IP address

IP address is a 32-bit number that identifies each unique sender or receiver of information that is sent in packets; it is written as four octets separated by periods (dotted-decimal format). An IP address has two parts: the identifier of a particular network and an identifier of the particular device (which can be a server or a workstation) within that network. You may add an optional sub-network identifier. Only the network part of the address is looked at between the routers that move packets from one point to another along the network. Although you can have a static IP address, many IP addresses are assigned dynamically from a pool. Many corporate networks and online services economize on the number of IP addresses they use by sharing a pool of IP addresses among a large number of users. (The format of the IP address is slightly changed in IPv6.)