networking - What is the actual IP address of my computer

09
2014-02
  • Computernerd

    I am testing out to see whats my IP address but depending on which website I used , I get different IP address . I am using a router

    If i use this , My IP address is

    enter image description here

    If i use this , My IP address is

    enter image description here

    If i use this , My IP address is

    enter image description here

    If i use ipconfig/all , My IP address is 192.168.209.1

    Why is there a variation in my IP address , does it have something to do with DHCP ???

    Why does my IP address start with 202 sometimes , 218 sometimes , or 58

    What is the true IP address of my computer ??

  • Answers
  • Rudolph

    The first & second IP does not belong to you - it belongs to SGCableVision Inc.

    58.182.192.245

    218.186.18.232

    I assume you might have heard of NAT. This allows IP's to be translated to different IP's to improve network management and also not to use all IPv4 addresses available on a subnet. Those IP's belong to your ISP. They are most likely upstream provider gateway IP - meaning some border router between the ISP and the public internet. Reversing from the border router to you, that IP is then translated to a new IP provided by a dhcp server, then again and again till it reaches your source IP.

    You can see how this process forms by doing a traceroute or tracert -d from command prompt in Windows to www.google.com or 4.2.2.2.

  • Journeyman Geek

    I've used starhub before and found many of the same things. I have a few theories about this - I believe that the transparent proxy that starhub has to use to block sites on the 'symbolic' blocklist is the cause - this seems to be a requirement for all ISPs here.

    The first two addresses are probably wrong, and for starhub's proxy servers. The third one is likely the correct one. I'm getting the same addresses as you for the first two. The 58.x.x.x is the one for your modem, and is how you'd reach your network from outside, with proper port forwarding.

    The 192.168.209.1 address is unusual, Its probably internal, but I've not seen any router use that range, or presumably use 192.168.209.254 for itself. It should work between computers on your own network, but not from outside.

    Its clearly not CGN since the ip addresses are not in the CGN range, they're all regular IP addresses, and starhub dosen't use CGN on cable (I have no idea about fiber optic connections). Traffic outside port 80 seems unaffected - I had in the past used a ip address detection service on an alternate port, and I routinely SSH into my home server boxen from random networks.

    How do you easily check?

    I'm not sure about the fibre optic plans, but for the cable plans your router is the best place to start - If its connected to a modem (Starhub uses motorola surfboards for their low end cable plans), check at your router, and if its a cisco gateway (they use these for anything better than the 'basic' plan), log into that and check. I used to have a bash script that would get the contents of my old router's startup page, and scrape that to feed into a dynamic DNS script. The modem router, or anything connected directly to the modem will report the correct IP address.

    I also found that this website has a test that shows your proxy address and real IP address

    That said, Starhub's services can be uniquely broken at times. One of the side effects of the transparent proxy server is it renders a lot of download-locker sites unusable, since they all detect the same IP address.

    I've had routing issues with a specific, entirely SFW webcomic for months, and then it would work again. They also do nx hijacking (which involves pointing invalid domains at a starhub search portal), though thats opt out.

    I'd note, interestingly, the third site dosen't pick up my IPV6 address (which starhub supports).

  • davidgo

    It looks like your ISP might be using Carrier Grade NAT - Thus your computer/router might not be reachable from parts of the Internet. (Its also possible you using some kind of vpn/ip anonymising service).

    The "true address" of your computer is the 192.168 one, but, of-course, that should not work outside your network, and is translated to a "real world" address.

    Pretty cool - I wonder how broken it is !!!


  • Related Question

    networking - How to connect computers to a network printer behind a router?
  • kokbira

    General question:

    How to connect computers to an IP printer behind a router?

    Particular question:

    How to connect C-1 and C-2 to PRI?

    What? Where?

                [ISP]
                  |
                  | -> IPs:200.X.X.X/other configs:DC
                  |
                [R-1]
                  |
                  | -> IPs:10.1.X.X locked by MAC,M:255.0.0.0,G:10.1.0.1
       |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯|
       |                    |
     [PRI] IP:10.1.7.7    [R-2] IP: 10.1.0.1,MAC:A
                            |
                            | -> IPs:192.168.1.X,M:255.255.255.0,G:192.168.1.1
                |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯|
                |                      |
              [C-1] IP:192.168.1.2   [C-2] IP:192.168.1.3,MAC:A
    
    Glossary and details:
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    - IP: IP.
    - IPs: Some IP range.
    - M: Mask.
    - G: Gateway.
    - MAC:A: A MAC address that I will not inform you :)
    - DC: Don't care.
    
    - ISP: Internet Service Provider (not so much details about it on that case).
    - R-1: A real router or some concatenated so IP range bellow that block is 10.1.X.X
           and above is ISP. The provided IPs are provided by MAC. As all available
           addresses are in use, you must clone an existing one to join with a new
           device (and to disconnect the cloned one).
    - PRI: An network printer (some people here call that IP printer).
    - R-2: A TP-LINK TL-WR340G, mine wireless router (since my computer does not have
           ethernet input, it is my ethernet-wifi adapter :), admin access, MAC address
           cloned from C-2 (MAC:A). I've to configure 10.0.1.1 and 10.0.1.2 as DNS
           addresses, other wise I cannot connect C-1 and C-2 to Internet.
    - C-1: My computer, a CCE XLE-425 (remember: no ethernet input), with Windows 7,
           admin access.
    - C-2: another computer with better configs than mine, MAC:A, Windows XP.
    

    Requirements:

    I want to print, to access Internet and to do it myself (no need to call network admin men in black people).

    Pay attention to MAC clones and DNS info.


  • Related Answers
  • kokbira

    Done!

    After @MikePennington said something about the "port", I got to R-2 settings. There, I could see Virtual Servers config:

    Virtual Servers config

    On printer driver properties, I could see also that the port used for network connection was 9100:

    port used for network connection

    So it was too easy as configuring ports for game servers on computers with routed connection (hmmm... why I do not thought it before?):

    Configure R-2:
    - for C-1:
        - service port: 9100
        - IP address: 192.168.1.2
        - Protocol: ALL
    - for C-2:
        - service port: 9101
        - IP address: 192.168.1.3
        - Protocol: ALL
    
    - Configure C-1:
        - none
    
    - Configure C-2:
        - printer TCP/IP RAW port: 9101
    
    - Reboot R-2 (I forget it on first time and did not see any result. In another try,
                  I succeeded!)