Computer and Website IPs

My understanding is that they are basically the same thing. The IP address of your computer is the numerical label assigned to it, as it's connected to the web (or network of some sort). The IP address of your website is numerical address being used for your website by the computer (server) hosting your website.

You can find out your own computer's IP address at: What Is My IP Address - Shows Your IP Address

There are two types of IP addresses. They are REALLY the SAME thing, like eholmlund said, but assigned differently.

On websites, they are generally STATIC! The IP is assigned to the website, and basically FIXED! There is a Linux command, and I believe UNIX, that is ifconfig. Of course, there iss usually a domain name, and you can use that, especially since a system may have 1000 IPs assigned to it.

Most clients(running IE, firefox, opera, chrome, etc....) use DYNAMIC IP addresses. They are LEASED out temporarily. There is a command ipconfig. BUT, if you find your IP today, TOMORROW it may be DIFFERENT! Most routers, and windows systems have this setup automatically. THAT is why you can go to starbucks and use their router. With a FIXED IP, the router would say "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU, GET LOST"! With DHCP, it says "OH, you're new, use this IP, etc...", and you connect with an IP actually ASSIGNED to that router.

Steve

An IP address is not the same as a computer.... IP addresses get given to any network connected device so that it can be uniquely identified.

A computer can have 5 network devices in it - and it would have 5 IP addresses. You can even have 10 IP addresses on one PC with one network card by creating software/virtual network devices.

So - your web server could have one or more IPs and so could your PC.

If you're on a network then it could even be different again because your Router could be doing NAT (network address translation) so the IP the world see you on is the same for all your PCs even though local they'll all have different IPs.

So it all depends.

There's no set answer for what it is - you can do a test but it may just tell you the IP of your router not your PC.

Go to Google and type "what's my ip address"

Networking is a fairly complicated topic, but without going into a lot of detail, your computer likely has an IP address (which we'll call internal) on your home network. Your computer gets the IP from your router when you turn it on. This IP is only accessible within your network.

Your router gets an IP through your cable modem, dsl modem, whatever you use to connect to the internet and has a separate IP address (we'll call this the public IP). This IP is accessible by anyone on the internet, which is why you plug a router into it (blocks malicious traffic).

To find your internal IP address just open a command window in Windows and type "ipconfig". Linux/Mac open a terminal and type "ifconfig". It will usually be an address like 192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x.

To find the public IP, google "what is my ip" and go to one of the sites, it'll tell you.

Website IP addresses are more like public IPs, ie they are accessible to people on the internet.

Now say you connect your cable modem directly to your computer (don't do this) instead of a router. Then your computers IP address will be a public IP and accessible by others on the internet.

What exactly are you looking for, perhaps we can better help you.

michael_gourlay makes a good point. MOST IPs on the internet are NOT ROUTABLE! MY IP address right now is 172.30.1.106. SOME Unroutable addresses are:

24-bit block 10.0.0.0 – 10.255.255.255 16,777,216 single class A 10.0.0.0/8 (255.0.0.0) 24 bits
20-bit block 172.16.0.0 – 172.31.255.255 1,048,576 16 contiguous class Bs 172.16.0.0/12 (255.240.0.0) 20 bits
16-bit block 192.168.0.0 – 192.168.255.255 65,536 256 contiguous class Cs 192.168.0.0/16 (255.255.0.0) 16 bits

NOTICE how MY IP fits in the 172.16.0.0 – 172.31.255.255 range? That means TWO things!

1. Nobody on the internet can really reach me!
2. MY IP address could be used by BILLIONS of computers! It probably won't be billions, but there could be millions on RIGHT NOW with the SAME IP!

HOW can the network keep it straight? Well, only one computer on MY internal network can have this IP address. Microsoft could have the same, google could, amazon could, yahoo could, well, you get the idea!!!!!

I am at a hotel. EACH of the hotels could have the SAME IPs setup! They could be hooked to a network that has the SAME IPs! As long as the ROUTERS have a route everything works!

Steve

Every computer has an IP address.
The difference, is that a website has a usually fixed public IP address, so that it can be found.
A client computer (such as a desktop system), often as its IP address dynamically assigned, or sometimes behind a NAT router, because it doesn't really need to be found, or even to keep them form being found because ISPs do not want customers being servers without paying server rates.