"What`s there in a name"- perhaps not much in the times of William Shakespeare, but in these times of rampant impersonation and online forgery, quite possibly, it accounts for the fraud victim`s entire universe. As such, it becomes critical that there is a legal mechanism in place that can pinpoint every individual user of the online facilities everywhere on the planet. The importance of such an authentication procedure stems from the fact, that the foundation of all cardinal institutions of the real world - administrative, cultural, security, commerce, etc- are rooted in the virtual world - on internet addresses, hard disks, silicon chips, email accounts, pen drives, and its likes. This is therefore, the junction where an IP comes in. An IP is the lynchpin of any kind of online authentication program that any government machinery may embark upon.
An IP (internet protocol) is a unique address that is attributed to all computers that partake of the benefits of the internet. This address helps to trace its user in case the internet access point is being used for illegal activities. It is extremely similar to a vehicle`s number plate---the unique identification numeric code serves as a trail to the owner in case the car is suspected to have been used for felonious processes. All computers thereby have an IP. It is immaterial how they got one; it could have been provided by the service provider or could be that of the main router or even that of the proxy server the computer is linking up with. An IP is assigned to your computer in all scenarios- whether you have taken the connection from an ISP (Internet Service Provider) or the DHCP (Dedicated Host Configuration Protocol).
IP addresses are of two kinds----Static IPs and shared IPs. Static IPs have some very distinct advantages over shared IPs. When you buy your dedicated server you are provide with at least one static IP address; in case you are lucky you may be gifted with a bunch of static IP addresses. How lucky for them who are planning to resell their space!
As I mentioned earlier, static IPs have some obvious advantages over shared IPs, the chief among them is that there is zero possibility of being falsely accused of Spamming. But if you happen to share your IP with a company that is accused of spamming, your IP also comes under the scanner; this can spell the doom for all of your company`s marketing efforts.
If you are aware of the spammer reputation of one of your associate companies, who happens to share your IP address, switch to a static IP immediately. And more so, if you are running an ecommerce site or something similar, which requires you to send bulks of e-mails. The risk is colossal and not worth the gain.
A static IP simply means that the internet address is unique and completely personal to you. Another thing is that it is unchangeable. Your nameserver links your IP address to your domain name.
After all relevant data regarding the IP addresses and DNS information is submitted to the ICANN, the later ensures that all domains concur with the respective IP addresses.
Now let`s see how you can use a host of extra IP addresses that could have been provided by your service provider when you purchased the dedicated server.
For one, if you want to host a multiple of sites, you can allot different names to each of them. This reduces the time that would have been wasted in resolving the individual domains. But the converse is not true. With multiple domains hailing from a single IP address, you can get mired into a lot of problems.
This is exactly what resellers who create shared IPs and let more than one customer use the same IP address, need to take notice of. It is advisable not to assign too many domains to a single IP address, even if that means that one needs to buy an additional block of IP addresses.
A static IP address comes especially handy when you are using the SSL services on your website for e-commerce solutions. It assures your customer of your true identity and convinces them, that you are no fraud.
A lot of hosting companies shun anonymous FTP privileges due to security issues. Even here, a static IP address is indispensable. Unlike shared IP addresses that have a lot of clients, a static IP address boasts of a single authentic client, that is you.
