Gate46
My IP All tools Learn
Address line
Names line
Routes line
Checks line

Learn

Short explanations of how addresses, names and routes work, written for people who are not network engineers. Each one points to a tool so you can try it on your own connection.

Guides

Start here if the numbers at the top of the home page are new to you.

Explained on the tool pages

Every tool page carries its own explanation under the results: what the tool does, how to read the output, and the usual causes and fixes. These sections cover the questions that come up once you start using the tools.

Where to start

If you came here to fix something, you probably do not need to read anything first. The tools directory has a table that maps everyday questions, such as whether a VPN is working or a DNS change has gone live, to the tool that answers them.

If you want to understand what you are looking at, read What is an IP address? first. It covers the ideas the other pages build on: public and private addresses, NAT, and who assigns the numbers. IPv4 vs IPv6 follows on from it and explains why many connections now carry two addresses instead of one.

The guides use reserved example addresses such as 203.0.113.42 and 2001:db8::1. These ranges are set aside for documentation, so they never belong to a real network.

Try it yourself