Every time you connect to the Internet, whether from your personal computer or from your smartphone, there is an IP address that accompanies you as you navigate the world of the Internet, and plays a very important and essential role in your communication process.
The term IP refers to the Internet Protocol, which is a set of rules that control data sent across all computer networks – including the Internet – where IP addresses are considered the identity or identifier that allows information to be sent and exchanged between devices on the network.
In this article, you will learn about the meaning of an IP address in more detail, what its types are, why it is used, and ways to hide your identity and protect your privacy by browsing websites by hiding your IP address, and finally you will know why it is necessary for your website to have a unique IP.
IP address
IP is an abbreviation for Internet Protocol. It is used with all types of devices connected to the network, such as personal computers, smartphones, routers, or tablets, and its main task is to determine the address of those devices so that they can communicate with other devices on this network.
Each device has a different IP address from the rest of the devices, and you can say that the Internet Protocol address is similar to your home address or your mobile phone number, as it is used to distinguish each device from the rest of the other devices on the network.
Therefore, every device connected to the Internet must have a public or global IP address that is unique and different from the addresses of other devices around the world.
Note: You must distinguish between private IP addresses (Local) that are used within limited networks such as a home or office network, and Global or Public IP addresses that are used when connecting to the Internet. Global IP addresses are strictly managed by specialized organizations such as ICANN and JPNIC so that problems such as duplication of addresses do not occur on the Internet.
Having a unique public IP address allows us to browse websites and send emails on the Internet so that there is no error in sending and receiving data from anywhere in the world.
IP addresses are not random, they are assigned mathematically by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (LANA), a non-profit organization that exists to keep the Internet secure and allow everyone to use it.
An IP address is a series of numbers consisting of 4 parts separated by periods. For example, 152.10.2.200, and each of these numbers can range from 0 to 255, so IP addresses range from 0.0.0.0 to 255.255.255.255.
These numbers are written in the decimal system, which is a system that accepts numbers from 0 to 9, but they are essentially based on the binary numbers system with a size of 32 bits, which accepts only two numbers, 0 and 1. They are designated according to the IPv4 protocol.
4. What is the problem of public IP address exhaustion?
The current protocol for creating, assigning, and using IP addresses, known as IPv4, uses 32-bit binary addresses, which means it can contain approximately 4.3 billion unique IP addresses.
But the number of computers and smartphones connected to the Internet is increasing dramatically, so most IP addresses have been exhausted, and thus new users may not be able to get a unique IP to use the Internet.
For this reason, a new protocol version called IPv6 was developed, as addresses according to IPv6 are binary numbers with a size of 128 bits, and therefore the number of available Internet Protocol addresses will be about 340, and thus the problem of exhaustion of IP addresses will be solved in the future.
How does an IP address work?
Suppose you want to talk to another person, how will you communicate with him? Of course, you will communicate with him in Arabic using the rules and words in the language so that you understand each other. Likewise, computers must have specific rules known and built in advance to be able to communicate, exchange information, and process data between each other based on certain rules and conditions.
Information is sent and received between computers via the IP protocol, and computers here, of course, include web hosts or servers. They are also computers, but with different specifications. They also include any device connected to the network, whatever its type.
For example, when you access the WordPress website , you use the URL of the website www.wppr.net through any browser. The request to access and download that website (WordPress in Arabic) goes to the servers of the Domain Name System (DNS Domain Name System), which is a system that stores All domain names on the Internet.
The DNS service links domain names to IP addresses with its own working mechanism, as it searches for www.wppr.net to find the private IP address. You can say that DNS works to translate domain names into IP addresses in its own way.
Types of IP addresses
IP addresses can be classified according to several types and classifications, as follows:
Private IP address
It is the IP address of devices connected to a local network via your router or router, as the private IP address cannot be routed directly through the Internet, but is limited to the internal network of the private router, which you can access from search engines by using the IP address: 192.168 .1.1
Private IP addresses are considered internal telephones that are used only within individual and local private networks and cannot be used on the Internet, and you can change them yourself.
Public IP address
If we liken the IP address to a phone number, the public IP address is the external line used to connect to the Internet, and by assigning a number to each device, the source of the information can be identified. You cannot change this address as you wish. (You must apply to the institution that issued the address to change it).
The public IP address is usually assigned to you by the Internet service provider (ISP) from which you purchased the service. There are two types of public IP addresses.
Dynamic IP address
It is the Internet Protocol address (IP) assigned to you by the Internet Service Provider (ISP). Internet service providers automatically assign it to their customers on a periodic and variable basis, meaning that it changes continuously every time you connect to the Internet or every time you reset the router, or Make changes to internet settings.
The reason is that all clients will not be present on the network together, so each user who connects to the network can be assigned a variable, random address. Thus, addresses can be provided to a larger number of users through a specific set of addresses at the service provider.
Static IP address
In contrast, a dynamic IP address is a fixed IP address that is assigned specifically to you by your Internet Service Provider (ISP), and is completely unaffected by any event. These static IP addresses are usually provided to businesses, and ISPs typically charge more to allow customers to use static IP addresses.
