Define private and public IP addresses.
Private and public IP addresses are terms used to categorize and differentiate IP addresses based on their accessibility and usage on a network.
- Private IP Address:
- A private IP address is used within a local network and is not accessible directly from the internet.
- It is assigned to devices within a private network, such as a home or office network, and is used for communication among devices within that network.
- Private IP addresses are reserved for internal use and are not unique across the internet. This means that multiple private networks can use the same set of private IP addresses without conflict.
- Examples of private IP address ranges include:
- 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255
- 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255
- 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255
- Public IP Address:
- A public IP address is assigned to a device or server that is directly accessible from the internet.
- It serves as a unique identifier for that device on the global internet.
- Public IP addresses are required for communication between devices on different networks over the internet. When you access a website or a server from your device, it connects to the public IP address of that server.
- Internet Service Providers (ISPs) assign public IP addresses to their customers, and these addresses need to be globally unique.
- Public IP addresses are a finite resource, and network administrators often use technologies like Network Address Translation (NAT) to allow multiple devices in a private network to share a single public IP address.
Private IP addresses are used within local networks and are not directly accessible from the internet, while public IP addresses are assigned to devices or servers that need to be reachable from the global internet.