IP addresses are used to identify devices in networks. This applies to both your home network and the Internet. The interface in between is usually your router, which therefore has an internal and an external IP address. There are now two different IP standards: IPv4 and IPv6. This article will tell you what the differences are between the IP versions.
Internet Protocol (IP) regulates data traffic
IP stands for "Internet Protocol". The Internet Protocol is a standard that regulates data traffic on the Internet . The IP addresses with which devices can be uniquely identified within a network, for example on the Internet, are also based on this protocol. The addresses are important for data traffic: When you visit a website, your router sends this request to the website's server. This in turn sends the view of the desired page to the exact IP address from which the request came.
Once your router has received the response from the server, it forwards it to the device that made the request. In order for this to work, there are in turn separate, internal IP addresses within a (home) network. The router sends the answer to your device and the website is displayed to you. The two IP standards IPv4 and IPv6 regulate how IP addresses are structured . The designation stands for "Internet Protocol version four" or version six.
IPv4: addresses are becoming scarce
The main difference between addresses according to IPv4 and IPv6 is their structure, i.e. the length and composition of the address. With the older IPv4 standard, an IP address consists of four decimal numbers that are separated by dots and each can be between 0 and 255. That is a total of 32 bits. For example, an IPv4 address could be: 35.255.8.160 .
Only a relatively small number of different IPv4 addresses can be formed in this way. However, since there are more and more devices that are connected to the Internet, the IPv4 addresses are becoming scarce and often have to be reassigned. This is also called dynamic IP addresses..
IPv6: Individual addresses are possible
With the new IPv6 protocol, significantly more different addresses can be created. These contain eight sequences of numbers and letters, which can have a maximum of four digits and are separated by colons. The digits can be between 0 and 9, the letters between a and f. That is a total of 128 bits, which are noted in hexadecimal to make them easier to read. Zeros at the beginning of a block and blocks that consist of four zeros can be omitted in IPv6. An IPv6 address could therefore be: 3661: 5fa8: l5a4: 08d3: 6512: f72e: 5213: 4544 .
Apart from the other structure, IPv6 also supports the end-to-end encryption IPsec. Because many more different addresses can be formed with IPv6, it would even be possible for each Internet-enabled device to receive its own address that is valid in all networks. Internal IP addresses would then be superfluous. The first half of an IPv6 address identifies the network, the second half the device within this network.
Which standard do I use?
Which version of the IP standard you surf with depends, among other things, on the router and device you use and on your Internet provider. Read here how to find out your IP address. You can learn more about IP addresses in this article..