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Glossary Networking

IP address

An IP address is the number that identifies a device on a network so that data can be sent to it.

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In more detail

IPv4 addresses are 32 bits, written as four numbers from 0 to 255 such as 192.168.1.10. IPv6 addresses are 128 bits, written in hexadecimal. Addresses in the private ranges (10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, 192.168.0.0/16) work only inside a local network, while public addresses are reachable on the internet. A Subnet mask splits an address into network and host parts.

Example

Your home devices may be 192.168.1.x, while the whole house appears to websites as a single public address. Look up yours with the What's My IP?.

Try these tools

IP Address Lookup

Check your IP address or query any IPv4/IPv6 address to find its geographic location, ASN, and proxy status.

What's My IP?

Instantly find out your public IPv4 or IPv6 address, geographic location, ASN, and proxy status.

IPv4 Address Validator

Validate an IPv4 address and classify it as public, private, loopback, link-local, multicast, or reserved.

See also

  • Glossary Subnet mask
    A subnet mask is a 32-bit value that marks which part of an IPv4 address identifies the network and which part identifies the host.
  • Glossary IPv6
    IPv6 is the newer version of the Internet Protocol, using 128-bit addresses to replace the nearly exhausted 32-bit IPv4 space.
  • Glossary DHCP
    DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) automatically gives devices an IP address and the other settings they need to join a network.
  • Glossary NAT
    NAT (Network Address Translation) lets many devices with private IP addresses share one public IP address by rewriting addresses and ports.
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