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My IP address: How it works

Each interface connected to a network must have at least one IP address, it is considered Dynamic in the case where the computer, once connected, obtains it automatically using the DHCP protocol, or it is entered manually by the user, in this case it is called Static or fixed IP address. Thanks to this IP address information is easily transmitted from the sender to the recipient in the case of a connection to the same network.

My IP address: The different types

Public IP Address

public IPs are used only on the Internet, it is unique in the world, it represents all class A, B and C addresses except those of class A which are the 127.0.0.0 network reserved for loopback tests and 0.0.0.0 which defines a route on a router.

My Private IP address

Private IPs are addresses that are not usable and accessible on the Internet as in the home network or in a company, they are in classes A, B and C they allow local communication with different devices, they are as follows:

• Class A private IPs: from 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255.255
• Class B private IPs: from 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255
• Class C private IPs: from 192.168.1.0 to 192.168.255.255

My IP address: IPv4 and IPv6 structure

There are two versions of the IP Address ;

IPv4: IP address version 4

Also called "Addresses of the Moment", it is a system that allows the creation of 4.3 billion different addresses, which is more than enough for the whole world since not all devices are used simultaneously and some are intended for a private network.

These addresses are composed of 32 bits resulting in a 32-digit binary number presented as a combination of 4 decimal numbers between 0 and 255 separated by dots as shown in the following example: 192.168.175.06; they are divided into two parts, the first part defines the type of network and the second part designates a host in a specific way 192.168.175.06

The LPI4 address space is divided into five classes A, B, C, D, E.

• Class A: these are loopback addresses, you can have 128 networks in this class the numbers before the first separation starts with 127. (from 0.0.0.0 to 127.0.0.0).
• Class B: there are 16,384 addresses in this network, ranging from 128.0.0.0 to 191.255.0.0
• Class C: There are up to 2 million addresses in this network, starting from 192.0.0.0 to 223.255.255.0
• Class D: these are addresses ranging from 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255, and are intended for multicast applications.
• Class E: addresses starting with 240.0.0.0 up to 255.255.255.255, the latter is intended for BROADCAST transmissions.

As time went by it turned out that IPV4 was not as sufficient as they had imagined it would be necessary to provide a new version to benefit everyone and any connected device.

IPv6: IP address version 6

This is the second wave of addresses known as "Addresses of the Future", addresses that have grown to a size of 128 bits with an unlimited number and a combination of hexadecimal digits separated by a colon: which looks like this, 0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:ffff:c0a8:b21f which
is written as ::ffff :c08 :b21f by replacing the blocks that start with zeros with two colon.

The loopback address being also very long (0000 :0000 :0000 :0000 :0000 :0000 :0001) is abbreviated to 1.

Like IPV4, IPV6 can contain addresses reserved for a private network called private local addresses (PLAs), they are also split into two parts, the prefix part and the interface indicator part as follows:
0000:0000:0000:0000:ffff:c0a8:b21f
Prefix part interface indicator part

My IP address: Distribution

It is the IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) which has the authority to allocate its addresses, it is the IANA which totally controls the address space, it is done in five registers including AfriNIC, APNIC, ARIN, LACNIC and the fifth RIPE NCC (Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre) responsible for Central Asia, the Near East and Europe including France.

My IP address: Hide and secure

It is very useful to hide your IP address in order not to be exposed to illegal manipulations by cybercriminals, using a secure access to the internet with VPN which also allows you to change the IP address, or simply hide it with a proxy or tor.

My IP address and MAC address

Rather than identifying the location of a LAN or Internet device by its IP address, the MAC (Media Access Control) address is used to identify the device, it is considered as its identity card with a serial number, also called physical address or BIA (burned-in-address) since it is directly stored or assigned in the device, it is hexadecimal composed of numbers from 1 to 9 and letters from A to F ex: 30-65-EC-6F-C4-58.

Even two perfectly identical devices released at the same time have different MAC addresses as in the case of twins with two first names. Unlike the IP address, which is designated by the router, the MAC address is assigned directly by the manufacturer of the device, and cannot be changed.