An Internet
Protocol (IP) address is unique number, similar to a phone number, which is
used to identify a device on a TCP/IP network. A Wide Area Network (WAN) IP
address is the used to identify a device, usually your PC on the Internet. The
current version of IP displays your address as 4 groups of decimal numbers
separated by decimal points, called octets. The format is ###.###.###.###. Each
group of numbers ranges from 0 to 255 (i.e., 123.23.54.23).
Many Internet users may want to know what their WAN IP address is so that they
can access their computer from their office, or perhaps they are running an FTP
or game server on their PC and would like others to be able to connect to these
services. In order to make this possible, remote users must know what the
correct WAN IP address is.
Since an IP address is a relatively large number, it’s difficult for people to
remember. To get around this problem, an IP address can be assigned to a host
name such as ezdns.com. In order for an IP address to be assigned a host name,
it must remain relatively constant. Since there are a limited number of
possible IP address combinations, most residential Internet customers are
assigned a dynamic IP address from their Internet Provider. The lease on this
address can be released and sent back to the address pool after months, weeks
or even after several hours.
It is this dynamic behavior that makes hosting Internet services on your home
or office PC so difficult. EzDNS attempts to alleviate this frustration by
detecting these changes in your address and publishing your PC’s new WAN IP
address to a static web page of your choice via FTP or it can even send an
e-mail to you and your remote users notifying them of the address change. EzDNS
can even monitor if your favorite programs are still running on your PC, even
if you are in a remote location. If you are interested in trying EzDNS for 30
days, please click here.
Download the free 30-day demo of EzDNS today!
