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An [[IP]] address, or '''Internet Protocol Address''' is the unique number given to every computer connected to the [[Internet]]. This number allows users and other computers to find each other.
In the [[IPv4]] scheme, IP addresses consist of 4 [[byte]]s, allowing for a full range of 4,294,967,295 unique addresses. Represented visually these addresses consist of four numbers which are between 0 and 255, separated by periods, such as 132.42.45.101.
In [[IPv6]], IP addresses consist of 16 [[byte]]s, allowing for a theoretically total of 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 unique addresses. The literal representation is done in blocks of 16 bits written in hex, separated by colon, such as 2001:db8:1:2:3:4:5:6 (zeros at the left don't need to be written). A longer address, with many zeros can get compressed; for example ff02:0:0:0:0:0:0:1 will become ff02::1.
'''See Also'''
* [[Internet Protocol]]
* [[IPv4]] - the most widely deployed version of the [[Internet Protocol]]
* [[IPv6]] - the most recent version of the Protocol, but which has not yet been widely deployed. However the deployment started around 2003 in some big operators and is progressing quickly
[[Category: Glossary]]