You might have come across IP address such as 192.168.x.x while configuring a router or adding new gadget into the existing network. If you are typing 192.168.l.0 you will have problems because this IP it’s not a valid. As networking offers the ability to share resources, you should be able to identify each system in the network. If you are aware of the address, it is possible to handle basic connection issues very easily. You will also be able to understand the jargon used by technicians.
What is IP address?
As your phone number is identified with a unique number, it is required to identify your computer in the network. For example, the internet is a network of networks. Each network is a group of computers. To access the information present on a particular computer, you should send a request to the computer. The request will be sent by specifying an IP address.
If your computer’s IP address starts with 169 or 192.168.l.0, you will not be able to access the internet. IP stands for Internet Protocol. IPv4 is the standard used for IP addresses. The standard IP addresses will be in between 192.168.0.1 and 192.168.0.255. There are four blocks in an IP address. Each block can be in between 0 and 256. Thus the total number of possibilities is 256ˆ4. It is equal to 4,294,967,296. Thus you can manage 4 billion unique numbers by following IPv4.
The standard was implemented during the early 1970s. It was perceived that 4 million was an enormous number at that time. However, the population has dwindled, and there are about 6 million people in the world. Each person will have more than one computer, and there are millions of businesses spread across the world. As the original plan of 4 billion cannot accommodate these needs, it is required to go for the alternate solution. By using dynamic IPs and subnets, the issue is resolved in a very efficient way.
Find your computer’s IP address
You should know the procedure to locate the IP address of your computer. There are different ways to accomplish this task.
Ipconfig command on the command line
- You should type ‘ipconfig’ command on the command line to obtain the IP address. In Windows XP, you can press ‘Windows Key + R’ or click Start->Run to reach the command box. As you type cmd, the command window will be opened. You should type ipconfig at the command line and should press ‘Enter’ key.
- In the case of Windows 7 and Vista OS, you should type ‘cmd’ in the search bar after clicking the Start Menu. Type ‘ipconfig’ in the black command window and hit enter.
- In the case of Windows 8, press the Windows Start Key to open the Start screen. By typing cmd and pressing enter, the command window will be launched. To check the network settings and ip address, you should type ipconfig/all on the command prompt.
You will obtain a common IP address, 192.168.0.1 (remember it’s not 192.168.l.0)
What is IPv6?
A different system is implemented with IPv6. In this system, the hexadecimal system will be applied instead of the binary system. In the case of binary, there are two possibilities. In the event of hexadecimal, there are possibilities in between 1 and 15, i.e., 16 possibilities. The hexadecimal values are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F.
IPv6 address comprises of 8 groups. Each group contains four characters. The following in an address example:
1234:abcd:5678:efab:9012:cdef:3456:abcd
The availability if IP address has been resolved with IPv6. The total number of possibilities are 3.4 x 10ˆ38. Thus, you will get 340 undecillion numbers.
Classes of IP addresses
There are three classes of IP addresses.
Class A – 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255
Class B – 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255
Class C – 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255
You will get 16,777,216 IP addresses with Class A, 1,048,576 IP addresses with Class B and 65,536 with class C.
Class C network is very commonly used for small networks. A small range of IP address will be chosen for most of the household operations. You will be able to connect up to 254 devices to your network by following the 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.0.255 range. IP address 192.168.l.0 is not good for small range. For home networks, the small network is an ideal option so that there will not be any network issues.