IP ADDRESS

Day-4

What is an IP address?

IP(Internet protocol) address is an identifier for a computer or device on a network. Each computer/host on the internet has at least one IP address that uniquely identifies it from all other computers on the Internet.

Versions of IP address:

1. Pv4(Internet protocol version 4)
2. IPv6(Internet protocol version 6)

IPv4:

• The IPv4 address holds the two things that is network address and the host address.
• It was developed in 1981 by DARPA.
• It is a current version and the most used IP address.
• This address is unique for each device. An consists of 5 types of classes, class A, class B, class C, class D and class E.
• IPv4 is a 32-bit address.
• It consists 4 octets.
• This address written as four numbers separated by period(.).
• Number range is from 0-255 and can generate 4.29 * 109 addresses.
• It has a limited number of IP address.
• In IPv4, the IP address is represented in decimal.
• This version of IP address does not provide encryption and authentication.
• The IPv4 is broadcasting.
• The IPv4 can be converted to IPv6.
• Example: - 192.168.0.1

IPv6:

• The IPv6 address is the newer version of IP address based on IPv4 and having more complexity and efficiency than IPv4.
• It was introduced in1995 by Internet Engineering Task Force
• To connect with more users this version of IP was developed. Because in IPv4 we can connect to only 4 billion devices.
• The version of IPv6 addresses do not include any class type and having unique address for each device.
• IPv6 is a 128-bit address.
• IPv6 is written as 8 groups and each group contains 2 octets of 4 hexadecimal alphanumeric digits. Therefore, there are 16 octets in IPv6.
• This address is separated by colon(:).
• It can generate 3.4 * 1038 possible unique addresses.
• The IPv6 has a large number of IP addresses.
• In IPv6, the IP address is represented in hexadecimal.
• This version of IP address provides the both encryption and authentication.
• The IPv6 is multicasting, which provides the efficiency in network operations.
• Not every IPv6 can be changed to an IPv4 address.
• Example: - FE80:0000:0000:0000:0202:B3FF:FE1E:8329

Additional Information: -

1. IPv6 is better than IPv4 as IPv6 is more advanced and more featured than IPv4.
2. We can use both the IPv4 and IPv6 in a single device if that device supports dual addressing then at the time of connection both the device decides on which IP version they are going to use.
3. The IPv6 is faster than the IPv4. But in some cases, it also slows down.