What Is an IP Address? A Business Guide to IP Addresses Business
We've got some great deals going on right now exclusively for our online customers... chat now to hear more! What is an IP address? A business guide to IP addresses,Author: Poornima Apte,If you have ever asked What is an IP address? or What is an IP address used for? the short answer is that an IP address is like a phone number for your internet-connected devices. It is a unique identifier. Any computer needs both an internal and external IP address to connect to another computer over a network using the internet's global language, the Internet Protocol, or IP. There are about four billion unique IP addresses. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the group of engineers who invent and maintain the technology of the internet, specifies the format of these IP addresses. The IP version 4 format was and is still popular. It looks like this: 192.168.107.13. The IETF created a newer format with much more room for addresses (more than the stars in the observable universe), so the internet can continue to grow in the future. With that established, let's explore what you'll need to know about IP addresses for your business. An internal vs. external IP address,Your small- to medium-sized business (SMB) might have a network of its own, where all your computers and various devices are connected with each other. When you send a document to the printer, for instance, your PC uses the printer's IP address to send the data. This business network is private to you; no one else can connect to your printer. Accordingly, the IP address of the printer and of your PC are private addresses, and your network is known as a private IP network.,But you might also have a public service—for example, a catalog on the web where customers can view or order your merchandise or fill out a form. This service or web page must be running on a computer with a public or external IP address so that anyone on the internet can connect to and use the service. This public computer could be maintained for you by a commercial web hosting provider who assigns a public IP address to that computer, or your IT could maintain the computer on your own premises. In this latter case, your internet service provider (ISP) will assign you a public or external IP address to use. Now that you know the answer to the what is an IP address and what is an IP address used for questions, and now that you understand the difference between an internal and external IP address, how do they work as part of your ? When an employee in your business uses an online software as a service, for example, the machine in your network needs to talk to the machine at the other end. Since humans find it difficult to connect using IP numbers, they use a service called Domain Name System (DNS), which takes names like Google.com or Verizon.com and translates them to the corresponding public IP address so that your machine knows where to go. A static vs. dynamic IP address,Businesses can choose whether they want addresses to be static or dynamic. Static addresses are constant, just like your business phone number, while the dynamic equivalent changes frequently. While there is an argument to be made for IP addresses to be dynamic to make security more robust, a static IP address confers many advantages, including:,In addition, static IP addresses increase reliability and are easier to manage. Learn how can help your business remain productive and online 24/7. If you'd like to receive new articles, solutions briefs, whitepapers and more—just let us know. . * Indicates a required field. We will follow up from your contact request using the information provided. 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