What is IP ?

IP - Internet Protocol
Definition: IP (Internet Protocol) is the
primary network protocol used on the
Internet, developed in the 1970s. On
the Internet and many other
networks, IP is often used together
with the Transport Control Protocol
(TCP) and referred to interchangeably
as TCP/IP.
Internet Protocol is the process of
breaking up information into little
packets and shipping them through
the internet to be reassembled on the
other end. It's very efficient
(compared to a phone line, which is
dedicated to a single phone call, even
though most of it is "dead air") and
self correcting (packets are re-routed
if a network link goes down).
IP supports unique addressing for
computers on a network. Most
networks use the Internet Protocol
version 4 (IPv4) standard that features
IP addresses four bytes (32 bits) in
length. The newer Internet Protocol
version 6 (IPv6 ) standard features
addresses 16 bytes (128 bits) in
length.
There are five classes of available IP
ranges: Class A, Class B, Class C, Class
D and Class E, while only A, B, and C
are commonly used. Each class allows
for a range of valid IP addresses.
Below is a listing of these addresses.
Class Address Range Supports
Class A 1.0.0.1 to
126.255.255.254
Supports 16 million
hosts on each of 127
networks.
Class B 128.1.0.1 to
191.255.255.254
Supports 65,000 hosts
on each of 16,000
networks.
Class C 192.0.1.1 to
223.255.254.254
Supports 254 hosts
on each of 2 million
networks.
Class D 224.0.0.0 to
239.255.255.255
Reserved for multicast
groups.
Class E 240.0.0.0 to
254.255.255.254
Reserved for future
use, or Research and
Development
Purposes.
Ranges 127.x.x.x are reserved for the
loopback or localhost, for example,
127.0.0.1 is the common loopback
address. Range 255.255.255.255
broadcasts to all hosts on the local
network.
Steps to find the IP address of your pc.
Go to Start > All Programs >
Accessories > Command
Prompt.
Alternatively, go to Start >
Run, type cmd, and press
OK.
In the Command Prompt
window, type ipconfig and
press Enter. This will bring
up your IP address, DNS
address, and other
information about your
internet connection.