Editing Internet (section)

====IP Addresses====
[[File:An example of theoretical DNS recursion.svg|right|thumb|A DNS resolver consults three name servers to resolve the domain name user-visible "www.wikipedia.org" to determine the IPv4 Address 207.142.131.234.]]
For locating individual computers on the network, the Internet provides [[IP address]]es. IP addresses are used by the Internet infrastructure to direct internet packets to their destinations. They consist of fixed-length numbers, which are found within the packet. IP addresses are generally assigned to equipment either automatically via [[DHCP]], or are configured.

However, the network also supports other addressing systems. Users generally enter [[fully qualified domain name|domain name]]s (e.g. "en.wikipedia.org") instead of IP addresses because they are easier to remember; they are converted by the [[Domain Name System]] (DNS) into IP addresses which are more efficient for routing purposes.