Expand your network by supernetting IP

addresses
by Rick Vanover | May 19, 2003 7:00:00 AM

Takeaway: If you're looking to segment a TCP/IP network, subnetting is not your only
option. CIDR, or supernetting, is another way to accomplish the task and offers some
unique solutions. Here's how to use supernetting on your network.

Put simply, supernetting a TCP/IP network address is the opposite of subnetting it.
Supernetting is also known as CIDR (classless interdomain routing) as defined by RFCs
1517, 1518, 1519, and 1520. In IPv4, CIDR is one way of attempting to manage the
shortage of TCP/IP addresses until IPv6 takes over.

Supernetting in itself does not give you more TCP/IP addresses; however, it provides
larger single networks for use. Here's how to implement supernetting on your network or
support a supernetted network that you may have inherited.

How supernetting works

Supernetting acts to bridge the gap between a Class C network that is limited to 254
addresses and a Class B network that is too large, with over 65,000 addresses. In this
way, it's possible to have a "logical" network that offers the number of hosts that best
suits your situation.

Supernetting achieves this by making a single network that has your specified number of
hosts and corresponding supernet (like a subnet mask). A supernetted address will look
like any other TCP/IP address in dotted decimal format (XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX), but it
will have a supernetted subnet mask. This looks like a normal subnet mask, but the last
octet is not 0 (however, the leading octets of the supernet mask are still 255). Supernetted
addresses will require a default gateway that needs to be supernetted as well.

Address ranges, or blocks, are important in supernetting. They allow you to identify the
valid addresses in a tabular format that helps identify boundaries on networks. There are
many tables you can create or find on the Internet to plan your networks when using
supernetting. Figure A shows a supernetting chart using an example configuration that
we'll examine in this article.
Figure A

Supernetting Class C addresses

This represents part of the CIDR/supernetting chart to help determine which supernet
option to choose.
CIDR Block Supernet Mask # of Networks* # of Hosts**
/17 255.255.128.0 128 32766
/18 255.255.192.0 64 16382
/19 255.255.224.0 32 8190
/20 255.255.240.0 16 4094
/21 255.255.248.0 8 2046
/22 255.255.252.0 4 1022
/23 255.255.254.0 2 510
/24 255.255.255.0 1 254
/25 255.255.255.128 Less than 1* 126
/26 255.255.255.192 Less than 1* 62
/27 255.255.255.224 Less than 1* 30
/28 255.255.255.240 Less than 1* 14
/29 255.255.255.248 Less than 1* 6
/30 255.255.255.252 Less than 1* 2
*Number of full Class C networks—256 or more available addresses
**Available addresses—network and broadcast addresses excluded

This is a chart of the /17 through the /30 block of Class C supernets. These ranges are
scalable, helping you select how many networks and hosts you would like to use. You
may notice that /24 CIDR block looks familiar, as that is really not a supernetted network
but a subnetted single Class C network with a standard 24-bit subnet.

Calculating supernet addresses

Calculating a supernet address is easy if the approach is organized. Using the chart in
Figure A, determine how many hosts you want to have available on your network and
reference that against the # of Hosts column to select the best match. Then, once you
select the appropriate number of hosts, you can look across the chart and see the
corresponding supernet mask. With that, you will need to determine a valid starting
network.

This starting network must meet certain criteria:

 All networks are consecutive from your starting network.

  The third octet of the first network must be an even number (zero is valid for
certain situations).
 When combining eight networks (like the example below), the third octet of the
network number must be evenly divisible by eight.
 Create a table listing the available networks(s), addresses, supernet mask(s),
default gateway(s), and other networking objects to outline the network.

Usage scenario

In this example, we'll need approximately 1,220 IP addresses for a training lab scenario
that involves 150 people, each of whom requires two servers, five network-attached,
multiport serial devices, and their own laptop. We'll also need extra addresses for a few
routers (including one for Internet access) and addresses for the instructors. This example
would be a good candidate for using CIDR. I'll use the 192.168.16.0 network for our
starting address.

