What is the difference between a Public IP address and a Private IP address?

We must first comprehend why we have two addresses, that is to say. Private and public. In IPv4 the 4 bytes(32 bits) of each address are displayed. Therefore, 232 or 4.294.967.296, which is around 4.3 billion, are the only IP addresses which we can create. Although the number of machines linked to the Internet may appear to be very large (around 8.7 billion of them in 2012 itself). So how can we give each device linked to the internet a distinctive IP address? Does VPN give a different IP address?



One alternative was to introduce IPv6, which utilizes 128 bits to address this issue. We, therefore, have distinctive IP addresses of 2128 or 3.4x1038 to define an internet device. However, it requires time to replace or upgrade the routers since they were intended to operate with IPv4.

There are therefore two kinds of addresses to solve the issue. Devices within your network are allocated a personal address. This IP address is used for unique network identification of your computer. Most of the addresses we see are therefore IP addressed from 192.168.x.x. These are the IP addresses of the private sector. Unable to see your personal email, the devices outside your network.



All devices in your network have a single public address (configured in your router) in order to communicate with the rest of the world. Through your public address, anybody outside your network communicates with you. However, all network devices have a common government address. So how is the message going to achieve the right device? Your router will map your public address with your personal address. This is called NAT(Network Address Translation)