Sub-Netting

Problems of Large Broadcast Domain Network

 A large domain is a network that connects many hosts.

 A problem with a large domain is that these hosts can generate unnecessary excessive
broadcasts and create congestion which can negatively affect the network.

 Moreover, for a Network Administrator, it becomes difficult to troubleshoot and

maintain a big network.
 Problems of Large Broadcast Domain Network
 In the figure, LAN 1 connects 400 users that could generate an excess amount of broadcast traffic.

 This results in slow network operations due to the significant amount of traffic it can cause, and
slow device operations because a device must accept and process each broadcast packet.
 Problems of Large Broadcast Domain Network
Large broadcast domains might create a lot of different types of problems:

 Security issue

 Network downtime

 Too much busy network

 Loss of information

 Slow communication

 More processing and excessive use of resources, etc

 Sub-Netting
 The solution is to reduce the size of the network to create smaller broadcast domains in a process
called Sub-Netting. These smaller network spaces are called subnets.

 In the figure, the 400 users in LAN 1 with network address 172.16.0.0 /16 have been divided into
two subnets of 200 users each: 172.16.0.0 /24 and 172.16.1.0 /24.

 Broadcasts are only propagated within the smaller broadcast domains. Therefore, a broadcast in
LAN 1 would not propagate to LAN 2.
Example: Sub-Netting by Location
Example: Sub-Netting by Group or Function
Example: Sub-Netting by Device Type
 What Is Sub-netting?
 Sub-netting is taking a network number and dividing it into smaller regions with
fewer hosts.

 It is used to control broadcast traffic and isolate networks for routing and
management purposes.

 With a single broadcast domain, we can't manage individual departments by

their network number.

 We also don't have options to secure different broadcast domains by adding

access control filters between them. Again, performance suffers.
 Advantages of Sub-netting
 Sub-netting is helpful to solve the problem of lacking IP addresses on the Internet.

 Subnets also helpful to minimize the size of the routing tables on the internet.

 It can boost network security by providing security to one network from another
network

 The speed of each subnetwork will increase because the level of traffic within each
subnetwork is lower, therefore increasing overall network performance and
reducing network congestion.

 Ease administration of network.

 Disadvantages of Sub-netting
 It increases Time complexity. In the case of Subnet, more time is required
for communication or data transfer.

 Cost of the overall Network also increases. Sub-netting requires internal

routers, Switches, Hubs, Bridges etc. which are very costly.

 Sub-netting and network management require an experienced network

administrator. This will add to the overall cost as well.
 Class Full Address and CIDR
 We call an IP address a class full address if it uses the default subnet mask. For
example 192.168.10.2/24 is a class full Class-C IP address.

 An address is classless if it uses a custom, variable length subnet mask. For

example, 192.168.50.5/27 is a classless IP address.

 Classless IP addresses are created by modifying the length of the subnet mask.

 This is made possible by a feature called Classless Inter Domain Routing, or CIDR.
 Subnet Mask
 Subnet mask is used to separate the network address from the host address
in IP address.

 An IP address is the combination of network address and host address.

 Subnet mask helps us in identifying the network portion and the host
portion.

 Just like IP address, subnet mask is also 32 bits in length and uses same
notations.
 Subnet Mask Examples
Class-A IP address: 10.10.10.10 subnet mask: 255.0.0.0

Class-B IP address: 172.168.10.1 subnet mask: 255.255.0.0

Class-C IP address: 192.168.10.2 subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

*Network Portion *Host Portion
 Public and Private IPv4 Address
 Public IPv4 addresses are addresses which are globally routed between internet
service provider (ISP) routers.

 Not all available IPv4 addresses can be used on the internet.

 There are blocks of addresses called private addresses that are used by most
organizations to create their own private networks (LANs).

Network Address and Prefix Private Address Range

10.0.0.0/8 10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255
172.16.0.0/12 172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255
192.168.0.0/16 192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255
 IP address format
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
 An IPv4 IP address is 32 bits in length. 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

 Bits are divided in four Parts.

