How are hosts identified at layer 3?

At Layer 3 of the OSI model, hosts are identified using IP addresses, which provide a unique numerical label for each device on a network. An IP address consists of a network portion, which identifies the specific network, and a host portion, which identifies the individual device within that network. This structure allows routers to efficiently route packets of data between different networks and hosts. Additionally, IPv4 and IPv6 are the two primary versions of IP addresses used in networking today.