Simply put, an IP address (short for Internet Protocol address) is your computer’s unique identifier. Tablets and laptops, additionally to computers, have one. And, almost like a fingerprint, no two IP addresses are an equivalent .
Of course, there are guidelines for such activities, which are set by the web Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). IP addresses are divided into two categories: IP version 4 (IPv4) and IP version 6 (IPv6) (IPv6). the primary was released in January 1983 and remains the foremost famous. for instance , 192.0.2.53 may be a 32-bit number with four octets separated during a so-called “dotted decimal” notation.
With the commercialization of internet access well underway by 1999, it had been feared that IANA would run out of valid IPv4 addresses. As a result, the web Engineering Task Force, a nonprofit standards group headquartered in Fremont, California, established IPv6 as its replacement. 2001:0db8:582:ae33::29 is an example of a 128-bit number represented in hexadecimal strings.