 Each part is known as OCTETs and contains 8 bits.
 It is comprised of Network ID and Host ID

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Part-1 (Octet1) Part-2 (Octet2) Part-3 (Octet3) Part-4 (Octet4)
Total 8 Bits Total 8 Bits Total 8 Bits Total 8 Bits
1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1

 192.168.10.5
 Convert Following IP Addresses
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
(From Binary to Decimal)
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

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

The 1st IP is: 254.223.237.219

The 2nd IP is: 160.128.69.68
The 3rd IP is: 192.168.10.2
The 4th IP is: 200.50.20.10
 CIDR
 CIDR stands for Classless Inter Domain Routing. It is expressed in decimal number and
it is a shortcut for expressing the subnet mask.

 Every full OCTET (with value 1) is expressed as 8 (starting from the left)

 The IP address 192.168.10.2 255.255.255.0 can be expressed as 192.168.10.2/24

(Here the CIDR value is 24).

 It is a class full class-C IP address. So the CIDR value is 24 as below:

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
Total 1 = 8 Total 1 = 8 Total 1 = 8 0
So, the total CIDR value = 8 + 8 + 8 = 24
 More Examples on CIDR
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

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
255 (Total 1s = 8) 255 (Total 1s = 8) 255 (Total 1s = 8) 0
So, the total CIDR value = 8 + 8 + 8 = 24, i.e subnet is : 255.255.255.0

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
255 (Total 1s = 8) 255 (Total 1s = 8) 255 (Total 1s = 8) 128
So, the total CIDR value = 8 + 8 + 8+1 = 25
 Calculation of CIDR Value
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

The CIDR value is 28. What is the actual value of the Subnet Mask?

1 1 1 1 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
8 = 255 8 =255 8 =255 240
So, the actual value of the subnet mask: 255.255.255.128

The CIDR value is 30. What is the actual value of the Subnet Mask?

1 1 1 1 1 1 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
8 = 255 8 =255 8 =255 252
Possible Number of Users in Different Networks
The network: 192.168.10.100/24 (192.168.10.100 255.255.255.0) can have max 254 users

The network: 192.168.10.100/25 (192.168.10.100 255.255.255.128) can have max 126 users

The network: 192.168.10.100/26 (192.168.10.100 255.255.255.192) can have max 62 users

The network: 192.168.10.100/27 (192.168.10.100 255.255.255.224) can have max 30 users

The network: 192.168.10.100/28 (192.168.10.100 255.255.255.240) can have max 14 users

The network: 192.168.10.100/29 (192.168.10.100 255.255.255.248) can have max 6 users

The network: 192.168.10.100/30 (192.168.10.100 255.255.255.252) can have max 2 users

Comparing the Subnet Mask and Prefix Length
Subnet Mask 32-bit Address Prefix Length
255.0.0.0 11111111.00000000.00000000.00000000 /8
255.255.0.0 11111111.11111111.00000000.00000000 /16
255.255.255.0 11111111.11111111.11111111.00000000 /24
255.255.255.128 11111111.11111111.11111111.10000000 /25
255.255.255.192 11111111.11111111.11111111.11000000 /26
255.255.255.224 11111111.11111111.11111111.11100000 /27
255.255.255.240 11111111.11111111.11111111.11110000 /28
255.255.255.248 11111111.11111111.11111111.11111000 /29
255.255.255.252 11111111.11111111.11111111.11111100 /30
 Practice: Subnet Mask From CIDR Value
Find out the subnet mask of the following IP addresses:

 200.100.50.2/26 = 255.255.255.192

 193.168.20.4/29 = 255.255.255.248

 210.110.55.6/28 = 255.255.255.240

 195.100.20.20/25 = 255.255.255.128

 212.60.40.12/30 = 255.255.255.252

 220.110.55.1/27 = 255.255.255.224