IP Addresses

[DG]

Ages ago I seem to hear stuff about IP addresses runing out as more and more people got on the net .. yet in over 2 years I've always had the same IP Address and hosting companies I see offer 1 for $10 once off, what's the real story?

[MrG]

IP addresses are sorta running out, so they made them longer
http://www.ipv6.org/

[DG]

I'm looking at one hosting company that for $142 give hosting for 3 years and can host upto 6 domains on that space.

for an extra $10 once off you also get a dedicated IP address

is the dedicated IP a good thing or can it be a bad thing?

and if so why to either question? .. what are the pro's and conns? for instance does dedicated me yu're more likely to be hacked as your address never changes? is it faster?

[DG]

I see dedicated IP Addresses mentioned in the same breath as anonymous FTP, why would I want that .. can someone give me an example where it's used?

[Fenix Blade]

Dedicated IP means pretty much you and only you have a site on that IP. Servers are more commonly shared - when you redirect your domain name it's something like ns1.blah.com - other people will use the same info. Shared servers tend to give limited disk space and bandwidth etc. Dedicated is you and you alone - the rules are less slack since only you use the server's bandwidth and so on. It's handy if you own and run a large website/forum, want to host large download files or certain programmes i.e. shoutcast. Ded IP gives you most of the control too. This means you could become a reseller and host other people's sites on your server.