Local IP Address Discrepancy Between Apps

Question

Hi everyone,

I'm encountering a puzzling issue with my local network setup. My local IP address is shown as xxx.xx.95.3, but when I log into applications like PowerBI Desktop or SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), they display a different IP address, xxx.xx.96.57.

In SSMS, I can see that the subnet range is from xxx.xx.96.0 to xxx.xx.96.255, which does not include my local IP address xxx.xx.95.3. Since these applications are running locally, I would expect the IP addresses to match or be within the same subnet range.

Could anyone help me understand why there’s a discrepancy and how to resolve it?

Thanks in advance for your assistance!

Answer 1

Hi,

The reason apps show a different IP address than your local IP is due to the way internet networking operates. Your local IP address is assigned to your device by your router and is used within your home network. These are usually in the format of 192.168.x.x, 10.x.x.x, or 172.16.x.x1. This local IP is not visible to the outside world.

When you connect to the internet, your router uses a public IP address to communicate with other servers and websites. This public IP is assigned to your router by your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and is what external sites and apps see as your IP address1. The discrepancy between the local and public IP addresses is mainly due to Network Address Translation (NAT), which allows multiple devices on the same network to share a single public IP address2.

Additionally, some ISPs use transparent proxies that can cause your public IP address to appear differently on various websites. A transparent proxy can intercept and cache data, which can lead to different IP addresses being logged by different services2.

So, in summary, the different IP addresses you see are a result of the distinction between your private, local IP and your public IP, along with the potential use of proxies by your ISP. This is a normal aspect of how internet networking functions to efficiently manage IP addresses and traffic.