Your computer likes to describe on as 1 and off as 0.īy itself, a single bit is kind of useless, as it can only represent one of two things. A computer can turn each bit either on or off. A light switch could be regarded as a binary system, since it is always either on or off.Īs complex as they may seem, on a conceptual level computers are nothing more than boxes full of millions of "light switches." Each of the switches in a computer is called a bit, short for b inary dig it. In binary systems, everything is described using two values or states: on or off, true or false, yes or no, 1 or 0. But doesn't it seem odd that a word whose root means "eight" describes a number from 0 to 255? What does "eight" have to do with those values? To understand the answers to these questions, you have to look at an IP address from your computer's viewpoint.Ĭomputers see everything in terms of binary. Octet is, in fact, the correct term for describing the four individual numbers that make up an IP address. You may also have heard people referring to the four numerical values in an IP address as "octets". You probably noticed that the four numbers making up an IP are always between 0 to 255. For example, you might use 204.132.40.155 as an IP for some device in your network. To us, an IP address appears as four decimal numbers separated by periods. Let's first concentrate on how humans read and write IP addresses. But in order to actually assign and use IP addresses, you must understand the format of these "numerical identifiers" and the rules that pertain to them. You know that an IP address is numbers that represent a device on a network, as a mailing address represents your home's location. However, if you're curious about how computers see IPs, or if you need a quick brush-up on binary math, read on. If you're already familiar with the technical details behind IP addresses, feel free to skip this article. In contrast, this article concentrates on describing the mathematics behind an IP address, down to the last binary detail. The Security Fundamentals article, " Internet Protocol for Beginners," describes what IP addresses are, non-technically. For similar reasons, a network administrator, or anyone configuring WatchGuard’s XTM and Firebox appliances needs to know the technical details behind IP addresses in order to recognize wider possibilities in managing a network. However, a mailman has to know more about a mailing address than the person sending a letter does. Your computer's IP is like your home's mailing address.Įnd-users really don't need to know much more about IPs than that. An IP is a numeric identifier that represents a computer or device on a network. By Corey Nachreiner, CISSP, Director of Security Strategy and ResearchĪnyone who's used a networked computer probably has a functional understanding of Internet Protocol addresses (referred to as IP for short).
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