What is an IP Address?
Internet Protocol Address(IP address)
~ is a logical numeric address that is assigned to every single computer, printer, switch, router or any other device that is part of a TCP/IP based network.The IP address is the core component on which the networking architecture is built; no network exists without it. An IP address is a logical address that is used to uniquely identify every node in the network. Because IP addresses are logical, they can change. They are similar to addresses in a town or city because the IP address gives the network node an address so that it can communicate with other nodes or networks, just like mail is sent to friends and relatives.
Internet protocol Versions
IPv4 – Internet Protocol Version 4
IPv4 addresses are canonically represented in dotted - decimal notation, which consists of four decimal numbers, each ranging from 0 to 255, separated by dots, e.g., 172.16.254.1. Each part represents a group of 8 bits (octet) of the address.
IPv6 - Internet Protocol Version 6
IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) is a set of specifications from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IE) that's essentially an upgrade of IP version 4 (IPv4). The basics of IPv6 are similar to those of IPv4 -- devices can use IPv6 as source and destination addresses to pass packets over a network, and tools like ping work for network testing as they do in IPv4, with some slight variations.
IP Address Classes
With an IPv4 IP address, there are five classes of available IP ranges: Class A, Class B, Class C, Class D and Class E, while only A, B, and C are commonly used. Each class allows for a range of valid IP addresses, shown in the following table.
Class A - 1 to 126Class B - 128 to 191Class C - 192 to 223 Class D - 224 to 239 Class E - 240 to 255127 - loopback function of a networkClass D - is for multicastClass E - reserved for future or experimental purposes
Creating IP Address
1. Right click My Network Places
2. Click Properties
3. Right click Local Area Connection
4. Click Properties
5. Click TCP/IP
6.Click Properties
O Obtain an IP address automatically O Use the following IP address: IP Address Subnet Mask 7. Click OK
.
Creating IP Configuration
1. Click Start button2. Click Run3. Type cmd4. Type ipconfig5. Type ping [IP address] |
