N-GEN Communications Web-based Seminars ©NGCS

Seminar - An Overview of Communications Technologies

Module 6 - Internet, Intranet, Extranet, e-Commerce and Web Services                                        Slide 9 of 70 _________________                                                                                  __________

                                        What is an IP Address?

                                    Host Address

                                    IP Address

                                    IP Address Representation

                                    Translation from Host Name to the IP Address

_________________                                                                                  __________

Host names are used to access other hosts on the Internet. It is a convenient way to address a host. The Host name represents the IP address of the host. It is the address that the Internet TCP/IP needs to get information to or from the host.

IP Address - It is a unique number given to the host by the Internet.

IP Address Representation - The IP address of a host is represented as four numbers between 1 and 254 separated by periods.

Translating a Host Name to the IP Address - Most software automatically translates between the host name and the IP address.

IPv4 - Uses 32 bits for the address (allowing 4 billion addresses globally)

IPv6 - Uses 128 bits for the address (allowing 3x10 raised to the power of 38 addresses globally)