IP addresses and Commands to get network information

• What is an IP?
  
  An IP is an abbreviation of Internet Protocol IP serves a role of a digital computer identification number that is assigned by a network it's connected to Without an IP address networking and IP tracking would not be possible.
  
  
• Why does a computer's IP address change from time to time?
  
Every time people establish a new connection with their Internet Service Provider account either using a wired home / business connection or a wireless connection, the ISP's network assigns an individual IP number to your computer in order to provide you with the data your computer requests from web servers This is not associated with an account privacy matters but rather a technical aspect of user account digital id distribution .


• How is IPv4 different from IPv6?
  
  IPv6 IP address format is the successor to IPv4 which is the initial IP address format standard The main difference with IPv6 address is its availability It also contains additional features, such as simplified IP address assignment, network renumbering and IP announcements for the router nodes While the 32bit IPv4 address pool is virtually exhausted and allowed somewhere around 43 billion addresses to be assigned, IPv6 is 128bits and can produce 34W1038 unique IP addresses .
  
  Currently, most of the web servers are not configured to handle IPv6 connections, meaning an IPv6 client cannot connect to an IPv4 server Thus, an implementation called IPv4-6 tunneling is created mostly on an ISP level to allow an IPv6 client to connect to an IPv4 host .
  
  
• Who can see and track my IP address?
  
When you send emails, post on web forums, use instant messengers or access any online accounts - your computer's IP is logged by the network receiving communication requests This is an essential step that cannot be avoided and contributes to various technical, security and privacy aspects .


• What can be done to protect my IP's security and privacy?
  
  
It is possible to hide an IP address by using a private Proxy server This helps to conceal your private IP information to a certain extent, however it is not considered a good practice Read below .


• What is a Proxy Server?

A Proxy server is a network service which utilizes a dedicated computer on a remote network allowing internet users such as yourself to make indirect connections to other computers / websites using its own network connection When using a proxy server, the recipient of your communications will see an IP address of the proxy server and not yours There are plenty of proxy servers establishments on the world wide web that offer free online user accounts to hide your online identity This, however, is not a bullet-proof method .


• Is there a risk using a Proxy Server?
  
Definitely ,Using an anonymous proxy server computer to hide your IP actually presents a more serious threat that contributes to the digital information leak Since the digital data has to pass through a third party proxy server, any information you transmit through that server can be intercepted and searched, including messsages you sent, your account login and password information that you may utilize for any online services In attempt to search a better privacy on Internet, people search and find the tools like the proxy servers, not realizing that the danger is actually greater using the proxy servers Furthermore, in order to trace and check on people's illegal activity, some governments setup free proxy servers to monitor activity of those people who are most likely to have something to hide . Never access any of your digitally stored financial account information, including online credit card banking systems, initiate transfer of funds, pay your bills or mortgages online or register any online banking accounts that contain secure information while using a free proxy server As a matter of fact, most of the electronic identity theft cases targeted at financial sectors and being investigated worldwide are the direct result of digital information theft via utilization of so called free proxy servers that offer free online user accounts.


• If someone possesses my private IP information, what type of security risk does it present?
First of all, every single Internet user has an IP number, therefore a chance of you becoming a victim of a malicious attack is minimized by the overwhelming pool of IP addresses available to those who exercise this type of activity Second of all, to protect your privacy, the Internet Service Providers do not release any digitally stored legal or financial bank information to anyone but legal authorities Therefore your private information connected to your ISP provider generally remains very secure.
There is still a chance though that you may become a target of an internet hacker attack The IP address attack spoofs your local Internet connection by trying to forge your computer's IP via software vulnerabilities If have your computer connected directly to a DSL or Cable Modem without a router or a firewall, a hacker may be able to access the private data on your computer, especially if you use file sharing In this situation, it would not be a bad idea to get a good Firewall software along with an Antivirus software commonly used by people such as AVG or QuickHeal!, or a hardware router with a built in digital firewall There is a definite advantage of having a hardware firewall built-in into a router While a software firewall is good and gives you full control, it may be susceptible to viruses, mis-configurations and crashes, while a hardware firewall always runs in the background, allowing only outgoing traffic, giving you somewhat a limited control of your inbound traffic while providing you with the best possible protection from a dangerous inbound traffic.

Below, you'll find a list of the most common IP commands for Windows and DOS You can trace many information about your IP and network through these commands:-

Display Connection Configuration: ipconfig /all

Display DNS Cache Info: ipconfig /displaydns

Clear DNS Cache: ipconfig /flushdns

Release All IP Address Connections: ipconfig /release

Renew All IP Address Connections: ipconfig /renew

Re-Register the DNS connections: ipconfig /registerdns

Change/Modify DHCP Class ID: ipconfig /setclassid

Network Connections: control netconnections

Network Setup Wizard: netsetupcpl

Test Connectivity: ping googlecom

Trace Route: tracert

Displays the TCP/IP protocol sessions: netstat

Display Local Route: route

Display Resolved MAC Addresses: arp

Display Name of Computer Currently on: hostname

Display DHCP Class Information: ipconfig /showclassid

NameServer Lookup: nslookup googlecom