IP Addresses
This is a term that we all know. It would be rare for someone not to know it. It's an abbreviation for Internet Protocol Address. As everyone knows, an IP Address is a form of internet address that consists of four groups of numbers. For example, something like 192.168.100.123.
When our phone or computer connects to a network, it receives a unique IP address from the specific IP range designated and arranged by that network. An IP address on a network is unique. This means that two devices cannot have the same IP address on a single network.
To make it clear, it's just like our home address. There can't be two houses with the same house number on a single street. If there were, they would have to be differentiated with A and B. Otherwise, if you wanted to send something, you wouldn't know which house to send it to.
Based on its nature and characteristics, an IP address can be divided into two types in two different ways. Since this can be confusing, to make it as clear as possible, let's just say there are two groups with different classification methods.
Public & Private IP address
Public IP Address refers to the unique IP addresses that exist only once in the entire world, and they are mainly used for direct connections to the internet. Therefore, you can roughly remember that a Public IP Address is an address that can communicate with every internet-connected device in the world. For example, 1.1.1.1, which is known by everyone (in Myanmar) as "one-four-four-four," is a public IP address. You can type it into a browser from anywhere and view it. (You can check your own Public IP address by visiting whatismyipaddress.com).
Private IP Address, on the other hand, is a type of IP address that can only be used for communication between devices within a specific network. For example, let's say my Linux Machine has the IP 192.168.100.123. And let's say I've run an Apache2 service on Linux and created a Web App. This IP address can only be accessed by people who are using the same WiFi network as me; readers would not be able to open it from their computers. This is because it is a Private IP. (You can check your Private IP Address by typing ifconfig in the Linux & Mac Terminal, or ipconfig in Windows's cmd).
This classification is based on the nature of IP Addresses.
Dynamic & Static IP address
When we classify IP Addresses based on their characteristics, we can divide them into Dynamic and Static.
Dynamic IP refers to IP Addresses that are not fixed and change with every new connection. These Dynamic IPs are assigned by a server called a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Server. Therefore, they will change with each connection, depending on the network configuration settings. To give a clear example of a Dynamic IP, the Public IP addresses we get when we use the internet with our phones' Mobile Data are Dynamic IPs. This means that if we connect to the internet with our phone, then disconnect, and then reconnect again, the IP Addresses will not be the same. (You can test this by using your mobile internet and visiting whatismyipaddress.com).
Static IP Addresses are a type of IP Address that never changes. They are fixed addresses. Because Dynamic IPs are always changing, it can be difficult to track them. Static IPs, on the other hand, are always the same, making it easier to trace them. Static IPs are used in places where a fixed address is required, such as servers. To give a clear example, while a website can be opened by typing a domain name like google.com or facebook.com, the actual process behind it is done with IP Addresses. Therefore, those IP addresses cannot change. For example, example.com is running on a server with the IP Address 93.184.216.34. When we type example.com into a browser, it performs DNS Resolution to find and connect to the IP address of the web page we want to open. For this process to be easier and faster, even though DNS servers don't permanently save the domain and IP address, it is necessary for the IP Address to be static. Since this is not a discussion about DNS, it's enough to just know this concept. An important thing to know is that our WiFi networks also use Static Public IP addresses.
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