Unfortunately IP (Internet Protocol) numbers are quickly running out. Most IP numbers, in the United States, are regulated by an organization called ARIN (American Registry for Internet Numbers). When the internet, as we know it, first started back in 1992 until just recently there were plenty of IP numbers for everyone. ARIN had no reservations about passing out as many as an organization wanted, however times have changed.
IP numbers have become guarded by extreme ARIN policies. Companies can no longer order IP numbers just because they want a few more. They now have to prove to ARIN, and continue to prove, why they need the amount of IP numbers the company wants or has obtained. In fact if a company orders say 100 IP numbers and six months later can only prove they need 24 ARIN will take back most of the unused numbers.
Big deal you may be thinking. What does this have to do with me? Well, more and more hosting companies are no longer able to offer IP numbers for every website. Instead companies are turning to a different approach called name based hosting.
Instead of one website per IP address there are dozens or hundreds of websites per IP address. When you have one website per IP address the unique IP address is used to load the correct website. However when you use name based... You got it! The name [domain name] is used to load the correct website. This is how hosts can host say 200 websites using only one address. You can see why ARIN likes this because those 200 websites on name based hosting save 199 IP numbers. Image if a web host was hosting 10,000 websites on 50 servers the company could use 50 IP numbers instead of 10,000 saving 9,950 which is not a small deal.
Okay so you now understand name based hosting helps ARIN but does it hurt your website performance? The answer is no. Name based hosting does NOT stop search engines from querying your site, it still provides you with a professional looking site, it allows you to use almost all the features offered by an IP driven site. The only feature that name based does NOT allow is a private SSL certificate. The good news is ARIN has no problem in allowing an IP to used for a site that wants to use its own SSL certificate.
Few examples of IPs are:
255.255.255.255
127.0.0.1
Tech Talk:
IP sets are 1 to 255 for a total 256 possible numbers in one set. Currently, IPv4 is being used which means there are a set of 4. If you look at the examples above you can plainly see the set of four in the specified range. To counter the problem of IP numbers running out IPv6 is slowly being introduced. IPv6 is not a set of six but instead is a set of 16.
Example of an IPv6 IP:
255.255.255.255.255.255.255.255.255.255.255.255.255.255.255.255
Once IPv6 has been successfully integrated into the internet it will allow everyone to have virtually unlimited IP numbers. That number is so big it would allow everyone person on the planet to have a few million! Unfortunately, IPv6 is taking quite some time to integrate due to how complex and how the internet works. Until then IPs will just have to remain a closely guarded resource.