What is an IP address?
An Internet Protocol address(IP address) is a numerical label that is assigned to each device (e.g printer, computer) on a network that uses internet protocol for communication. An IP address serves to primary purposes: host or network identification and location addressing.
The designers of internet protocol defined IP addresses as a 32-bit number and this know as Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4), this is still in use today. However due to the rapid growth of the internet and that we maybe running out of available addresses, a new version of IP (IPv6) that uses a 128-bit number was developed in 1995 and its deployment has been ongoing since 2000.
IP address are binary numbers and are usually stored in text files but displayed in human-redable way such as 172.16.254.1 (for IPv4), and 2001:db8:0:1234:0:567:8:1 (for IPv6).
The designers of internet protocol defined IP addresses as a 32-bit number and this know as Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4), this is still in use today. However due to the rapid growth of the internet and that we maybe running out of available addresses, a new version of IP (IPv6) that uses a 128-bit number was developed in 1995 and its deployment has been ongoing since 2000.
IP address are binary numbers and are usually stored in text files but displayed in human-redable way such as 172.16.254.1 (for IPv4), and 2001:db8:0:1234:0:567:8:1 (for IPv6).