Where IP addresses come from
All IP addresses come from the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority or IANA. Originally, IP addresses were assigned by Jon Postel until such time as the process and number of requesters became too large for one individual to handle.
IANA was formed to manage the delegation oout ranges of addresses to each of the regional registries (RIPE NCC , APNIC, LACNIC [and soon, AfriNIC]). Many books and study guides erroneously state that ICANN is the sole source of all IP addresses; this is incorrect. ICANN is in charge of DNS domain registrations not IP address assignment.
Where does the address for my computer come from?
Your computer obtains an IP address when it starts up via DHCP or BootP, unless it was statically assigned an IP address by a network administrator.
Where does the addresses for my company come from?
Short answer
There are public IP addresses and private IP addresses. Public IP addresses can be reached directly by the Internet. Private addresses need help reaching the Internet and are not used by computers directly connected to the Internet. Both types of addresses are used in most networks today due to the scarcity of public addresses.
Ultimately, all IP addresses come from a single database of IP addresses managed by the Regional Internet Registries. Someone at your ISP obtained a group of IP addresses from the Regional Internet Registry and is loaning them to you while you are using their services. Those addresses are then assigned by your company's network administrator to various computers on your network.
Your network administrator may choose to use private addresses on internal servers, workstations and desktop computers.
Long Answer
The network administrator performs the job of hostmaster for your company. It is the hostmaster's job to communicate with your Internet Service Provider (ISP) to obtain IP addresses that may be used with the ISP's network. Your company may have the option of applying to the appropriate Regional Internet Registry (RIR).
Where IP Addresses Come From
- Jon Postel
- ARIN
- The Regional Internet Registries
- ARIN
- RIPE
- APNIC
- LACNIC
- New Regional Authority Coming soon! AFRINIC
About Jon Postel & ARIN
Jon Postel, the editor of the Request for Comments Documents was the original keeper of all IP addresses; but, the Internet grew so fast that keeping track of the IP address assignments became a job too big for one person. The American Registry for Internet Numbers was created in 1997 to take over the task of tracking the assignment of IP addresses, BGP AS numbers and the Well-Known TCP port numbers. At first, ARIN consisted of Jon Postel and a few assistants. ARIN grew to become a very large organization but even ARIN could not keep up with everything and soon, many countries began to take issue with the fact that all IP addresses were controlled by an entity residing within the United States. Thus, the regional registries were created.
The Regional Internet Registries
Once the job of tracking IP addresses grew and political issues arose, it became necessary to create other Regional Internet Registries. ARIN continued to serve the United States, South America and sub-Saharan Africa while these registries were set up. Today ARIN serves primarilly North America, the Carribean and the North Atlantic. The first of these registries was the Réseaux IP Européens (RIPE). This is the registry for all European networks. RIPE was followed by APNIC (Asian Pacific Network Information Center) and shortly thereafter by LACNIC (Latin American Network Information Center).
The Regional Internet Registries (RIR) are responsible for the following:
- Managing all IP address assignments and allocations (both IPv4 and IPv6)
- Managing all Autnonomous System Number assignments.
- Maintaining public directories
- The WHOIS directory/registry containing registration transaction information
- Routing information (though this function is no longer as important)
- Root Reverse DNS resolution
.