Finding IP Addresses: An In-Depth Guide for Beginners

Hi there! If you‘re new to computer networking, IP addresses can seem confusing at first. But understanding IP addresses is crucial for diagnosing connectivity issues and enhancing your network skills.

In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll explain what IP addresses are, how they work, and most importantly – how YOU can find IP addresses on Windows, Linux, Mac and websites.

Let‘s get started!

Demystifying IP Addresses

An IP (Internet Protocol) address is a unique identifier assigned to each device connected to a network that uses IP for communication.

IP addresses function similar to postal addresses – they provide the location of a device on the network. Networks use IP addresses to route traffic to the correct destination.

IPv4 vs IPv6

There are two main versions of IP addresses:

IPv4 – The first publicly used version, with 32-bit addresses written as 4 decimal numbers like 192.168.0.1. It provides around 4 billion unique addresses.

IPv6 – The newer 128-bit version, written as 8 groups of hexadecimal digits like 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334. This provides an exponentially higher number of addresses, over 300 trillion trillion trillion!

IPv6 was created to solve the rapidly depleting supply of IPv4 addresses. While IPv6 adoption is increasing, IPv4 is still the dominant version.

Public vs Private

IP addresses are further classified into public and private:

• Public IP – Used for communication over the internet. Public IPs must be globally unique across the internet. They are assigned by ISPs.

• Private IP – Used for communication within a private network like a home or office. Private IP ranges are defined in RFC1918 and are commonly reused across networks. Devices with private IPs cannot directly communicate over the internet.

Common private IP ranges are:

• Class A – 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255
• Class B – 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255
• Class C – 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255

How IP Addresses Work

IP addresses utilize a hierarchical structure that allows efficient routing. The IP address is made up of two parts:

• Network prefix – Identifies the network
• Host identifier – Identifies the device on the network

For example, in the IP 192.168.1.5:

• 192.168.1 is the network prefix
• 5 is the host identifier

Devices in the same network have the same network prefix but different host identifiers.

The network prefix is also associated with a subnet mask (like 255.255.255.0), which determines the size of the network.

When data is transferred between devices, routers use the network prefixes to determine where to forward the packets.

Finding IP Address in Windows

Windows provides several options to find your machine‘s IP address. Let‘s go through them one by one:

Using ipconfig

The ipconfig command is the simplest option. Open command prompt and type ipconfig

ipconfig

This will display connections information for all your network adapters:

Identify the active adapter based on the Connection-specific DNS Suffix. The IPv4 Address is your IP.

Via Network and Sharing Center

You can also use the Network and Sharing Center in Control Panel:

1. Open Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center

2. Under Connections, click your active network adapter

3. In the connection status window, click Details to view the IP:

Using Settings App

In the Settings app:

1. Go to Network & Internet > Wi-Fi/Ethernet

2. Click your connected network

3. Scroll down and view the IP under Hardware Properties

No matter which option you use, you will get the same private IP address assigned to your machine.

Finding IP on Linux

On Linux, we have powerful command-line tools to find IP addresses.

ip command

The ip command allows viewing and configuring network interfaces. To show details of a specific interface:

ip addr show eth0 

This will display the IP address and other info for eth0:

hostname

Use the -I option to show all assigned IP addresses:

hostname -I

ifconfig

The ifconfig command has been the go-to tool for network info on Linux for decades:

ifconfig eth0

To find your public IP, use external services like ifconfig.me:

curl ifconfig.me

There are many other options as well – ipinfo.io, icanhazip.com etc.

Finding IP on Mac

GUI Method

The easiest way is through System Preferences:

1. Apple Menu > System Preferences > Network

2. Select your network connection

3. View the IP in the Status

Terminal

For Ethernet, use the ipconfig command:

ipconfig getifaddr en0 

Replace en0 with your actual interface name.

Getting a Website‘s IP Address

To find the public IP of a website, we can use utilities like ping, nslookup and dig which query DNS records.

ping

ping website.com

This will display the IP in the output:

PING wikipedia.com (91.198.174.194) 56(84) bytes of data.

nslookup

nslookup website.com

nslookup will fetch and show the DNS record containing the website‘s IP address.

dig

dig +short website.com

Dig provides just the IP address by default.

There are also many online Whois tools that can find a website‘s IP when you enter the domain name.

Why IP Addresses Are Important

Now that you know how to find IP addresses, you may be wondering why they matter. Here are some key uses of IP addresses:

• Geolocation – Public IPs can identify location at a city/country level, used for security services

• Troubleshooting connectivity – If you can ping an IP but not a domain name, it indicates a DNS issue. Other times, pinging IP helps diagnose network issues.

• Network access control – Firewalls and ACLs use IP addresses to allow or block traffic.

• Identifying devices – Matching IPs to device names and MAC addresses helps track devices on the network.

• Securing remote access – Temporary public IPs allow securely exposing internal resources to the internet.

• Analytics – Web analytics tools track visitor IPs for traffic analysis.

So learning how to find and leverage IP addresses can really level up your networking skills!

Final Words

I hope this guide gave you a solid understanding of IP addresses and how to view them on your own computers and networks. Let me know if you have any other questions!