I’m sure everyone has heard of the term IP Address, but does everyone really understand what that term means? I know that I had no clue what an IP Address was, or why it was even necessary until Week 9. After realizing that an IP Address is actually important, I thought it would be interesting to find out more about the concept.
(This is a free use image: Permission can be found on http://www.weblogcartoons.com/about/)
I plan to share with you some of the most interesting information I found along the way. This includes the basic understanding of what an IP Address is, as well as the problems that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) are currently facing in regards to IP Addresses. I will also include how to find out what your own IP Address is!
What is an IP Address?
IP Addresses, otherwise known as Internet Protocol Addresses, are unique numbers that are used to identify a computer. Each computer has a different IP Address, and that allows each computer to talk to one another. The current version of IP Addresses, known as IPv4, look like this: 192.0.2.53
http://www.icann.org/en/factsheets/factsheet-ipv6-03feb11-en.pdf
http://www.icann.org/en/factsheets/factsheet-ipv6-03feb11-en.pdf
These numbers are normally assigned to ISP (Internet Service Providers) within region-based blocks. That way an IP Address can often be used to give a general location to where a computer is located, basically what region or country it is in. http://whatismyipaddress.com/
Problems Facing Icann?
IPv4 was started in 1976 by the Icann. One of the creators Vint Cerf, and his colleagues in the Defense Department were told to decide how many network address space should be given to an experiment connecting computers in an advanced data network. After a year, they decided on 4.3 billion separate network addresses! Of course, each one represents a different device that connects to the internet.
Unfortunately, within the next 12 to 18 months, they are predicting that each of the 4.3 billion internet addresses will be used! That means the internet as it exists today will have reached full capacity.
In order to counteract the capacity problem, IPv6, (a new version of the method IPv4 which is currently in place), is in trials. Comcast began these trials almost 6 years ago. IPv6 has a 128-bit address space, which is 340 undecillion (or 10^36) addresses, according to Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_large_numbers
To give an idea of the scale, if all existing 4.3 billion Internet addresses were contained inside a single Blackberry phone, the new system would fill a container the size of the Earth with Blackberry's each containing 4.3 billion IP Addresses. Comcast has begun customer trials, and is distributing dual mode cable modems that are able to support IPv4 and IPv6.
(Icann gives permission to use their photos as long as credit is given to the work. The permission can be found at this address: http://www.icann.org/photos/ )
IPv6 has addresses that look like this: 2001:0db8::53, which are written in hexadecimal.
Hexadecimal is a bit hard to comprehend, but here goes:
In mathematics and computer science, hexadecimal (also base 16, or hex) is a positional numeral system with a base of 16. It uses sixteen distinct symbols, most often the symbols 0–9 to represent values zero to nine, and A, B, C, D, E, F to represent values ten to fifteen. For example, the hexadecimal number 2AF3 is equal, in decimal, to (2 × 163) + (10 × 162) + (15 × 161) + (3 × 160) , or 10,995. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexadecimal
What is My IP Address?
If you are wondering what your IP Address looks like, feel free to visit www.WhatIsMyIPAddress.com. When you log onto this website, it shows a map with your general location, as well as displaying your IP Address, City, Region, Country, Connection type, and Internet Service Provider (ISP).
Included is a screenshot of what I found when I visited this site:
(I have crossed out part of my IP Address)
Screenshots are original by Chelsea Wiseman
Hopefully now you are able to see the necessity of an IP Address. Being able to see the necessity of an IP Address leads you to see the complexity of the problem facing Icann and IPv4. I was also hoping to make understanding what an IP Address is and how it is important to the future of the internet a little easier to see than what one normally encounters when researching a topic. I hope you enjoyed learning about one of the basic functions of the internet! :)
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