As we know, the Raspberry Pi can be connected to the internet via either WiFi or through an ethernet cable. When connected to any network, the Pi has an IP address which you need to know in order to connect to any web service or use it remotely. The Raspberry Pi can also be assigned a static IP address. However, in this article, we will explore some of the methods to find the IP address of your device after connecting it to a network.
But first, what is an IP address?
IP (Internet Protocol) Address is an address of your network hardware. It helps in connecting your device to other devices on your network and all over the world. Typically the IP address is made up of alpha-numeric combinations and is unique to a device. IP addresses can be either static or dynamic. Since we are dealing with dynamic addresses in this article, let us learn a little more about them.
The dynamic IP address configures automatically and assigns the IP when you set up the router with the internet. This distribution of these is managed by Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). So the address that you find through any method is a temporary one and might change each time you reconnect to the same network, or when you connect to a new network. So you’ll have to use any one of the methods to find it each time.
Methods to find the IP address of your Raspberry Pi:
If connected to a screen
Using the terminal
On your Raspberry Pi desktop, open the terminal and write the following command,
ifconfig
If connected via the ethernet cable you will see it called eth0, which is the wired interface.
With mouse:
- Go to the taskbar
- Hover the mouse over the network icon on the right to see the IP address of the network you are currently connected to.
Getting the IP address of your Pi using your phone
Fing app is a free network scanner available for Android and iOS. To use this method, your phone, and your Pi have to be on the same network.
Connect the Ethernet cable to the Raspberry Pi before searching for the IP address.
Download the app and when you open the it, press the refresh button in the upper right-hand corner. You will see a list with all the devices connected to your network. On this list you should be able to see the manufacturer “Raspberry Pi” with the IP address on the left-hand corner.
Using an advanced scanner app:
You can also find your Raspberry Pi by doing what’s known as an “IP Scan” across your network. For this, let us use the Angry IP Scanner ( http://angryip.org/ ).
Download the scanner onto your computer and press start. This lets you scan your entire local network to find devices, and on the list you should be able to see the Raspberry Pi with its IP address being displayed.
With any one of these methods, you should be able to quickly find and note down the current IP address of your Raspberry Pi. If you are connected to a screen, it is quite obvious that using the terminal is the simplest and least time-consuming method. But do try out the other methods, as you can use them if your display is not connected (headless).
