The term ‘IP’ or ‘IP Address’ is one that you will hear often in the online world – especially when you start building a website and open a Web Hosting account. IP stands for Internet Protocol, and every server on the Internet has a unique IP number, by which it is identified. The IP number is similar to a telephone number. It allows one computer (yours) to use a tool similar to a telephone (a browser) to call another computer (a server).

An IP address takes up just 4 bytes of cyberspace, or 32 bits. A byte is also called an octet, with a value between zero and 255. So, IP addresses are actually numbers, written in a unique form. For example, an IP address may look something like this: 123.45.678.9. With 32 bits, it is possible for about 4 billion unique IP numbers to be assigned.

IP Numbers

For easier identification, IP numbers cover specific ‘ranges.’ So that IP addresses from the same area are similar in nature, much like the area code and prefix of a phone number is similar in one area. Because there are literally billions of websites on the Internet, these ranges are especially important. For websites that are on a shared server, there is just one IP number, while websites that reside on private servers and dedicated servers have just one IP address.

IP Address Versions

As the Internet evolves, so do IP addresses. In fact, there are different ‘versions’ of IP addresses. We are currently using version 4. The next version that will be widely adopted is version 6, or IPv6, which will have 128 bit IP numbers. While this will virtually give us unlimited unique IP addresses, it will be several years before version 6 is used, as the entire Infrastructure of the Internet must first be upgraded to support it.

Dynamic IP Numbers

Why do we need unlimited unique IP numbers? We need unlimited unique IP numbers because web servers are not the only ones that use IP numbers. Each computer that connects to the Internet has a unique IP address – including yours. You may be thinking that this is not right because each time you connect to the Internet you have a different IP number. These are actually called dynamic addresses, which mean that they are rendered each time you connect.

The fact that most people connect with a dynamic IP number is why more people don’t host their own websites on their own home computers. Since the IP number is always changing, it would be impossible to set up your DNS through your domain registrar, and each time the IP address changed, those who were trying to access your site would arrive at an error page. This doesn’t mean that it is impossible, as there are dynamic DNS services that will update the DNS entry each time your IP address changes. But that is very complicated.