What is an IP Address ?

An IP address (Internet Protocol address) is a numerical label assigned to each device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. It serves two main functions: identifying the host or network interface, and providing the location of the host in the network.

There are two versions of IP addresses in use today: IPv4 and IPv6.

IPv4 addresses are 32-bit numbers typically represented in dot-decimal notation (e.g., 192.168.1.1). This means that there are a total of 4,294,967,296 possible unique IP addresses using IPv4. However, with the rapid growth of the Internet and the increasing number of devices connecting to it, the pool of available IPv4 addresses is running out.

IPv6 addresses, on the other hand, are 128-bit numbers represented in hexadecimal notation (e.g., 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334). This allows for a much larger pool of unique IP addresses, approximately 340 undecillion (3.4 x 10^38) addresses. IPv6 addresses are intended to eventually replace IPv4 addresses as the primary means of addressing on the Internet.

Both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses are used to identify a device on a network, but they work differently in terms of how they are assigned and used. IPv4 addresses are typically assigned by a network administrator, while IPv6 addresses are usually automatically assigned to devices by the network. Additionally, IPv6 addresses include built-in security features, such as built-in support for IPsec, that are not present in IPv4 addresses.