Subnet Masks

SUBNET MASKS Developed by Peter Smith

Subnet Mask An IP address has 2 parts: The Network identification. The Host identification. Frequently, the Network & Host portions of the address need to be separately extracted. In most cases, if you know the address class, it’s easy to separate the 2 portions. Peter Smith 2

Subnet Mask (Cont.) With the rapid growth of the internet & the ever-increasing demand for new addresses, the standard address class structure has been expanded by borrowing bits from the Host portion to allow for more Networks. Under this addressing scheme, called Subnetting, separating the Network & Host requires a special process called Subnet Masking. Peter Smith 3

Subnet Mask (Cont.) The subnet masking process was developed to identify & extract the Network part of the address. A subnet mask, which contains a binary bit pattern of ones & zeros, is applied to an address to determine whether the address is on the local Network. If it is not, the process of routing it to an outside network begins. Peter Smith 4

Subnet Mask (Cont.) The function of a subnet mask is to determine whether an IP address exists on the local network or whether it must be routed outside the local network. It is applied to a message’s destination address to extract the network address. If the extracted network address matches the local network ID, the destination is located on the local network. Peter Smith 5

Subnet Mask (Cont.) However, if they don’t match, the message must be routed outside the local network. The process used to apply the subnet mask involves Boolean Algebra to filter out non-matching bits to identify the network address. Peter Smith 6

Boolean Algebra Boolean Algebra is a process that applies binary logic to yield binary results. Working with subnet masks, you need only 4 basic principles of Boolean Algebra: 1 and 1 = 1 1 and 0 = 0 0 and 1 = 0 0 and 0 = 0 Peter Smith 7

Boolean Algebra (Cont.) In another words, the only way you can get a result of a 1 is to combine 1 & 1. Everything else will end up as a 0. The process of combining binary values with Boolean Algebra is called Anding. Peter Smith 8

Default Subnet Masks There are default standard subnet masks for Class A, B and C addresses: Peter Smith 9

Subnet Masks Subnet masks apply only to Class A, B or C IP addresses. The subnet mask is like a filter that is applied to a message’s destination IP address. Its objective is to determine if the local network is the destination network. Peter Smith 10

Example The subnet mask goes like this: If a destination IP address is 206.175.162.21, we know that it is a Class C address & that its binary equivalent is: 11001110.10101111.10100010.00010101 Peter Smith 11

Example We also know that the default standard Class C subnet mask is: 255.255.255.0 and that its binary equivalent is: 11111111.11111111.11111111.00000000 Peter Smith 12

Example When these two binary numbers (the IP address & the subnet mask) are combined using Boolean Algebra, the Network ID of the destination network is the result: Peter Smith 13

Example The result is the IP address of the network which in this case is the same as the local network & means that the message is for a node on the local network. Peter Smith 14

Routing IP Addresses When you build a network, you need to figure out how many network Ids your network requires. To do so, you must account for every WAN connection & subnet on the Network. Every node & router interface requires a Host address, or ID. Peter Smith 15

Routing IP Addresses (Cont.) There’s no hard & fast rule on how you should dole out your allotted IP addresses. Commonly, though, the lowest numbers (1 through 10) are assigned to routers & servers but how you assign addresses is strictly up to you & your network policies & guidelines. Peter Smith 16

Peter Smith 17 Finding Subnetwork A 3-step example of how the default Class A subnet mask is applied to a Class A address:

Peter Smith 18 Finding Subnetwork In the previous slide, the default Class A subnet mask (255.0.0.0) is AND’d with the Class A address (123.123.123.001) using Boolean Algebra, which results in the Network ID (123.0.0.0) being revealed. The default Class B subnet mask (255.255.0.0) strips out the 16-bit network ID & the default Class C subnet mask (255.255.255.0) strips out the 24-bit network ID.

Peter Smith 19 Subnetting, Subnet & Subnet Mask Subnetting, a subnet & a subnet mask are all different. In fact, the 1st creates the 2nd & is identified by the 3rd. Subnetting is the process of dividing a network & its IP addresses into segments, each of which is called a subnetwork or subnet.

Peter Smith 20 Subnetting, Subnet & Subnet Mask The subnet mask is the 32-bit number that the router uses to cover up the network address to show which bits are being used to identify the subnet.

Subnet Masks

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Subnet Masks