IP Addresses and Ports Explained
When you connect to the internet, your device needs a way to be found and recognized by other devices. This is where IP addresses come in. An IP address acts as a unique identifier for every device on a network, similar to how every house has a unique street address. There are two main types of IP address formats in use today: IPv4 and IPv6. IPv4 addresses look like 192.168.1.1—four numbers separated by dots, each ranging from 0 to 255. As the internet grew, we needed more addresses, so IPv6 was introduced, using longer strings like 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334 to allow for many more devices.
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While an IP address tells you which device to contact, ports are like numbered doors on that device. Each service running on a computer—such as a web server, email server, or database—listens on a specific port number. For example, web servers typically use port 80 for regular HTTP traffic and port 443 for secure HTTPS traffic. The table above shows how different IP addresses can be paired with different ports to represent different services.
Think of an IP address as the street address of a building, and a port as an apartment number within that building. The street address (IP address) gets you to the right building (device), and the apartment number (port) gets you to the right room (service) inside. This way, many services can run on the same device without interfering with each other.
When you type a website URL into your browser, your computer uses the domain name to look up the server's IP address. Then, it connects to that IP address and uses a specific port number—usually 80 or 443—to reach the web service. The browser and server communicate through this combination of IP address and port, ensuring your request reaches the right place.
1. What is the primary purpose of an IP address?
2. In the analogy provided, what do ports represent?
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When you connect to the internet, your device needs a way to be found and recognized by other devices. This is where IP addresses come in. An IP address acts as a unique identifier for every device on a network, similar to how every house has a unique street address. There are two main types of IP address formats in use today: IPv4 and IPv6. IPv4 addresses look like 192.168.1.1—four numbers separated by dots, each ranging from 0 to 255. As the internet grew, we needed more addresses, so IPv6 was introduced, using longer strings like 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334 to allow for many more devices.
index.html
While an IP address tells you which device to contact, ports are like numbered doors on that device. Each service running on a computer—such as a web server, email server, or database—listens on a specific port number. For example, web servers typically use port 80 for regular HTTP traffic and port 443 for secure HTTPS traffic. The table above shows how different IP addresses can be paired with different ports to represent different services.
Think of an IP address as the street address of a building, and a port as an apartment number within that building. The street address (IP address) gets you to the right building (device), and the apartment number (port) gets you to the right room (service) inside. This way, many services can run on the same device without interfering with each other.
When you type a website URL into your browser, your computer uses the domain name to look up the server's IP address. Then, it connects to that IP address and uses a specific port number—usually 80 or 443—to reach the web service. The browser and server communicate through this combination of IP address and port, ensuring your request reaches the right place.
1. What is the primary purpose of an IP address?
2. In the analogy provided, what do ports represent?
Merci pour vos commentaires !
