Hello Chilangisha,

For "us" computer users on the end of the line, the IP Address is assigned
by our ISP. The ISP itself has a 'block' of IP addresses assigned to it.
Beyond the local ISP, the system gets more complicated and can be confusing.
You may ask, "If the ISP only has a fixed number of addresses to use, how do
they manage it?" The answer is there are two forms of IP addresses, static
and dynamic.

Static IP addressees never change. This means you have to the same IP
address each and every time you log onto the Internet. However, there are
only a finite number of IP addresses in the world. Once the maximum number
of IP addresses an ISP has access to is used up, they no longer can issue
static IP addresses to customers. Static IP addresses have become a coveted
thing these days. If it is available from your ISP they probably charge an
additional fee for it.

This is where the dynamic IP address comes into play. Basically, dynamic IP
addresses are pooled. With dynamic IP addresses, when you need to log onto
the Internet, you connect to your ISP and they assign you an IP address. As
soon as you log off the Internet, your IP address goes back into the pool
for the next customer to use.

Here are links for more reading on IP addresses:

Howstuffworks "What is an IP address?":
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question549.htm

What is IP address? - A Word Definition From the Webopedia Computer
Dictionary:
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/I/IP_address.html

Webopedia: Understanding IP Addressing:
http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Internet/2002/IPaddressing.asp

Sven Swanson, Sr.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Chilangisha B Changwe" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, January 27, 2006 12:43 PM
Subject: [PCBUILD] Ip addresses


I am new to networking and I have a question on IP addressing. I know
there are 3 classes of IP addresses; A, B, and C. My question is who
assigns these addresses so that every computer has a unique address?

Chilangisha Changwe

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