An IP address is a string of numbers that belongs to every computer, cell phone, or other \u201csmart\u201d device connected via the internet. These numbers are different on each device and are used to contact each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IP Address Function<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As mentioned earlier, IP addresses exist so that every device that can use an internet connection can contact each other. However, this sequence of numbers also has other functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Besides being analogous to a telephone number, an IP address can also be likened to a person’s name and home address. Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, the IP address is also the identity of a computer in the internet network. Thus, the owner of a website can find out all the IP addresses that access the site. This also applies to public Wi-Fi networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Second, the IP address serves as the address for sending data to your device. When you access a site, there is actually a process of downloading data sent from that site. This process is possible thanks to the IP address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n IP Address Version<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Currently there are more than one billion websites in cyberspace. Plus, the number of devices connected to the internet is definitely more than that. Therefore, now there are two versions of the IP address used, namely IPv4 and IPv6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n IPv4<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the version of the IP address that has been used since the internet began to be used commercially. In addition, this version is the most widely used. Most likely you are currently wearing it too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An IPv4 address is 32 bits long and consists of four sets of numbers separated by periods. Each set of numbers is a decimal representation of the eight digits (bits) of a binary number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A row of eight binary numbers is also called an octet. Each octet has a maximum value of 255. Therefore, IPv4 addresses range from 0.0.0.0 to 255.255.255.255. With this range, IPv4 can accommodate nearly 4.3 billion IP addresses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So that you can illustrate the explanation, here are some examples of IPv4 addresses:<\/p>\n\n\n\n IPv6<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This version of the IP address is not yet widely used, but was created due to the depletion of IPv4 capacity. IPv6 is 128 bits long and consists of eight sets of numbers and letters separated by colons. Each set is a decimal representation of 16 binary numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because of the many possible combinations of numbers and letters, IPv6 can accommodate 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 addresses. With this, surely the world will not be short of IP addresses for quite a long time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An example of an IPv6 address is 2001:cdba:0000:0000:0000:0000:3257:9652. However, sets consisting of only zeros are not usually written for convenience. Then, the omitted part is indicated by two colons as follows: 2001:cdba::3257:9652.<\/p>\n\r\n