What is the meaning of 127.0.0.1 and the local host?

Hi all,

IP address 127.0.0.1, is reserved for loopback or localhost connections. These networks are usually reserved for the biggest customers or some of the original members of the Internet. To identify any connection issue, the initial step is to ping the server and check if it is responding.


If there is no response from the server then there are various causes like the network is down or the cable needs to be replaced or the network card is not in a good condition. 127.0.0.1 is a loopback connection on the Network Interface Card (NIC) and if you are able to ping this server successfully, then it means that the hardware is in a good shape and condition.


127.0.0.1 and local host are the same things in most of the computer network functioning.

Can someone explain more about these two?