IP address

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IP address

[¦ī′pē ə‚dres]
(computer science)
A computer's numeric address, such as 128.201.86.290, by which it can be located within a network.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

IP address

(networking)
(Internet address) The 32-bit number uniquely identifying a node on a network using Internet Protocol, as defined in STD 5, RFC 791. An IP address is normally displayed in dotted decimal notation, e.g. 128.121.4.5.

The address can be split into a network number (or network address) and a host number unique to each host on the network and sometimes also a subnet address.

The way the address is split depends on its "class", A, B or C (but see also CIDR). The class is determined by the high address bits:

Class A - high bit 0, 7-bit network number, 24-bit host number. n1.a.a.a 0 <= n1 <= 127

Class B - high 2 bits 10, 14-bit network number, 16-bit host number. n1.n2.a.a 128 <= n1 <= 191

Class C - high 3 bits 110, 21-bit network number, 8-bit host number. n1.n2.n3.a 192 <= n1 <= 223

DNS translates a node's fully qualified domain name to an Internet address which ARP (or constant mapping) translates to an Ethernet address.
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