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An Internet Protocol address ( IP address) is a numerical label such as 192.0.2.1 that is assigned to a device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. [ 1][ 2] IP addresses serve two main functions: network interface identification, and location addressing . Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) defines ...
A network address is an identifier for a node or host on a telecommunications network. Network addresses are designed to be unique identifiers across the network, although some networks allow for local, private addresses, or locally administered addresses that may not be unique. [ 1] Special network addresses are allocated as broadcast or ...
Network address translation ( NAT) is a method of mapping an IP address space into another by modifying network address information in the IP header of packets while they are in transit across a traffic routing device. [ 1] The technique was originally used to bypass the need to assign a new address to every host when a network was moved, or ...
Network services such as Domain Name System (DNS) give names for IP and MAC addresses (people remember names like nm.lan better than numbers like 210.121.67.18), [73] and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) to ensure that the equipment on the network has a valid IP address.
In contrast, a multicast address is used to address a specific group of devices, and a unicast address is used to address a single device. For network layer communications, a broadcast address may be a specific IP address. At the data link layer on Ethernet networks, it is a specific MAC address.
Port (computer networking) In computer networking, a port or port number is a number assigned to uniquely identify a connection endpoint and to direct data to a specific service. At the software level, within an operating system, a port is a logical construct that identifies a specific process or a type of network service. A port at the ...
A MAC address (short for medium access control address) is a unique identifier assigned to a network interface controller (NIC) for use as a network address in communications within a network segment. This use is common in most IEEE 802 networking technologies, including Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. Within the Open Systems Interconnection ...
Special address blocks Address block Address range Number of addresses Scope Description 0.0.0.0/8 0.0.0.0–0.255.255.255 16 777 216: Software Current (local, "this") network [1] 10.0.0.0/8 10.0.0.0–10.255.255.255 16 777 216: Private network Used for local communications within a private network [3] 100.64.0.0/10 100.64.0.0–100.127.255.255 ...