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Subnetting

Surasak Sanguanpong
nguan@ku.ac.th
http://www.cpe.ku.ac.th/~nguan

Last updated: 27 June 2002

Applied Network Research Group Department of Computer Engineering, Kasetsart University

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Topics

z The Basics of Subnetting

z Subnet Mask
z Computing subnets and hosts
z Subnet Routing
z Creating a Subnet
z Example of Subnetting

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Addressing without Subnets

172.16.1.2 172.16.1.3 172.16.2.1 172.16.254.254

172.16.0.0

z A class B “Flat Network”, more than

65000 hosts
z How to manage?
z Performance?

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Addressing with Subnets

172.16.1.2 172.16.1.3 172.16.2.2 172.16.2.3

172.16.1.0 172.16.2.0

172.16.3.2 172.16.3.3 172.16.4.2 172.16.4.3

172.16.3.0 172.16.4.0

z A class B “subdivided network”, smaller groups

with routers

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Subnetwork benefits
Smaller networks
are easier to manage Increase the network
Overall traffic is
and troubleshoot manager's control over
reduced, performance
may improve the address space

Subnetwork

Subdivide on IP network number

is an important initial task of
network managers

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Subnet Address
Before Subnetting
Network ID Host ID

After Subnetting
Network ID Subnet ID Host ID

z A subnet address is created by borrowing bit

from the Host ID and designated it as a Subnet
ID field

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How to assign subnet

z Each class can have different size of subnet field

Define physical subnetwork Define individual hosts

Network Subnet Host

choose
appropriate size

Class A : Class C :
2 to 22 bits Class B : 2 to 6 bits
2 to 14 bits

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Subnet Example
z Class B address such as 172.16.0.0 might
use its third byte to identify subnet

Subnet Network Address Address Range

#1 172. 16. 1. 0 172.16.1.1-172.16.1.254

#2 172. 16. 2. 0 172.16.2.1-172.16.2.254

#3 172. 16. 3. 0 172.16.3.1-172.16.3.254

#254 172. 16. 254. 0 172.16.254.1-172.16.254.254

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Subnet mask
z subnet mask is a 32 bit number, use to identify a subnet

Example : A class B network with 24 bits mask

Network ID Subnet ID Host ID

1

Set the bit 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 0000 0000
covering the
network and
subnet ID to 1
255. 255. 255. 0.

subnet mask= 255.255.255.0

2

zero bit are used to mask out the host number

resulting the network address

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Masking

172.16.4.2 & 255.255.255.0

1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

172.16.4.0

A “bitwise-and” between IP address and subnet mask

yields a network address.
Note that zeros bit are used to mask out the host number
resulting the network address

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Subnet mask in Prefix format

z The number of routing bits (network and subnet bits) in each
subnet mask can also be indicated by the "/n " format.

255.0.0.0
1111 1111 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 /8

255.255.192.0
1111 1111 1111 1111 1100 0000 0000 0000 /18

255.255.255.0
1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 0000 0000 /24
255.255.255.240
1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 0000 /28

172.16.0.0 255.255.255.0 = 172.16.0.0/24

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Subnet routing
z Traffic is routed to a host by looking “bit-wise and”
results

if dest_ip_addr & subnet_mask = = my_ip_addr & subnet_mask

send pkt on local network %dest ip addr is on the same subnet
else
send pkt to router %dest ip addr is on diff subnet

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Routing
z Hosts and routers perform logical AND to send packets
172.16.1.2 172.16.1.3 172.16.2.2 172.16.2.3

To 172.16.4.2
1

172.16.1.0/24 172.16.2.0/24
2
172.16.4.2 172.16.4.3
172.16.3.2 172.16.3.3

172.16.3.0/24 172.16.4.0/24

z 172.16.1.3 has a packet for 172.16.4.2 and determine

that it is on other subnetwork
z The packet is sent to the router
z The router performs a subnet masking and sends the
packet to the destination network

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Subnet interpretation

IP Address subnet mask Interpretation

15.20.15.2 255.255.0.0 host 15.2 on subnet 15.20.0.0

130.122.34.3 255.255.255.192 host 3 on subnet 130.122.34.0

130.122.34.132 255.255.255.192 host 4th on subnet 130.122.34.128

158.108.2.71 255.255.255.0 host 71 on subnet 158.108.2.0

200.190.155.66 255.255.255.192 host 2nd on subnet 200.190.155.64

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Default Subnet mask

z A default subnet mask : a subnet mask with no
subnetting

Class A 255.0.0.0
1111 1111 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000

