What Is IP Addresses

There is no randomness to IP addresses. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), a branch of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), generates and assigns them mathematically. A non-profit organization called ICANN was founded in the US in 1998 with the goal of assisting in preserving internet security and enabling universal access to it. Every time someone wants to register a domain on the internet, they do it through a domain name registrar, who pays ICANN a nominal registration fee

A series of integers divided by periods makes up an IP address. An example IP address would be 192.158.1.38. IP addresses are expressed as a set of four integers. Every number in the set has a possible range of 0 to 255. Thus, 0.0.0.0 to 255.255.255.255 is the entire IP addressing range.

How do IP addresses work

Every device connected to a computer network that employs the Internet Protocol for communication is given an IP address, also known as an Internet Protocol address. There are two primary uses for these addresses:

1 Identifying the Host:
2 Addressing a location:

1 Identifying the Host:
Any given device on a network can be uniquely identified by its IP address. For every device on the network, it serves as a label or identification to guarantee that data is sent to the right place.

2 Addressing a location:
When transferring data between networks, IP addresses are essential. Data can be sent to the appropriate location by using their assistance in locating a device on a network.

IP addresses come in two major versions:

1 Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4)

• consists of four decimal number sets (192.168.1.1, for example) divided by dots.
• Due to its 32-bit format, which only permits about 4.3 billion distinct addresses, IPv4 addresses are frequently utilized but have a limited supply.
• An octet is a set of numbers that can have values between 0 and 255.

2 Internet Protocol version 6, or IPv6:

• With its 128-bit structure, IPv6 offers a significantly bigger address space and was created to address the exhaustion of IPv4 addresses.
• has eight groups divided by colons and is written in hexadecimal notation (2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334, for example).

There are two basic types of IP addresses:

1 Private IP Address:

• In addition to not being immediately reachable from the public internet, devices on private networks share private IP addresses.
• Used within a private network, such as a home or office network.

2 Public IP Address:

• used to identify devices on public wifi networks and globally unique.
• assigned to a device that is online by an Internet Service Provider (ISP).

Often used to simplify network settings, Dynamic Host setting Protocol (DHCP) assigns IP addresses to connected devices automatically.

Network administrators must comprehend IP addresses since correct addressing guarantees accurate and efficient data exchange both within and across networks.

what is Switching:

The process of forwarding data packets between devices on a network is referred to as switching in the context of computer networking. Among devices connected to the same local area network (LAN), switching is primarily used to enable communication between them. In OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) modeling, switching takes place at the data link layer (Layer 2).

Circuit switching and packet switching are the two basic forms of switching. Packet switching is the type that is more pertinent to local area networks.

1 Circuit switching

For the length of their talk, two devices are connected via a dedicated communication channel created by circuit switching. Modern computer networks are less frequently linked by this technique than are traditional telephone networks. In contrast to packet switching, circuit switching uses resources even when no one is speaking for the whole duration of a call.

2 packet switching

• Ethernet Switching: Devices known as Ethernet switches are responsible for switching in Ethernet networks, which are the most widely used LAN technology. Selectively forwarding frames to the right target device is how an Ethernet switch works. First, it looks at the data link layer addresses, or MAC addresses, in the frames it receives.
• Handling Broadcast and Multicast: Switches selectively forward frames to only the required ports, hence reducing network congestion. However, broadcast and multicast frames are usually routed to every port on the local area network.
• MAC Address Lookup Table: MAC addresses are mapped to the port on which the matching device is connected by switches using a MAC address table, sometimes called a forwarding table or content addressable memory, or CAM table. The destination device’s port is the sole one to which a switch forwards a frame after verifying the MAC address of the recipient.

Comparing switching to older network technologies such as hubs, there are some benefits: better network performance overall, decreased collision domains, and better bandwidth usage.

In essence, selective data frame forwarding based on MAC addresses is what switching in computer networking, especially in Ethernet networks, entails. Through congestion reduction and the provision of dedicated communication routes between devices inside a local network, this approach improves network performance and efficiency.