same home, such as tablets, computers, and smart objects such as washing machines, voice assistants, etc.
Private IPs are also used to connect multiple computers within large corporations and thus share documents and information privately.
Private IP address ranges
Private IP addresses are assigned a range based on the type of network it is. That is, they work differently from public IPs, as I will show you below:
CLASS A (xxx.yyy.yyy.yyy). They are used mainly by giant companies. Therefore, the IP is sectioned using the first block to identify the network and the remaining blocks to identify the device. This type of network allows 126 different networks and 16,777,214 computers to be connected.
CLASS B (xxx.xxx.yyy.yyy). Medium-sized companies or institutions use them. In this case, the first two blocks identify the network and the rest of the devices. This makes it possible to have 16,384 networks and 65,534 computers.
CLASS C (xxx.xxx.xxx.yyy). They are the ones used by 99% of the population, who mostly have private domestic networks. The first three blocks identify the network, and the last the device. This allows for 2,097,152 networks and 254 computers per network.
What are IPv4 and IPv6 IP addresses?
IPv4 addresses are what we have seen all this time, while IPv6 addresses are a new type of protocol that comes to replace IPv4 because there are almost no IPv4 addresses left, and you have to jump to IPv6 addresses.
In other words, we have almost run out of license plate numbers, and therefore another system is needed that gives us access to a much more variety of IP addresses.
Therefore, IPv6 addresses are the present and the future since IPv6 addresses they have alphanumeric characters to provide a greater number of possible combinations.
Business opportunity for IPv4 addresses you no longer use
Did you know that many parties, individuals, and companies need a large number of IPv4 addresses? Instead of taking advantage of the black market, you can take advantage of legal platforms like IPXO.
What can you get from the IPXO?
– You can custom subnet price
– You can receive transparent revenue reports
– You can earn recurring payouts
IPXO is worth choosing for the following reasons:
– You can set your own price
– Contract signing is done automatically
– Your data will remain safe
– The risk of blocking addresses can be significantly reduced
Migration to IPV6 addresses may be inevitable, but you can take advantage of it financially. Hopefully, this article has helped you understand IP addresses and how you can take advantage of migrating from IPv4 to IPv6.
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