Class B 255.255.0.0
1111 1111 1111 1111 0000 0000 0000 0000

Class C 255.255.255.0
1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 0000 0000

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Range of bit
z A default subnet mask : a subnet mask with no
subnetting
IP
172 16 0 0

Default subnet
255 255 0 0

New subnet
255 255 255 0

Define a subnet mask by extending the

network portion to the right, 8 bits in
this example

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Computing subnet mask

Decimal equivalents of bit patterns
Binary mask Octet value
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 128
1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 192
1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 224
1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 240
1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 248
1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 252
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 254
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 255

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Compute Net and host

z How many subnet and host are there with
172.16.0.0/24

255. 255. 255. 0.

1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 0000 0000

Network ID Subnet ID Host ID

8 bit subnet ID = 28=256 => 254 subnets

8 bit host ID = 28=256 => 254 hosts per subnet

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Network and Host relationship

z Sample class C

Number of Number of Number of Total Percents

subnet subnets hosts number of used
bits created per subnet hosts
2 2 62 124 49%
3 6 30 180 71%
4 14 14 196 77%
5 30 6 180 71%
6 62 2 124 49%

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Subnetting Special Addresses

Reserved addresses that are not allowed to be assigned to any node

NetID HostID Purpose

any All 0s Subnetwork Address
Example: 172.16.2.0/24
Subnetwork 172.16.2.0

any All 1s Subnet-directed Broadcast

Example: 172.16.2.255/24
Directed broadcast of the subnetwork 172.16.2.0

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Subnet Net Block Diagram

No subnetting 2 bits

z Block diagram
subnetting class C

3 bits 4 bits

Network Address Broadcast Address

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Contiguous and Noncontiguous mask

no intermedite 0 gaps
in the subnet mask
Contiguous subnet mask

1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 0000 0000

intermedite 0 gaps
Noncontiguous subnet mask in the subnet mask

1111 1111 1111 1111 0001 1111 0000 0000

Noncontiguous leads to complex subnetting and routing

It is strongly recommend to use contiguous subnet mask

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Subnet Class A Example

subnet mask Interpretation

255.0.0.0 1 network with 1677214 hosts (default subnet)
255.255.0.0 254 subnets each with 65534 hosts
255.255.128.0 510 subnets each with 32768 hosts
255.255.192.0 1022 subnets each with 16382 hosts
255.255.255.0 65534 subnets each with 254 hosts

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Example : Class A Subnet Address Table

IP Address : 10.0.0.0/16

SubnetID all 0s
10.0.0.0 10.0.0.1 10.0.255.254 10.0.255.255

#1 10.1.0.0 10.1.0.1 10.1.255.254 10.1.255.255

Broadcast Address
Network Address

#2 10.2.0.0 10.2.0.1 10.2.255.254 10.2.255.255

#254 10.254.0.0 10.254.0.1 10.254.255.254 10.254.255.255

10.255.0.0 10.255.0.1 10.255.255.254 10.255.255.255

SubnetID all 1s

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Class A Subnet with router

10.1.0.0 10.1.0.1 to 10.0.0.0/16
#1 10.1.255.254 254 subnets each
with 65534 hosts
10.2.0.0 10.2.0.1 to
10.2.255.254
#2

#3 10.3.0.0 10.3.0.1 to
10.3.255.254

#254 10.255.0.0 10.255.0.1 to

10.255.255.254

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Subnet Class B Example

subnet mask Interpretation

255.255.0.0 1 network with 65534 hosts (default subnet)
255.255.192.0 2 subnets each with 16382 hosts
255.255.252.0 62 subnets each with 1022 hosts
255.255.255.0 254 subnets each with 254 hosts
255.255.255.252 16382 subnets each with 2 hosts

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Example : Class B Subnet Address Table

IP Address : 176.16.0.0 /24

SubnetID all 0s
172.16.0.0 172.16.0.1 172.16.0.254 172.16.0.255

#1 172.16.1.0 172.16.1.1 172.16.1.254 172.16.1.255

Broadcast Address
Network Address

#2 172.16.2.0 172.16.2.1 172.16.2.254 172.16.2.255

#254 172.16.254.0 172.16.254.1 176.16.254.254 176.16.254.255

176.16.255.0 176.16.255.1 176.16.255.254 176.16.255.255

SubnetID all 1s

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Class B Subnet with router

#1 172.16.1.0 172.16.1.1 to 172.16.1.0/24
172.16.1.254 254 subnets each
172.16.2.0 172.16.2.1 to with 65534 hosts
172.16.2.254
#2

