What is 127.0 0.1?
Let us know what 127.0.0.1 is and what it can do in the following article.
127.0.0.1 is called a loop back address, but you can see it as a local host. When you point your browser to 127.0.0.1, it will try to connect to the computer that is currently using it. This is useful when you want to connect to the server on a private computer.
127.0.0.1 is very special in IP address. Typically, the IP address is unique to each computer on both the local network and the Internet. However, 127.0.0.1 always points to the computer you are using.
For example, if you set up a server on Computer A, you can connect to that server by going to 127.0.0.1 on Computer A. However, if you go to Computer B and enter 127.0.0.1, you will connect to Computer B instead of A. To connect to it from Computer B, you will need the local network IP address of the Internet or Computer A.
If you want to connect to your own computer, you can do it the same way as other IP addresses. Open the web browser and type 127.0.0.1 in the address bar, then tap Enter. If you cannot remember a good number, you can enter a local host instead.
If you enter this address without any pre-set settings, you won’t find anything interesting. It is likely that your browser will tell you that the computer has rejected your request.
This sounds a little strange because your computer basically refused to connect with yourself; However, she does only because she does not expect any engagement at this stage. So there is no reason to let the computer connect with itself!
This is a useful way to tell your PC to connect with yourself, but why worry? What are the practical uses of this?
Although 127.0.0.1 does not work much, the situation changes when you run the server on your computer. When you do this, the computer has a reason to listen to the connections that come to you now, so it will not deny your request.
In fact, it will allow you to access the server hosted on your PC, as if you were watching it on the Internet. This is very valuable when you want to make sure everything is working smoothly before you work with network software and put it on the Internet.
For example, suppose you are setting up a server that you want to connect to others in the future. Whether you are using pre-built software or coding your own server, you want to give it a demo to make sure everything works before allowing it to connect to others.
To do this, you can run the server on your computer, then connect to it using 127.0.0.1. The server will load into your browser as if you were connected to it on the Internet, and also prohibited anyone from peeking into your workflow.
You can also use a local host while playing multiplayer games. For example, some games allow you to host a server on your PC so that your friends can play with you. Of course, you want to play together, so you need to connect to the server hosted on a private PC, and the good news is that you have the best tool for this!
Mine craft is a good example where you can use a local host. You can run server software on your computer to host the game world on your PC, but you still need to connect to it through the Mine craft server browser.
To do this, open your server browser and enter “Local Host” or “127.0.0.1”. Mine craft will recognize this and connect to the server running on a PC.
What is the difference between 0.0.0.0 and 127.0.0.1?
Sometimes you’ll get another IP address named 0.0.0.0, which will work as a work similar to 127.0.0.1.
However, when you compare them, you will see that they do two very different tasks.
127.0.0.1 is a signal for the TCP/IP of the computer that you do not want to connect to the Internet. Instead, you want to connect to the server on your own computer. Thus, you will usually enter 127.0.0.1 when you ask the software to connect to the server via a web browser or game.
On the other hand, when you use 0.0.0.0, you can ask the software to allow connections from any local IP address instead of just 127.0.0.1.
Originally published at https://www.tridevcomputer.com on August 18, 2020.
