Why is correct ip addressing important

IP addresses are vital for all Internet-based activities, and yet it's not uncommon that a user doesn't know his computer's IP address or what it's good for. There are two types of IP addresses: private and public. Private IP addresses are part of a reusable pool set aside by the Internet Engineering Task Force for individual networks. To communicate across the Internet, computers need a public IP address. This address is globally unique, so it cannot be the same as any other in the world. Looking up your IP configuration information in Window settings will often return your private address, which cannot be reached through the Internet.

Because an IP address is a unique identifier, it allows computers to send and receive information to and from specific computers in a given network. Today, there are two standards when it comes to IP addresses. When the Internet Protocol was originally designed, an IP consisted of a bit number and the system was known as Internet Protocol Version 4. IPv4 is still in use today but the Internet has grown at an incredible pace and as IP addresses became more scarce, a new version of Internet Protocol was created.

Internet Protocol Version 6 uses bits for the IP address. IPv6 was originally developed in and it was standardized in When you put a website on the Internet you have a number of options when it comes to hosting. So their other options would be to use a dedicated server or shared web hosting.

With shared web hosting there may be hundreds or even thousands of websites on the same server. With that many websites on one server, all of those websites will often share one IP address. There are some inherent dangers when your website is sharing an IP address with hundreds of other websites.

Sometimes people do shady things on the Internet and if you are sharing an IP address with a website that is blocked or blacklisted, your site may suffer as well. If your web host offers a dedicated server, you will be able to have your own, unique IP address for your website.

This makes it impossible for your website to be affected by the shenanigans of other webmasters. Less Secure While having a free to use common IP address could be working for your own welfare but there are a set of risks associated to it as well. These risks often terminate the existence of the given IP address and your own website or business might suffer harsh consequences. Such activities are instantly monitored and the IP addresses are tracked which can ultimately lead to its termination hence putting an end to your self-sustained and morally correct business model.

Risk of Plagiarism Since a shared IP address is already less secure as compared to an owned one, the risk of your ideas being stolen by others is also a prevailing factor which might result in your downfall.

The number of websites working on a single IP address increases the risk of potential snooping and plagiarism. Your own inventive idea might get copied and sold to a higher bidder without your notice, now this is where things get really ugly. It is still in use and is holding up pretty good against the test of time.

However, as the network increased, the need for a better protocol version was required and hence the IPv6 was created. These addresses are unique to specific computers or smaller networks on the internet and are used to send data from one place to another. IPv4 addresses look like 4 groups of numbers ranging from separated by dots, whilst IPv6 addresses are much longer and the groups are separated by colons.

The unique nature of an IP address means that they are used for more than just communication as the address can also be used to identify a server. There are various services that monitor IP addresses and build reputations based on them.

The first of these are spam trackers, such as Spamhaus, who track spam emails and — more importantly — where they originate from. The IP addresses and domains used as the source of the spam go into blocklists and blacklists that are used by many email services to determine whether email is coming from a trusted source.