The original version of the IP was introduced in 1974.
Long before the Internet we currently know became established.
It also served as the basis of another protocol the TCP.
Or Transmission Control Protocol.
IPv4 was the first major version of it and is, to date.
Still, the dominant protocol is used on the Internet.
Contents
What Does It Do?
And then does so before putting the data back together for the recipient.
Datagram is the connection packets sent back and forth.
And each of them is made up of two sections the header and the payload.
The payload is the actual data that is being transported.
The process of breaking down data into datagrams for transfer is done billions of times daily.
Every time a user accesses the Internet and requests to load a webpage, for example.
Why IPv4?
The original IP created in 1974 wasnt sufficient for the task that first required its use.
In 1981, IPv4 was developed as an improved version.
Thus, it became a cornerstone of the modern Internet not long after.
The design is familiar to most people: 127.0.255.250 would be an example of one such address.
It also cant prevent duplicate packets from being sent.
Things like that are necessary but are taken care of by upper-layer transport protocols, such as the TCP.
In contrast, essential aspects such as data integrity are handled by other protocols.
IPv4s most significant limitation is its use of 32-bit addresses.
Back at its inception, that wasnt an issue.
The Internet has expanded to a point where address space exhaustion is an issue.
The 32-bit addressing system means the total number of possible addresses is 232.
In other words, only 4294967296 addresses can exist.
This prompted the development of a successor protocol IPv6.
This means they cant communicate with each other directly.
Conclusion
IPv4 is the foundational protocol and addressing scheme of the Internet and its precursors.
Like many aging protocols, however, it shows signs of outdated design.
