What is an IP Address and Where Do I Find Mine?

Fellow Do you intend to know What is an IP address, what can someone do with your IP address, its configuration and some other conflict issues related to the internet protocol address?

Then be happy because I shall explain all this in this article.

In addition to this, you will get some more awesome information related to this topic.

What is an IP Address?

It works as an identifier.

The full form of IP is Internet Protocol.

It has four numbers which are separated by three dots, and there are at most three numbers in between the dots.

The numbers are in the range of 0 to 255.

By using this unique address, we can share information on the internet. It makes your system recognizable online.

Internet Protocol Address:

It works as a locator that locates nodes within a network.
The address is unique.
By using it, computers can communicate with the web.
It is used to differentiate between the devices online.

What is an IP Address Class?

Classes tell which bits are responsible for the identification of a network.

There are five classes A, B, C, D, and E that are defined by TCP/IP. They are assigned a particular range.

Class A, B, and C can also work as host addresses.

While class D addresses are responsible for multicast and the Class E addresses are used for some experimental purposes.

Class A = 0 to 127
Class B = 128 to 191
Class C = 192 to 223
Class D = 224 to 239
Class E = 240 to 255

Class A:

Here the first bit is 0.
They have 7 bits for the network portion.
In this way, they can have 128 network numbers possible.

Class B:

Their first bit is 1 and the second one is 0.
The network mask is of 16 bits.
Because of the leading ’10’, the remaining 14 bits are for the network portion.

Class C:

Their first bit is 1, and the third bit is 0.
The network mask is 24 bits.
As the three bits are already set, the remaining 21 bits serve for the network portion.
They can have a maximum of 2097152 addresses.

Class D:

They are responsible for multicasting.

Their first bit is 1, and the fourth bit is 0.
They have 32-bit network addresses.
This class address space doesn’t have any host addresses.

Class E:

They are used for experimenting and testing purposes.

Where Do I Find It?

You can easily find it using the IP config in the command prompt.

Just type the command, and it will be on your screen.

The command for this is different on Linux operating system.

You can also find it in the control panel on the internet and network category.

To do this follow the steps below:

Open control panel
Under network and the internet go to ‘view network status.’
Then click on Ethernet.
From there click on details and the information you desire will be in front of you

Dynamic And Static IP Address:

If the address assigned is not changeable then it is termed as static, and if it is changeable, then it is referred to as dynamic.

VPN is an example of static.

Static addresses do not change; that’s why they are easy to remember.

Security is the central issue in static ones.

Dynamic ones are not permanent ones.

What is an IPv4 Address?

It is none other than the fourth version. Its header packet has fourteen fields.

What is the Subnet Mask?

It is a 32-bit number and defines the IP address range.
Furthermore, it divides this address into the network and host addresses.
They are used in the partitioning of multiple networks.

The Difference Between Public And Private IP Addresses:

They are also termed internal and external ones.

The public is a unique one and is assigned to connect to the internet.

ISP gives this.

With this address, you can identify computers online and share information and data.
The public one is readily available on the internet.
Thus it helps for direct access. It requires modem
The private one is added to your router.
It is used to identify the device within a particular network. It works in creating a Private Network.

The devices that are not on your network won’t be able to see the private address assigned to the devices within your network.

We use them in LAN. Moreover, they require a router.

Read more about LAN at What is LAN? How to Network Computers?

Who Owns IP Address?

Do you want to find the owner of an internet protocol address?

Well, the task is not that much difficult.

There are many ‘who is‘ sites available on the internet, you can find using them quite quickly.
Just enter the address, and the owner name will be in front of you.

Self-Assigned IP:

In some operating systems, the self-assigned ones become a quite big issue.

Facing this problem, you won’t be able to connect to the internet and thus will be in great trouble but believe me the solution is not much complicated.

To solve this problem, you may need to reset the firewall and then restart your device.
After that try connecting to the internet.
If the issue is still there, then go into the settings and check the network preferences.

Also Checkout Different Types of Firewalls

Windows Has Detected An IP Address Conflict:

When you connect by ethernet then you need to enter the default gateway and other details. Then when you plug it into another device, this error appears most often.

In this problem, there might be some issues with the DHCP server.

Some possible solutions to this problem are:

Restart the router
Use the ipconfig/all, ipconfig/release and ipconfig/renew command at the command prompt and then check.
Go to the properties of the network you are using by right-clicking the network and then selecting properties. Later in the settings choose the option to obtain an IP address automatically.
This issue might be because of IPV6 also.

How To Change this Unique Address?

There are many reasons to do so.

Any website online or any game might block your address.

You can use a free internet connection for this purpose also.
You need to change the address on the router if you want to be visible online with a different address. For this reason, switch it off, then turn it on again and open the ISP interface. You need to do some settings from the ISP interface.
To change the address of a computer go to the control plane. You will need to do some settings there.

IP Address Security Issues:

Its security is very much necessary. Internet security and privacy issues are increasing day by day. You have no idea what someone can do with your address.

Your location can be detected by using it. The hacker can also download some unknown stuff using your IP from the internet. Even your network can face an attack too.

So be safe to follow the guidelines below:

Use a Virtual Private Network as explained above.
Keep updating your firewalls.
Keep an eye on your anti-virus and update it regularly.

Spoofing IP:

It means to create an address by some false sources. In spoofing, the hacker adds false data.

You can improve your security in this regard by packet filtering.

Final Words:

I don’t think now you will be asking people What is an IP address, it’s a tracker, security, router, internet protocol address, and some other networking Issues.

By and large, this article will have surely give you some valuable piece of information.

If you still have some questions, leave them in the comments section below.

Also, read What is a Network? Learn About Networking