Concert URL to IP Address

It is essential to convert a URL to the corresponding IP address for a computer to understand and access it. A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is a distinct web address containing particular information on the Internet. It can be a web page, a PDF file or any other file format available on the Internet.

It is easy for humans to remember URLs but the computer cannot understand this address format. Therefore, an IP address, which a computer can read, is essential for accessing a particular web site and sometimes these are used instead of URL's.

The IP, which stands for Internet protocol, is an identifier which sends and receives information across the Internet. It is made of 4 octets consisting of 32 numbers between 0 and 255, separated by periods. For example, the URL of a web page may be www.xyz.com, and its IP address 123.456.789.011. Whenever you are browsing the web, an IP address is required to communicate on the Internet. Using the IP address assigned to your computer, you can browse websites and send e-mails with the help of browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera.

At present, the Internet uses Domain Name System to convert a URL to an IP address. A domain name server has numerous capabilities. The DNS maintains a list of domain names and IP addresses which are distributed throughout the Internet in a hierarchical order. A domain name server locates and translates Internet domain names or the alphanumeric text of your URLs into associated IP addresses. This is done by checking your URL with the IP address lookup tables in the C:\windows directory in your computer's hard drive or from the database on your Domain Name Server (DNS).

Whenever you are e-mailing or browsing web pages, you are unknowingly using the domain name servers, which are considered as the largest databases available today. Without domain name servers, it would be impossible to easily convert URL to IP addresses and avail yourself of simple and easy service on the Internet.