#3 172.16.3.0 172.16.3.1 to
172.16.3.254

#254 172.16.254.0 172.16.254.1 to

172.16.254.254

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Subnet Class C Example

subnet mask Interpretation

255.255.255.0 1 network with 254 hosts (default subnet)
255.255.255.192 2 subnets each with 62 host
255.255.255.224 6 subnets each with 30 hosts
255.255.255.240 14 subnets each with 14 hosts
255.255.255.252 62 subnets each with 2 hosts

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Example : Class C Subnet Address Table

IP Address : 192.68.0.0 /27

SubnetID all 0s
192.68.0.0 192.68.0.1 192.68.0.30 192.68.0.31

#1 192.68.0.32 192.68.0.33 192.68.0.62 192.68.0.63

Broadcast Address
Network Address

#2 192.68.0.64 192.68.0.65 192.68.0.94 192.68.0.95

#6 192.68.0.192 192.68.0.193 192.68.0.222 192.68.0.223

192.68.0.224 192.68.0.225 192.68.0.254 192.68.0.255

SubnetID all 1s

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Class C Subnet with router

192.68.0.32 192.68.0.33 to 192.68.0.0/27
#1 192.68.0.62 6 subnets each
192.68.0.64 192.68.0.65 to with 30 hosts
192.68.0.94
#2

#3 192.68.0.96 192.68.0.97 to
192.68.0.126

#6 192.68.0.192 192.68.0.193 to
192.68.0.222

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Subnet Exercise (1)

z Given IP address 161.200, find out the following to yield not
more than 256 hosts per subnet

z net mask= ??
z start net id =??
z end net id=??
z #of subnet =??

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Subnet Exercise (2)

z Given IP address 192.150.251, find out the following to yield
not more than 32 hosts per subnet

z net mask= ??
z start net id =??
z end net id=??
z #of subnet =??

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Type of Subnetting
Static Subnetting

z all subnets in the subnetted network use

the same subnet mask
z pros: simply to implement, easy to
maintain
z cons: wasted address space (consider a
network of 4 hosts with 255.255.255.0
wastes 250 IP)

Variable Lengh Subnetting

z the subnets may use different subnet
masks
z pros: utilize address spaces
z cons: required well-management

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Problem of Static subnetting

192.68.0.32/27
used 20 hosts,
waste 10 hosts

192.68.0.64/27
used 20 hosts,
waste 10 hosts

192.68.0.96/27
used 25 hosts,
waste 5 hosts
z Inefficient allocation of
192.68.0.128/27
used 25 hosts, the address space
waste 5 hosts

192.68.0.192/27
used 10 hosts,
waste 20 hosts

192.68.0.224/27
used 10 hosts,
waste 20 hosts

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Variable-Length Subnetting
192.68.0.32/27 General
used 20 hosts,
z
z General Idea
Idea of
of VLSM
VLSM
waste 10 hosts z
z A
A small
small subnet
subnet with
with only
only aa
few
few hosts
hosts needs
needs aa subnet
subnet
192.68.0.64/27
used 20 hosts, mask
mask that
that accommodate
accommodate
waste 10 hosts only
only few
few hosts
hosts
192.68.0.96/27 z
z A
A subnet
subnet with
with many
many hosts
hosts
used 25 hosts, need
need aa subnet
subnet mask
mask to to
waste 5 hosts accommodate
accommodate
the
the large
large number
number of of hosts
hosts
192.68.0.128/27
used 25 hosts,
waste 5 hosts
192.68.0.192/28 192.68.0.208/28
used 10 hosts, unused subnet
waste 4 hosts Available 14 hosts

192.68.0.224/28 192.68.0.240/28
used 10 hosts, unused subnet
waste 4 hosts Available 14 hosts

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VLSM - An Example
z three different VLSM of 172.16.0.0
CPC RDI
255.255.255.0 255.255.255.0

255.255.255.252
255.255.255.252 255.255.255.252

point-to-point link
CPE
255.255.255.252
255.255.255.192

Applied Network Research Group Department of Computer Engineering, Kasetsart University