Multiple computes on one network, IP address question?

Question

Say there is one large network such as at a college or large Business. And there is obviously multiple computers connected to one main internet connection. Will all the computers share the same IP address or does each computer have its own?

Answer 1

It depends on how the network is setup. An administrator may have multiple unique IP's available which may be assigned to specific nodes on the network. However, most business and school networks utilize a hub, switch and or router to enable multiple individuals to connect online simultaneously.



The router itself provides an IP pool range which enable multiple nodes to connect online simultaneously with their own unique private internal IP address but their WAN IP may be the same for all the computers on that network.. Some routers allow the admins to assign unique WAN IP's to various IP pool ranges enabling more nodes to be able to connect within the organization. Therefore, it's possible to have a group of 10+ computers use the same WAN IP ( Public IP ) and another group use a different WAN IP on the same network.



The common house hold routers do not support a multi wan ip option. In that case you would only have one WAN IP shared among multiple computers.

Answer 2

The other person is correct. A simpler answer is in any network you can only have one device use an IP address. He did not really say that in a Local Area Network (LAN) normally private IP addresses are used to differenttiate all devices. These would be addresses in the 10.x.x.x, 192.168.x.x, or 172.16.x.x to 172.31.x.x address range. The first link below shows these ranges. The second link shows the other IP addresses that are reserved for special use. The addresses above cannot be used on the Internet. Each device must have a unique private address.



Large companies will have range of Public IP addresses that they will be able to use. The large routers will be able to link many IP address to each Public IP address using ports to identify the private IP address that was used. Every device that is on the Internet must use a unique IP address to connect to other IP addresses. If you draw an analogy with the telephone network, you can dial the college or university using a public telephone number, then you will be asked the extension of the person that you wish to reach. The extension number is unique to that college, but can be used by other colleges, universities and businesses.

Answer 3

Each machine in the network MUST have an individual IP. The network will NOT work otherwise. But there are not enough public IP addresses for all the actual computers using the Internet, so they use a router at each connection to pass all the internal traffic though one external address.