How to Trace an IP Address

An IP address is a fascinating product of modern computer technology designed to allow one computer (or other digital device) to communicate with another via the Internet. IP addresses allow the location of literally billions of digital devices that are connected to the Internet to be pinpointed and differentiated from other devices. In the same sense that someone needs your mailing address to send you a letter, a remote computer needs your IP address to communicate with your computer.

"IP" stands for Internet Protocol, so an IP address is an Internet Protocol address. An Internet Protocol is a set of rules that govern Internet activity and facilitate completion of a variety of actions on the World Wide Web. Therefore an Internet Protocol address is part of the systematically laid out interconnected grid that governs online communication by identifying both initiating devices and various Internet destinations, thereby making two-way communication possible.

An IP address consists of four numbers, each of which contains one to three digits, with a single dot (.) separating each number or set of digits. Each of the four numbers can range from 0 to 255. Here's an example of what an IP address might look like: 78.125.0.209. This innocuous-looking group of four numbers is the key that empowers you and me to send and retrieve data over our Internet connections, ensuring that our messages, as well as our requests for data and the data we've requested, will reach their correct Internet destinations. Without this numeric protocol, sending and receiving data over the World Wide Web would be impossible.

IP addresses can be either static or dynamic. Static IP addresses never change. They serve as a permanent Internet address and provide a simple and reliable way for remote computers to contact you. Static IP addresses reveal such information as the continent, country, region, and city in which a computer is located; the ISP (Internet Service Provider) that services that particular computer; and such technical information as the precise latitude and longitude of the country, as well as the locale, of the computer. Many websites provide IP address look-up services to their visitors, free of charge. If you're curious about your own IP address, you can locate these websites by performing a Google search.

Now, how these IP addresses can be fined? Here we show you how you can find your own IP address and a websites IP address.

1. Finding your own IP address:

As you already know, everyone in the internet have a unique IP address, or more correctly public IP address. If you are interested in finding out what your IP is use one of the following ways:

google.com: Go to the google website and search "my IP address"

ip-tracker.org: Go to the website www.ip-tracker.org and you can see it shows your IP address along with other information about you, including your ISP, your address, and etc.

ip-lookup.com: This website (www.ip-lookup.com) just shows your IP address

2. Finding a website's IP address:

Open a command console (CMD) by writing cmd in your start menu. Write this command in the opened window: tracert www.website.com 

Note that you are supposed to write your desired website address instead.Press Enter key and wait to see a lot of information on the window. The first IP in [ ] is the website's IP you wanted to know.

Then you can look all information about website owners in http://www.ip-tracker.org website, including it's address on google map.

As you can see in the picture the rout from your computer to the website is traced and shown by IP addresses.

by Havar Bathaee