Dynamic Internet Protocol Address (Dynamic IP Address)

What does Dynamic Internet Protocol Address (Dynamic IP Address) mean?

A dynamic Internet Protocol address (dynamic IP address) is a temporary IP address that is assigned to a computing device or node when it’s connected to a network. A dynamic IP address is an automatically configured IP address assigned by a DHCP server to every new network node.

Techopedia explains Dynamic Internet Protocol Address (Dynamic IP Address)

Dynamic IP addresses are generally implemented by Internet service providers and networks that have a large number of connecting clients or end-nodes. Unlike static IP addresses, dynamic IP addresses are not permanent. A dynamic IP is assigned to a node until it’s connected to the network; therefore, the same node may have a different IP address every time it reconnects with the network.

The assigning, reassigning and modification of dynamic IP addresses is managed by a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server. One of the primary reasons behind having dynamic IP addresses is the shortage of static IP address on IPv4. Dynamic IP addresses allow a single IP address to be shuffled between many different nodes to circumvent this problem.