Author:
Lon W. McDaniel
Internet 4 U

TCP/IP


Contents

TCP/IP


Each IP-address is a 32-byte number. The number has two main components, a network number and a host number. It is written in 4 fields (8-bytes in each field), with a dot after each field. An IP-address might look like this: 130.102.1.226. Each field can have a number between 0 and 255.

All this means that every computer has a specific number that only that computer has. No two computers share the same number. (There is a technical way to get around that, but I am not going to bog down in that kind of techie stuff here!)

A router uses the identity numbers (IP-addresses) to figure out the shortest route from here to there.

If the Internet keeps growing at the present alarming rate then there will be a problem soon with the IP-addresses running out. (there are only just so many combinations of 0-255 in 4 fields). The techies are hard at work fixing that problem - do not ask me how...

Copywrite © Lon W. McDaniel 1996