To satisfy the 1,220 TCP/IP addresses for this scenario, we can use many of the different
CIDR blocks. We will use eight Class C networks, or CIDR /21, to give us 2,048 possible
addresses. The 2,048 possible addresses are calculated by taking eight networks that will
have 256 addresses each (8 x 256 = 2048). We have to subtract two for the network and
broadcast addresses (as in a subnetted network), giving us 2048 – 2 = 2046 possible
addresses. Starting with 192.168.16.0, all "connected" networks must be consecutive in
the numbering of the third octet. Table A outlines the networks and available addresses.

Table A
Network Available Addresses Usage Circumstances
192.168.16.0 1-255 First address not available
192.168.17.0 0-255 All addresses in range available
192.168.18.0 0-255 All addresses in range available
192.168.19.0 0-255 All addresses in range available
192.168.20.0 0-255 All addresses in range available
192.168.21.0 0-255 All addresses in range available
192.168.22.0 0-255 All addresses in range available
192.168.23.0 0-254 Last address not available

Note that certain IP addresses are valid with atypical numbers in the last octet of the
address. For example, both 192.168.19.0 and 192.168.22.255 are valid addresses for a
client, but they may not be available for use by all clients that connect to this network.
This is because certain operating systems may not allow these types of addresses to be
assigned as an IP address, since they may view the address as a network or broadcast
address and as invalid for use as a client address (based on standard TCP/IP usage).

Specifically, Windows NT and 2000 do not allow the use of the X.X.X.255 or X.X.X.0
IP addresses. (For more information on this, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article
281579.) Because the available hosts for this range of addresses will exceed our
requirements, the loss of these few addresses will not be an issue.

The resulting networks will start at 192.168.16.0 and increase in single increments up to
192.168.23.0. The supernet mask (functions as a subnet mask for all involved network
devices/systems) for these networks will be 255.255.248.0. This same supernet and
default gateway will be used for all of the networks on this supernet. Rendering the
255.255.248.0 supernet mask is easy from the chart in Figure A, but we will now prove
how this is achieved.

We obtain our example supernet mask by taking the number of Class C networks we
would like (eight in our case) and subtracting that from 256. This result is 248. We take
this value and place it into the third octet of the mask, making our result 255.255.248.0. If
we want to have 256 or more Class C networks, this quick rule will not work. The
addresses listed in Table A will all be on the same network. For example, there is no
route necessary for host 192.168.17.49 to access 192.168.19.244, or any other hosts in the
range.

Implementing a supernetted network

I set up a supernetted network in a lab that I have access to. While I do not have over
1,000 computers, I did allocate all of my computers and virtual machines to reside on
each network of this supernetted network. The supernetted network required no settings
beyond the IP address, supernet mask, and default gateway options of the operating
systems in question. There were no special routing requirements or hardware necessary to
quickly implement this network. The supernetted network was implemented easily, and I
was able to perform all network activities as if it were a more typical 24-bit subnet mask
(255.255.255.0). Addressing, name resolution, and network-based applications all
performed without incident.

You can also use supernetting in a reverse fashion by decreasing the number of hosts per
network. This is common in ISP situations where you need only a limited number of
addresses on the Internet, and the carrier provides you with a subnet mask of
255.255.255.248, for example. This particular supernet means that you will have six
available hosts on the network. In this scenario, the first and last addresses are removed
for the network and broadcast addresses, so dividing 256 hosts by 32 gives us eight hosts
in 32 networks. Removing the first and last addresses for each network gives us six
available hosts per network.

Why would I want to use supernetting?

ISPs frequently use supernetting to allocate IP addresses most effectively. There may be
scenarios where you have many LANS, WLANs, or VLANs that might be optimally
suited for supernetting to best administer your network needs. Keep in mind that
supernetting introduces complexity to network administration that needs thorough
planning, testing, documentation, and administrator competence.

Most new routing equipment and current operating systems support CIDR in their
implementation of the TCP/IP protocol. However, before a supernetting implementation,
it is critical to ensure that all components of your network are supernetting-aware. This
includes operating systems, network services, routers, routing protocols (RIP2, for
example does not support CIDR), and any network-based services used on your network.