IP Addressing Fundamentals

Introduction to Subnetting

Subnetting, as this process is more commonly called, is a remarkably logical and mathematical process. Understanding the mathematics of subnetting helps you develop and implement efficient subnetting schemes that make better use of available address spaces. That is the explicit goal of subnetting: to use an address space more efficiently. Unfortunately, subnetting is the most confusing and least-understood aspect of IPv4 . This is largely due to the fact that it makes sense only when viewed in binary numbers, yet most people think in terms of decimal numbers. For that reason alone I rely extensively on the use of binary-to-decimal translations to demonstrate the concept and applications of subnetting throughout this ...