One essential element of the internet and other computer
networks is the Internet Protocol (IP). It is in charge of addressing and
directing data packets so they can traverse networks and reach their intended
location. IP, one of the fundamental protocols of the Internet Protocol Suite
(also known as the TCP/IP paradigm), facilitates device-to-device communication
and is necessary for the internet to work.
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The IP protocol's history, current two main versions (IPv4
and IPv6), and function in contemporary computer networks will all be covered
in this article.
The Internet Protocol (IP): What is it?
Fundamentally, IP is a collection of guidelines that control the routing and
addressing of data packets within a network. Large data sets are divided into
manageable packets by the protocol, which guarantees that these packets are
sent from the source device to the destination device, regardless of how far
apart they are.
In the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) paradigm, IP functions at the Network
Layer. It covers packet forwarding, routing, and logical addressing—the process
of giving each device on a network a unique address. It doesn't deal with flow
management, error correction, or data transfer dependability; these are handled
by higher-layer protocols like transfer management.
IP's past
Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn first created the Internet Protocol in
the 1970s as a component of the ARPANET project, which served as the forerunner
to the current internet. Request for Comments (RFC) 791 published IPv4, the
first official IP protocol, in 1981. For many years, IPv4 was the industry
standard for internet addressing and routing.
However, it became clear that IPv4's addressing scheme—which
has 4.3 billion distinct IP addresses—would not be enough to handle the
increasing number of internet users and devices as the number of devices
connected to the internet skyrocketed in the 1990s. As a result, IPv6 was
created and released as a new protocol in 1998.
How Intellectual Property Operates
IP's fundamental operation can be divided into multiple crucial steps:
Addressing: An IP address is given to every device connected to a network. Data
packet source and destination devices are identified by this address. The
address is 32 bits long in IPv4 and 128 bits long in IPv6, which allows for a
significantly greater number of unique addresses.
Packetising is the process of dividing data into smaller parts known as packets
before sending it over a network. Along with header data that comprises the
source and destination IP addresses, a sequence number, and other routing
information, each packet carries a portion of the original contents.
The Original IP Protocol, or IPv4
The most used version of the Internet Protocol is IPv4 (Internet Protocol
version 4). It was created in the 1980s and has served as the internet's foundation
for many years. 32 bits make up an IPv4 address, which is commonly expressed as
four decimal places separated by periods (e.g., 192.168.1.1). In informal
conversations, a "byte" is typically used to refer to the 8 bits that
each decimal number represents, also known as an octet.
With its 32-bit address space, IPv4 can potentially support over 4.3 billion
distinct addresses. When the internet was just getting started, this was more
than plenty, but as it grew, it became evident that there would not be enough
IPv4 addresses available to accommodate the billions of users.
Structure and Address Classes of IPv4
Four octets (32 bits) make up an IPv4 address, which is written in
dotted-decimal format (e.g., 192.168.0.1). The network portion, which identifies
the network, and the host portion, which identifies the device connected to the
network, make up this address. Another essential element of IP addressing is
the subnet mask, which defines the network and host components.
Five address classes—A, B, C, D, and E—are frequently used to categorise IPv4
addresses. While Classes D and E are set aside for multicast and experimental
uses, Classes A, B, and C are utilised for routine network communication.
IPv6: The Fix for IPv4's Drawbacks
In order to overcome the shortcomings of IPv4, particularly the scarcity of
available IP addresses, IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) was created. The
32-bit address space of IPv4 was quickly running out of space due to the
increasing number of devices connected to the internet. By employing 128-bit
addresses, IPv6 resolves this problem and creates a nearly unlimited number of
potential IP addresses, around 340 undecillion (3.4 × 10^38) unique addresses.
Eight sets of four hexadecimal digits are used to write IPv6 addresses, with
colons between each group (2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334, for
example). More effective routing is made possible by this larger address space,
which also removes the need for methods like Network Address Translation (NAT),
which were employed in IPv4 to increase address space.
Important distinctions between the address space of IPv4 and
IPv6: The size of the address space is the primary distinction between IPv4 and
IPv6. While IPv6 employs 128-bit addresses, which provide a nearly infinite
number of addresses, IPv4 uses 32-bit addresses, which allow for roughly 4.3
billion distinct addresses.
While IPv6 addresses are written in hexadecimal with colons between each digit
(e.g., 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334), IPv4 addresses are written in
dotted-decimal format (e.g., 192.168.1.1).
Header Format: In contrast to IPv4, IPv6 has a more straightforward header
structure. IPv6 improves routing efficiency by removing a number of fields from
the IPv4 header.
Security: IPv6 was created with security in mind, including integrated support
for IPsec encryption, whereas IPv4 only offered this feature as an option.
Subnetting and Addressing
Addressing network devices is one of the main functions of the IP protocol. The
network address and the host address are the two primary parts of IP addresses.
To increase routing effectiveness and organisation, a network can be subnetted
into smaller subnetworks, or subnets.
Subnetting is the process of creating subnets in IPv4 by taking bits from the
host portion of the address. Which component of the address is the host portion
and which is the network portion is determined by the subnet mask. Subnetting
is more adaptable with IPv6 because of the wider address space.