How Many IP Addresses a Computer Can Have? - GeeksforGeeks (2024)

IP stands for “Internet Protocol”. An IP address is a unique address that is used to identify computers or nodes on the internet. It is a protocol which is controlling the structure of data sent over the Internet. An IP address helps the Internet to distinguish between different routers, computers, and websites.

There are 4 types of IP addresses:

1. Public IP address: In this type of Ip address a single or only one IP address is associated or spread over the whole network and each device has the same IP address because the network is the same for all.
2. Private IP address: This type of IP address is unique that is assigned to all devices that connect to the internet network.
3. Dynamic IP address: Dynamic IP can not be changed manually. It changes according to the topology. It is temporary and assigned to the device every time it connects to the web.
4. Static IP address: This type of IP address is assigned at once and the Static IP address is never changed but it can be altered.

Versions of IP address:

1. IPv4: Internet Protocol version 4. It consists of 4 numbers separated by the dots. Each number can be from 0-to 255 in decimal numbers. But computers do not understand decimal numbers, they instead change them to binary numbers which are only 0 and 1.

IPv4 can be written as:

189.123.123.90

2. IPv6: With IPv4, only a limited number (4 billion) of unique devices can connect, and apparently, there are much more devices in the world to be connected to the internet. Therefore, the IPv6 was introduced.

IPv6 can be written as:

2011:0bd9:75c5:0000:0000:6b3e:0170:8394

How many IP addresses can be assigned to a PC over a network?

A computer can have more than one IP address at a time, it can be done in two ways:

1. An additional IP address in advance properties of the network connection can be used.
2. By using a network card and assigning a second IP address.

What is the need for a device to have more than one IP address?

Multiple IP addresses are used on one computer if virtual machines are being used, and the virtual machine needs direct access to the same network as the host, such as if it’s providing a service.

And there is a reason why it is not recommended to have multiple IP addresses on a single network adapter to avoid the bottlenecks.

Bottleneck: A network bottleneck is a condition where the transmission of data experiences a delay because of limitations in resources.

To add a new IP address follow these steps below:

Step 1: Go to the control panel and search for change adapter settings there will be two options: Ethernet and Wifi.

Step 2: Then right-click on Ethernet and select Properties options.

Step 3: After a dialog pop-up select Internet Protocol version 4 (TCP/IPv4). On the opened NIC properties box, from the displayed list, double-click the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) option or you can select its properties.

Step 4: Then check for your current connected IP address of your PC and fill subnet mask and Default Gateway and check the DNS server address.

On the opened Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties box, ensure that the static IP address is configured. Verify that the assigned IP address is displayed in the list under the IP addresses section.

Step 5: Now go to Advance and here is the option to add a new IP address.

Step 6: Back on the previous box, click OK again, and back on the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties box, click OK to save the changes.