IP Addresses, Packets and Routing

Just like any phone and house has its designated number and address, respectively, any computer or computer network has there own version of this. This is known as an Internet Protocol address or IP address . An IP address is unique combination of numbers, which are separated into a hierarchy. The standard version of IP addresses is IPv4, where each address is 32 bits long, but with the growing Internet, there is a new standard IPv6, which will make them 128 bits long and allow for over 360 undecillion unique IP addresses.

When visiting a website, a computer asks another computer for information. That computer sends a message to another computer's IP address along with its own for responses, like putting a return address on mail. Sometimes the message that is returned is too much and must be sent using packets. Packets are smaller pieces of messages or information that travel from one place to another on the Internet. They can send information by taking different routes and amount of times, but will be assembled in order at the destination. Packets are able to move throughout with the help of routing. Routing is the process that manages packets to keep them moving through the network smoothly. Every router keeps track of multiple paths for send packets and chooses the cheapest available path for each piece of data, cheapest in terms of time, politics, or network relationships. This process is all due to TCP, or transmission control protocol, which overlooks the sending and receiving of data as packets, like guaranteed mail services.