An address that sends outgoing signals back to the same computer for testing. In a TCP/IP network, the loopback IP address is 127.0.0.1, and pinging this address will always return a reply unless the firewall prevents it. The loopback address allows a network administrator to treat the local machine as if it were a remote machine. See
ping,
loopback plug and
localhost.
An Interesting Loopback Use
The Plex media server organizes and streams multimedia content. It runs as a Web server (HTTP server) in the user's computer and is managed from a Web browser interface. When the interface is launched in the same computer that is running the server, it uses the loopback address to access the very same machine. The 32400 is the port number (see
TCP/IP port). See
Plex.