What Is My IP Address
Find out what your public IPv4 and IPv6 address is revealing about you! My IP address information shows your location, ISP, and other details that can be used to identify you. This website provides information on how to find out your public ip address, as well as how to use it for networking and online security purposes.
An IP address is a string of numbers that identifies your computer or device on the internet. When you send a message, browse websites, or connect to any remote network, your device needs an IP address so that other devices can find you.
Surprisingly, there are more than 300 million IP addresses in use today and they’re all running out fast. A new standard called ‘IPv6’ has been around for years and was intended to solve this problem. However, due to the slow adoption rate of IPv6 by ISPs and network hardware manufacturers, we are now beginning to run out of IPv4 addresses faster than ever before. This article helps you understand what is an IP address and why does it matter?
What is an IP Address?
An IP address is a string of numbers that identifies your computer or device on the internet. When you send a message, browse websites, or connect to any remote network, your device needs an IP address so that other devices can find you. To understand IP addresses better, let’s go through a scenario.
Let’s say you are a web developer and you need to access your website that is hosted on a server located thousands of miles away from your location. In order to do that, you need an IP address that identifies you as a user and a computer on the Internet.
Why Does an IP Address Matter?
An IP address is your virtual identity on the Internet. Whenever you connect to a network, whether it is an internal network inside your office or an external network such as the Internet, you need an IP address. Most of the time, your IP address remains hidden from the public. However, there are certain cases when your IP address becomes visible to the public.
Let’s take a look at a few instances when your IP address matters
While on the Internet
If you are browsing the Internet, your IP address is visible to every single person connected to the Internet. This includes hackers, government agencies, and network administrators.
While on a Local Network
While connected to a local network, such as a home network or an office network, your IP address is visible to every computer and device connected to the network.
While on a Remote Network
If you’re connected to a remote network, such as a corporate network or a university network, your IP address is visible to other devices connected to the same network.
What Does an IP Address Look Like?
Every network that runs on TCP/IP must have a unique network number and every machine on it must have a unique IP address. It is important to understand how these are constructed before registering your network or obtaining its ID. An IP address consists of 32 binary bits, and the typical way they're represented in decimal form is four 8-bit fields separated by periods. With this format, each byte represents an octet of information from within the IPv4 protocol (a total value for 8 bits). This kind of notation for bytes within an IPv4 protocol is often referred to as dotted decimal notation.
An IP address has two parts,a network address and a host address. The network portion is used to identify a network and is unique for every network. The host portion is used to identify a computer on a network and is unique for every computer. An IP Address looks something like this:
Note: The IP address shown above is only for illustration purposes. Your IP address may be different.
Public IP Address
A public IP address is one that can be accessed directly over the internet and is provided by your internet service provider to your network router. Your ISP (Internet Service Provider) will normally change these IP addresses every time your router restarts or at another interval. These are known as dynamic IP address. If you need a static or fixed IP address for any device, contact your ISP and request that they put it in manually.
Private IP Address
Your private IP address is the one your network router assigns to you when connecting. Every device that connects to a network has an assigned unique private IP address, which allows devices on the same internal network chat with each other. A private IP address is used by computers and devices that are connected to a local network, such as Wi-Fi networks, Ethernet networks, or a corporate network. A private IP address is also used by computers and devices that are connected to a remote network, such as a virtual machine, a remote desktop connection, or a remote server. If your IP address is private, you can rest assured that your activities on the Internet are not visible to the public. Your computer or device, however, can still be traced by network administrators if they find you connected to their private network.
Who Can View Your IP Address?
Anyone connected to the Internet can view your IP address if it is public. Anyone connected to a private network can view your IP address if you are logged in to the network. Anyone who has access to your computer or device can view your IP address. Anyone who has access to your network traffic log can view your IP address.