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Authors: Nobbe, Logan Date: 23 May 2004 Updated: 20 June 2004 Category: Networking Expertise Level: +++ |
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Internet Protocol [IP] addresses are simple! Yes, you don't have to be afraid of an IP address. But wait! What is an IP address? Well, an IP address could be considered as an address for your computer. Think of it as your computer's street address. Everyone online has one in some form. There are two main standards for IP addresses, but this article will stick with the everyday IPv4 addresses [Note: there are other versions of IP Addresses such as IPv6 that are a little more complicated that IPv4].
The first thing you need to know is that your IP address is assigned directly to your computer and that there are three types of IP address:
A static IP, which will always be the same for your computer or change only irregularly.
Then, there are those internet service providers [ISPs] that seem to pick different IP addresses out of the air to assign to the computer each time it connects to the internet. These are called dynamic IPs.
Some users (for example, AOL users), while logged into the chat room, may notice that they have an IP that is exactly the same as another person's. This is because they have a proxy IP, which is the "street address" of another computer that's acting as a funnel or an intermediary computer between you and the rest of the internet.
For example, take the address 216.183.142.177. You'll notice that there are four sets of numbers: 216, 183, 142 and 177. Each set of numbers is referred to as an "octet" of numbers [the short reason is that if you were to write it in binary (eg, as 10001001) there would be eight numbers per section]. Each of those sets of numbers refers to something about your street address. [more]
There are five different classes of "street addresses" or IP addresses: A, B, C, D, and E. I'm mostly going to deal with the first three varieties: A, B and C. Which class your IP falls into depends on what the first octet of your IP is. Our example IP address is a class "C" IP (Class C is identified as having the first octet between 192 and 223). That means that it is used by a fairly small organisation (usually, your internet service provider). A class "B" IP, identified as having the first octet between 128 and 191, usually belongs to a medium sized organisation. Finally, a class "A" IP, identified as belonging 1-126, is from a fairly large organisation, such as Rogers or AOL. [more]
So, are all IP addresses that I see the ones that actually belong to the computer? Unfortunately, no. Not all IP addresses are really the ones directly assigned to the computer where the user is sitting, and this is what poses a problem for identifying people's "street address" on the Internet. Some general rules of thumb to keep in mind are that any IPs starting with either 10 or 172 with the second octet of between 16 and 31 (for example, starting with 10.16 or 172.27) or starting 192.168, are fake1. This means that someone is hiding their computer's "real" IP address, usually for their own protection. [more]
So, now we know that your IP address is analgous to your computer's street address. Is it just a coincidence that it's being related to a street address? Well, "yes and no" is the answer. If someone knows your IP (or at least the first three octets) they can usually tell who your Internet Service Provider is by visiting an internet protocol registry database, such as arin.net. So, what does our arin.net search tell us about the fellow that's using our example IP? Well, this person is on Bruce Municipal Telephone System [BMTS]'s network. It is possible to find out BMTS's contact address, phone number and the range of IPs that belong to the BMTS network. Sometimes, the amount of information displayed is a problem, but not commonly - usually, only information about your ISP can be found.
In short, IP addresses are simple. They are required for the internet to work, because it's a huge network of computers, meaning that addresses for information to be sent to are necessary. Just remember to send the writer lots of cookies in the mail...
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1 These IP addresses are valid, but are used only privately - not for accessing the public internet.