Types of IP Address
Computer Science: Edexcel IGCSE, topic 5.3.2
Types of IP Address
There are a few different types of IP addresses. This is because IP addresses are not universally unique.
IPv4 vs IPv6
- There are two types of IP addresses:
- IPv4 (version 4).
- IPv6 (version 6).
- IPv4 addresses are 32-bit numbers, often displayed as four numbers separated by dots. For example:
- 73 . 124 . 131 . 67.
- IPv6 addresses are 128-bit numbers, often displayed as eight groups of four hex digits. For example:
- 2001 : 0db8 : 85a3 : 0000 : 0000 : 8a2e : 0370 : 7334.
Static IP vs dynamic IP
- IP addresses can either be static or dynamic.
- A device with a static IP address will have the same IP address every time it connects to the network.
- A device with a dynamic IP address will be allocated a new IP address every time it connects to the network.
- Dynamic IP addresses are provided by the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server.
Private IP vs public IP
- Devices within a local area network (LAN) can have private IP addresses.
- These can be used to exchange data between devices on the LAN.
- Routers which connect a LAN to a wide area network (WAN) also have a public IP address.
- These are used when other networks on the WAN want to send data into the LAN of the router.
Test yourself on Types of IP Address
Which devices have a public IP address?