Filipino Programmer | Philippines

I have accidentally encountered this two type of IP Address today while I am setting up a Hosting Server (Shared Hosting).  In the Web there are two basic IP types existing. This is a Static and Shared. Before I compare the two, let me first explain what an IP Address is. Well to explain it in lay man’s term an IP Address is like a phone number for computer. This a how other computers on the Web is identified. For further definition of IP Address please click here.

Now with that in mind people on Web ussually access a website using domain names, for example www.knicks49.com that domain name will be resolved in an ip address similar to this 66.249.89.104. So if you type in 66.249.89.104 directly into yhe address bar of your browser you will arrive at the home page. This is the basic idea of how ip address are used on Web. Now let me explain a different scenario. Some hosting server host multiple websites on a single server which we call Shared Server, this server uses a single ip to hosts multiple sites, basically when a request is received on a shared server the domain name is resolved into ip address, the server then realize that someone is looking for a domain hosted on the server and returns back the page to the person requesting it. You can always reach a site which has a static IP address by using its IP address alone, but you can’t reach a site using a shared IP address by typing in the IP address alone because when you type in a shared IP address you arrive at the server but the server doesn’t know which site you want because you haven’t told it which domain name you want.

Here are important reasons why do you need Static IP Address.

• Websites using SSL Encryption
• Websites offering anonymous FTP transfers.
• Websites without Domain Names

SSL Encryption, requires a site to have a unique ip address to process encryption process. Anoymous FTP transfers (basically where anyone can download files off the site)  also requires a unique IP Address. And lastly when websites does not want to buy a domain name and is hosting their website on a shared server, must have a static ip address to view their websites. Other that these 3 reasons there is no need for a site to have its own IP address.

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