IP Address
| IP Address stands for "Internet Protocol" Address. Much like a phone number provides a way of connecting to other telephones in the world, and IP address provides a way of connecting to other computers. When you enter a URL into your browser, your computer must look up the IP address of this server, in the same way that you have to look up someone's telephone number before dialing them. Typically, your Internet Service Provider will provide DNS Server addresses (also known as DNS Resolvers). DNS resolvers must "resolve" the host name or Domain Name into an IP Address. Once the IP address is determined by the resolver, it notifies your computer of the IP address and your computer is able to contact the appropriate web site or server. This all typically happens in well under one second. The format of an IP address is XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX -- four octets separated by dots. Each octet must be less than 255. A sample IP address is '192.168.0.1'. |