address is an identifier for a computer or
device on a TCP/IP network and Internet. Networks that
use the TCP/IP protocols route traffic based on the
IP address of the destination computer or network device.
The format of the IP address is 32 bits 4 octets 4 bytes
such as 100.100.10.1, 18.104.22.168, 22.214.171.124 these
are the examples of the IP address. The format is a
32-bit numeric value written as four numbers and separated
Each number in the IP address can be between 0 and 255.
In your private network, you can assign unique IP address
randomly. However, when you want to connect your private
network to the Public network such as Internet then
you must need a registered IP address to communicate
on the internet and to avoid duplicate address. The
four numbers in an IP address are used in different
ways to identify a particular network. The general internet
registries such as APNIC, RIP, NCC and LACNIC assigns
internet or IP addresses from the following 3 classes.
Class A- IP address from 0-126. It supports 16 million
hosts and 126 networks.
2. Class B- IP address from 128-191. It supports 65,000
hosts and 16,000 networks.
3. Class C-IP address from 192-223. It supports 254
hosts and 2 million networks.
The number of unassigned IP address is running out and
a new classless scheme called CIDR is replacing the
classes based system of the IP address. In this system
the A, B and C class is tied to adoption of IPV6.
Every device connected to the Internet must need a unique
identifier, which is called an IP address. An IP address
is a numeric value separated by periods into four octets.
These numbers are usually assigned to the ISPs (internet
service providers) within region-based blocks. An IP
address can be used to identify a region or a country.
An internet user’s geographical location can be
determined with the help of an IP address. The number
system is generally difficult to remember so the IP
address may also assign to a Host name.
host names are usually easy to remember. In simple words,
every website on the internet must bound or mapped with
an IP address. At one time ISPs usually issue one IP
address to each user. Within each ISP a DHCP (Dynamic
host configuration protocol) server is configured, which
dynamically assigns IP addresses from a given pool to
each user who connects to the ISP. Dynamic IP addresses
also limit the ability of a user to host websites, mail
servers, ftp server, mail server and web portals.
IP Addresses Scheme
IP address is an address that is used to uniquely identify
a device or computer on an IP-based network. An IP address
is an address used to uniquely identify a device on
an IP network. An IP address can be divided into two
parts network portion and a host portion. Each IP address
is associated with a subnet mask. The 32 bit address
is broken into 4 octets and 1 octet=8 bits. Each octet
is converted to a decimal and is separated by periods.
example 0000000000.11111111.00000000.11111111 this is
a binary representation of an IP address. Each octet’s
decimal value ranges between 0 and 255. The binary octets
convert into decimal value. Here you can see that how
a binary octet converts into decimal value. The right
most bit or least significant bit of an octet will hold
a value of 20.
The bit left to that bit will hold a value of 21. This
process continues until the left most bit or the most
significant bit holds the value of 27. If all the binary
bits are one the decimal representation will be like
1 1 1 1 1 1 1
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1 (128+64+32+16+8+4+2+1=255)
here is a sample conversion of the octet if not all
the bits are set of 1.
0 1 0 0 0 0 1
0 0 32 0 0 0 0 1 (0+64+0+0+0+0+0+1=33)
In the following example you can see the IP address
representation both in binary and decimal values.
2. 135. 19 (decimal)64+2+135+19=220
octets are broken down to provide a large number of
the addressing scheme that can accommodate small and
very large networks. There are five different classes
of the IP networks. Class A, B, C, D and E. The classes
from A to C and mainly in use, D and E are experimental
and reserved so they are not commonly in use. Due to
the classless inter domain routing (CIDR) these addresses
are not practically in use.
network mask helps you which portion of the address
identifies the network portion and the host portion
of an IP address. The three different classes of the
IP addresses have their own default masks as shown below.
Class Subnet Mask
Class B: 255.255.0.0
Class C: 255.255.255.0
IP address on a class A network that has not been subnetted
would have an address and subnet mask pair such as 10.111.20.1
255.0.0.0. If you want to know in more detail that how
a mask help you identify the network and host part of
the address simply convert the IP address and subnet
mask into the binary numbers.
255.0.0.0 = 11111111. 00000000.00000000.00000000
If you have the address and the subnet mask in the binary
forms then identifying the network portion and the host
portion is very easy. Any address value that has the
corresponding subnet mask binary value set to 1 show
the network ID. Any address bit that has corresponding
subnet mask value to 0 represents the host ID.
255.0.0.0 = 11111111.00000000.00000000.00000000
id | host id
If you know your IP address of a computer, you can access
the services such as online games, FTP, Web and Mail
servers, and remote access utilities such as Remotely
Anywhere, PCToGo, PCAnywhere, Remote control etc.
How do I change my IP address?
There are a number of methods by which you can change
the IP address of your computer.
is a Proxy Server?
proxy server is a computer that offers network and internet
access services to the client computers in a network.
A client computer connects to the proxy server, requests
a connection, services, files and other resources on
the other servers. In some cases, the proxy may alter
the client’s request and the server’s response
for various reasons. By using the proxy server you can
hide, conceal and make your network id anonymous by
hiding your IP address. To get the anonymous status
on the network or Internet, strong intermediate methods
are employed like cryptography etc. Examples are remailers,
P2P systems etc.
is a large number of the software available that allows
you to hide your IP address with the help of the proxy
servers. The well known software for this purpose is
Hide IP, Stealth surf, Netconceal, Anonymous surfing,
Proxify and Ghost surf.
IP address is a unique identification number for communication
between computer networks, network devices such as computers,
fax machines, printers and servers. It is like the number
of an apartment or a phone number. IP addresses are
of two types Static and Dynamic. Internet service providers’
use dynamic IP addresses and servers usually use static
The class A of the IP address constitutes almost 50%
of all the IP addresses. This class is meant for large
networks like the big multinational companies. Class
B networks are medium sized like used in the colleges,
Universities and other educational and training institutes.
Class C IP addresses are usually used for the small
Regional Internet Registry (RIP) provides the IP addresses
based on the geographical distribution. RIP also offers
protection against the hackers that try to access the
confidential data. All the personal information recorded
by the ISP is kept in confidentiality.