What Is My IP Address

What Is My IP Address

What Is My IP Address And Why Do I Need One?

First, your IP address does not identify who you are personally, it is used to identify the location of your computer when you are surfing the internet or used to identify your work station on a network. IP stands for Internet Protocol. It is a set of four digits that look something like this,

Every device on a network has an IP address, it is used to identify the device, including computers, printers and everything else that is on the network. It is a tag that every computer needs to know in order to communicate, so you can use the office printer from your desktop computer.

IP Address In Your Network

Anyone who has worked in an IT department has been asked this question by users, “What Is My IP Address?”

IT personnel need your IP address so they can remote access your workstation, check your configuration and so on. If you are connected to the internet, they can access your workstation without having to be there in person.

Another typical scenario is to access CCTV images if you organization has CCTV, you can monitor the situation in your distribution center from miles away. Using the internet in this instance is an cost-effective solution without the need for a leased line.

What Is My IP Address And How It Works On The Internet?

Since the internet is a world wide network, all locations such as servers, routers, etc also have their own IP address. On the internet, it is often the IP address of your service provider that is used to identify where you are coming from.

You might be interested to know that there are 4.3 billion IP addresses in the world and that has all been assigned. So the new IP system, IPv6 has made available 360 undecillion IP addresses since 1999.

For those who are wondering what a undecillion is, that is a number followed by 60 zeros. A number larger than a thousand billion or a thousand trillion or a thousand quadrillion.

A Website IP Address
A website has its own IP address, it may be a shared IP address if it is located in a server along with other websites, or it may be a unique IP address if you have a dedicated web server.

Why would you want to know what your website IP is? If you are a website publisher or a business owner, here a few reasons:

  • Check to see if the IP is blacklisted
  • Is the IP address blocked
  • Where is your web server located
  • How often is your website unavailable

IP Lookup: How To Find My IP Address?

Looking up an IP address is easy, all you need is to use a free service like this one, http://xmyip.com. With this service, you can:

  • Find your IP address
  • Look up other IP address
  • Find hostname IP address
  • Find the IP Address from an email
  • Check the speed of your internet connection

Need to perform an IP Lookup? Visit http://xmyip.com/iplookup.