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What is an IP
address?
Every device connected to the
public Internet is assigned a unique number known as an Internet
Protocol (IP) address. IP addresses consist of four numbers
separated by periods (also called a 'dotted-quad') and look
something like 129.0.0.1.
Since these numbers are
usually assigned to internet service providers within
region-based blocks, an IP address can often be used to identify
the region or country from which a computer is connecting to the
Internet. An IP address can sometimes be used to show the user's
general location.
Because the numbers may be
tedious to deal with, an IP address may also be assigned to a
Host name, which is sometimes easier to remember. Hostnames may
be looked up to find IP addresses, and vice-versa. At one time
ISPs issued one IP address to each user. These are called static
IP addresses. Because there is a limited number of IP addresses
and with increased usage of the internet ISPs now issue IP
addresses in a dynamic fashion out of a pool of IP addresses
(Using DHCP). These are referred to as dynamic IP addresses.
This also limits the ability of the user to host websites, mail
servers, ftp servers, etc. In addition to users connecting to
the internet, with virtual hosting, a single machine can act
like multiple machines (with multiple domain names and IP
addresses).
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