Monday, July 26, 2010

192.168.2.1 For My Broadband Router Only

19216821, also commonly written as 192.168.2.1, is an IP address no different from the many other addresses available. It is also an address that can only be used within a private network. To simplify matters, there are two types of networks in the great big world of networking. The public network is the cloud which enables big and small networks to interact and communicate with one another via websites, emails, e-commerce and many more. On the other hand, the private network is a world of devices within each network. Their sizes range from large networks for organizations and academic institutions to smaller ones for small business and residential use. Coming back to the subject at hand, this IP address can be assigned to any computing device or peripheral. However, its uniqueness lies in the fact that it is normally a default address for specific types of home broadband routers. As such, it's best to assign your personal computer or a peripheral with other addresses.

When devices in your internal private network communicate with the broadband router, they refer to the 19216821 default address. In order for the router to relay requests such as a webpage from your computer to the external public network, it uses a public IP address assigned by the ISP which remains unchanged even if you power off the router. To correctly send and forward information to devices in the private network, the router utilizes a method called Network Address Translation.

There are a few reasons for a router to maintain a minimum of two IP addresses. Firstly, it is to separate the private network from the public network for security purposes. Since misuse and abuse is rampant in the internet, this is an effective way to protect internal computers from hacker and crackers. Unique IP addresses under the current IPv4 is also exhaustible. If each and every device is assigned a public address, it will run out more quickly than its current rate. As such, allocating one public address to a home broadband router which then uses its private address of 19216821 to communicate with devices within is an ideal method.

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