How to address your computer on the internet with a dynamic IP Address

There are 2 ways to address other computers on the Internet. We are probably most familiar with named addresses like www.puredigitalaudio.com, or mywebserver.org. IP (Internet Protocol) addresses consist of 4 numbers separated by periods like 10.20.30.40 or 22.44.66.88. My Web Server can be accessed with either type of address.

You can form a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) to access your computer over the internet needing nothing more than your computers IP Address. What your address is depends on how your network is setup. If your connecting thru an internet service provider you are most likely using something called DHCP to dynamically assign you a unique IP address each time you connect to the internet.  If your very lucky your internet service provided you with a unique static IP address that never changes each time you connect to the internet. An Unique IP Address allows you to be singled out from the other enumerous Internet users. 

Once you know the unique IP address of your computer you can easily form a URL to access your computer over the internet. URL's in this form  might look like this http://113.47.18.7 where 13.47.18.77 is the unique IP Address of your computer on the internet. If you are the only one that is going to connect to your computer running MyWebServer that might be OK. You can see what the address is when you start MyWebServer and you can then use that address from anywhere on the internet to access your computer. 

You can determine your IP address by looking at the MyWebServer Control panel or by simply moving the cursor over the MyWebServer icon in the lower right of your screen in the windows task bar. A Tool Tip will pop up in a few seconds displaying your current IP Address. 

Dynamic IP Addressing - Musical Chairs
Dynamic IP addressing which is supported by most ISPs (Internet Service Providers) gives you a different IP address each time you connect to the internet. While having constantly changing IP addresses might be OK if you are the only user of your Server. It might be cumbersome if you want to have others access your computer  because you would need to inform them of your new IP address every time you connect to the Internet in order for them to access your computer. 

Static IP Addressing
A more permanent way to access your computer would be to use a static IP address if your lucky enough to have an ISP that supplies those. This way you can give your friends and associates the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) for your computer when you tell them their User Name and Password and it will never change. Many ISPs offer fixed IP addressing as a standard or optional feature. Direct TV DSL offers DSL service that includes a fixed IP address as a standard feature. 

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Named Internet Addressing
Another fairly permanent way to address your computer is  to use a named address similar to: 

http://www.YourISP.com/YourEmailAddress where http://www.YourISP.com/YourEmailAddress is an web space provided by your ISP.
or
http://www.DynamicDomainService.com/YourDomainName where http://www.DynamicDomainService.com/YourDomainName is a domain name provided by a Dynamic Domain Service like ICQ.

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