The IP address of the website
There are two types of IP addresses for websites, for website owners who have purchased hosting from companies that sell the service such as GoDaddy or Namecheap, which is what happens with most websites.
Shared IP addresses
For personal websites or SME websites, browsing, transferring and sending information is manageable, and the websites themselves are limited in terms of the number of pages, so websites use shared hosting to save costs and have shared IP addresses.
Read also: What is shared hosting? Why do we not advise you to rely on it?
Dedicated IP addresses
As we mentioned, a private IP address can be used instead of a domain name. Once you enter the website of the company from which you will purchase hosting, you will find plans for purchasing hosting, including the option to purchase dedicated hosting (dedicated hosting) with an IP address dedicated to your site, which of course gives you more features.
Read also: What is hosting, a comprehensive explanation for beginners
Find out your IP address
There are several ways that enable you to know the IP address of your local device or your website server, which are as follows:
1- Find out the IP address of your personal computer through specialized Internet sites : There are several sites that provide you with the service of knowing your IP address. For example, once you enter this website ( whatismyip ), it will give you all the information about your device’s IP address, introduce you to your Internet service provider, and also show you the type of IP address as in the following image.
Or you can type the phrase (what is my ip) into the Google search engine, and benefit from other existing sites that provide this service.
2- Find out the IP address via the CMD command line: All you have to do is press the Start button located at the bottom of the desktop screen, then type the word cmd in the search box, and press the Enter button. The black command screen of the operating system will appear. Windows.
Just type the word (ipconfig) and press the (Enter) button on the keyboard. The IP address related to the local network will appear next to the phrase IPv4 Address, which is your local IP address, as in the following image.
Knowing the IP address of your site through Internet sites using its domain name : The DNS provides you with a tool through which you can identify the IP address of your site or any other website using the domain name. All you have to do is Simply click here , then type the domain name of the website whose IP address you want to obtain, then click the (LookUp) button.
For example, when you type the domain name wpar.net for the WordPress website in Arabic into the DNS tool, you will get the IP address of the site. You can use it instead of the domain name to access the site within search engines.
The importance of having a unique IP address
Most web hosting service providers nowadays congregate thousands of websites on one server, due to the limited IP addresses according to the IPV4 protocol, as we explained before. All websites on one server often have a common IP address, which threatens the stability and performance of each site. On this server.
Having a unique IP address will keep it from being affected by other websites on the same server. If your website shares an IP address with other websites on one server and one of these websites is blocked or blacklisted, all of these websites including yours will also be blocked or blacklisted.
Likewise, websites that have unique IP addresses are more secure. If your website shares an IP address with 1,000 other websites on a specific server and one of these websites is hacked, this means that your site is also vulnerable to hacking.
Also, having a unique IP address for your site indicates the stability and reliability of the site, which makes obtaining an SSL certificate for protection easier.
Finally, if you create a unique IP address and test it before registering your domain, this will allow you to run a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server and make it easier for you to share and transfer files across Internet protocols.
Protect and hide your IP address
The Internet service provider knows the following data about you:
- The IP addresses to which the user is connected to the network.
- Monitors the domains requested by the user.
- Monitors the pages that the user visits.
- Views the user’s browsing data.
- You can find out all unencrypted data.
So you may want to protect your IP address to protect your personal information and identity online. Below we will show you two basic ways to hide your IP address:
Method1. Use proxy server
It is an intermediary server through which your browsing traffic is directed to that intermediary server that takes care of the matter. The Internet Service Provider (ISP) will not see your browsing traffic and deals directly with a proxy service, so the Internet sites that you visit only see the IP address of the intermediary server (proxy server). Not your IP address.
When these servers send the information back to you, it goes to an intermediary server, which then forwards it to you. This process is completed
There are many types of proxy servers, the most famous of which is the DNS Proxy, which tracks Domain Name System requests. But the disadvantage of a proxy server is that it can spy on you, and it can also insert ads into your browser.
Method2. Use a virtual private network (VPN)
A virtual private network (VPN) offers a better solution. You can use the Internet as if you were located in another geographical location, so it is called virtualization. It assumes a location that is completely different from your current location, keeps your communications private, and ensures that you are not exposed to phishing, malware, viruses, and other cyber threats.
Conclusion
An IP address provides a way to distinguish between all computers and websites. IP addresses are the identity or identifier that allows information to be sent between different devices on the network, and they are necessary for the correct exchange of information on the Internet.
A dedicated and unique IP address gives your or your company’s website stability and reliability, and makes site visitors enjoy a purely security experience. Of course, the IP address plays a very important role in the world of the Internet.
Thus, we have reached the end of our article in which we talked about the IP address and its types, and why it is used, and we learned why it is necessary for your website’s IP address to be unique, and we also talked about ways to hide your identity and protect your privacy on the Internet by hiding the IP address in several ways,
