An intranet IP address, also known as a private IP address, is a unique identifier assigned to devices within a private network, such as a home, office, or organization. These addresses are not routable on the public internet and are used for internal communication between devices.
The most common ranges for intranet IP addresses are defined by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) and include:
For example, if you have a router at home, it might assign your laptop an intranet IP like 192.168.1.10, while your phone gets 192.168.1.11. These addresses allow devices to communicate within the local network without exposing them directly to the internet.
In cloud environments, private IP addresses are used for internal communication between virtual machines (VMs) or services within a virtual private cloud (VPC). For instance, Tencent Cloud provides VPC services where you can assign private IPs to instances, ensuring secure and isolated network communication. This is useful for building scalable and secure architectures without exposing resources to the public internet.