Subnetwork

Network Prefix

Host Number

Network Prefix

Subnet Number Host Number

into a tree-like routing structure.

1 Network addressing and routing

Computers participating in a network such as the Internet

each have at least one logical address. Usually this address is unique to each device and can either be congA subnetwork, or subnet, is a logical, visible subdivision ured automatically with the Dynamic Host Conguration
of an IP network.[1] The practice of dividing a network Protocol (DHCP) by a network server, manually by an
into two or more networks is called subnetting.
administrator, or automatically by stateless address autoComputers that belong to a subnet are addressed with a conguration.
common, identical, most-signicant bit-group in their IP An address fullls the functions of identifying the host
address. This results in the logical division of an IP ad- and locating it on the network. The most common netdress into two elds, a network or routing prex and the work addressing architecture is Internet Protocol version
rest eld or host identier. The rest eld is an identier 4 (IPv4), but its successor, IPv6, has been increasingly
for a specic host or network interface.
deployed since approximately 2006. An IPv4 address
The routing prex is expressed in CIDR notation. It is consists of 32 bits, for readability written in a form conwritten as the rst address of a network, followed by a sisting of four decimal octets separated by dots, called
slash character (/ ), and ending with the bit-length of the dot-decimal notation. An IPv6 address consists of 128
prex. For example, 192.168.1.0/24 is the prex of the bits written in a hexadecimal notation and grouping 16
Internet Protocol Version 4 network starting at the given bits separated by colons.
Creating a subnet by dividing the host identier

address, having 24 bits allocated for the network prex, and the remaining 8 bits reserved for host addressing. The IPv6 address specication 2001:db8::/32 is a
large address block with 296 addresses, having a 32-bit
routing prex. For IPv4, a network is also characterized
by its subnet mask, which is the bitmask that when applied by a bitwise AND operation to any IP address in
the network, yields the routing prex. Subnet masks are
also expressed in dot-decimal notation like an address.
For example, 255.255.255.0 is the network mask for the
192.168.1.0/24 prex.

For the purpose of network management, an IP address

is divided into two logical parts, the network prex and
the host identier or rest eld. All hosts on a subnetwork
have the same network prex. This routing prex occupies the most-signicant bits of the address. The number
of bits allocated within a network to the internal routing
prex may vary between subnets, depending on the network architecture. While in IPv6 the prex must consist
of a set of contiguous 1-bits, in IPv4 this is not enforced,
though there is no advantage to using non-contiguous 1bits. The host part is a unique local identication and is
either a host number on the local network or an interface
Trac is exchanged (routed) between subnetworks with
special gateways (routers) when the routing prexes of identier.
the source address and the destination address dier. A This logical addressing structure permits the selective
router constitutes the logical or physical boundary be- routing of IP packets across multiple networks via special
gateway computers, called routers, to a destination host if
tween the subnets.
The benets of subnetting an existing network vary with the network prexes of origination and destination hosts
each deployment scenario. In the address allocation ar- dier, or sent directly to a target host on the local network
chitecture of the Internet using Classless Inter-Domain if they are the same. Routers constitute logical or physRouting (CIDR) and in large organizations, it is neces- ical borders between the subnets, and manage trac besary to allocate address space eciently. It may also en- tween them. Each subnet is served by a designated default
hance routing eciency, or have advantages in network router, but may consist internally of multiple physical
management when subnetworks are administratively con- Ethernet segments interconnected by network switches or
trolled by dierent entities in a larger organization. Sub- network bridges.
nets may be arranged logically in a hierarchical architec- The routing prex of an address is written in a form identure, partitioning an organizations network address space tical to that of the address itself. This is called the net1

2
work mask, or subnet mask, of the address. For example,
a specication of the most-signicant 18 bits of an IPv4
address, 11111111.11111111.11000000.00000000, is
written as 255.255.192.0. If this mask designates a subnet within a larger network, it is also called the subnet
mask. This form of denoting the network mask, however,
is only used for IPv4 networks.

IPV4 SUBNETTING

identier. This is performed by a bitwise AND operation between the IP address and the (sub)network mask.
The result yields the network address or prex, and the
remainder is the host identier.

2.1 Determining the network prex

The modern standard form of specication of the network

An IPv4 network mask consists of 32 bits, a sequence of
prex is CIDR notation, used for both IPv4 and IPv6. It
ones (1) followed by a block of 0s. The trailing block of
counts the number of bits in the prex and appends that
zeros (0) designates that part as being the host identier.
number to the address after a slash (/) character separator:
The following example shows the separation of the network prex and the host identier from an address
192.168.0.0, netmask 255.255.255.0 is written as
(192.168.5.130) and its associated /24 network mask
192.168.0.0/24
(255.255.255.0). The operation is visualized in a table
In IPv6, 2001:db8::/32 designates the address using binary address formats.
2001:db8:: and its network prex consisting of the The mathematical operation for calculating the network
most signicant 32 bits.
prex is the bitwise AND of IP address and subnet mask.
The result of the operation yields the network prex
This notation was introduced with Classless Inter- 192.168.5.0 and the host number 130.
Domain Routing (CIDR) in RFC 4632. In IPv6 this is
the only acceptable form to denote network or routing
2.2 Subnetting
prexes.
In classful networking in IPv4, prior to the introduction of
CIDR, the network prex could be directly obtained from
the IP address, based on its highest order bit sequence.
This determined the class (A, B, C) of the address and
therefore the network mask. Since the introduction of
CIDR, however, assignment of an IP address to a network interface requires two parameters, the address and
its network mask.
In IPv4, on-link determination for an IP address is given
simply by the address and netmask conguration, as the
address cannot be disassociated from the on-link prex.[2]
For IPv6, however, on-link determination is dierent
in detail and requires the Neighbor Discovery Protocol
(NDP).[3][4] IPv6 address assignment to an interface carries no requirement of a matching on-link prex and vice
versa, with the exception of link-local addresses.

Subnetting is the process of designating some high-order

bits from the host part and grouping them with the network mask to form the subnet mask. This divides a network into smaller subnets. The following diagram modies the example by moving 2 bits from the host part to
the subnet mask to form four smaller subnets one quarter
the previous size:

2.3 Special addresses and subnets

Internet Protocol version 4 uses specially designated address formats to facilitate recognition of special address
functionality. The rst and the last subnets obtained by
subnetting have traditionally had a special designation
and, early on, special usage implications.[5] In addition,
IPv4 uses the all ones host address, i.e. the last address
While subnetting may improve network performance in
within a network, for broadcast transmission to all hosts
an organizational network, it increases routing complexon the link.
ity, since each locally connected subnet must be represented by a separate entry in the routing tables of each
connected router. However, by careful design of the net- 2.3.1 Subnet zero and the all-ones subnet
work, routes to collections of more distant subnets within
the branches of a tree-hierarchy can be aggregated by The rst subnet obtained from subnetting has all bits in
single routes. Variable-length subnet masking (VLSM) the subnet bit group set to zero (0). It is therefore called
functionality in commercial routers made the introduc- subnet zero.[6] The last subnet obtained from subnetting
tion of CIDR seamless across the Internet and in enter- has all bits in the subnet bit group set to one (1). It is
prise networks.
therefore called the all-ones subnet.[7]
The IETF originally discouraged the production use of
these two subnets due to possible confusion of having a
2 IPv4 subnetting
network and subnet with the same address.[8] The practice
of avoiding subnet zero and the all-ones subnet was deThe process of subnetting involves the separation of the clared obsolete in 1995 by RFC 1878, an informational,
network and subnet portion of an address from the host but now historical document.[9]

2.4

Subnet and host counts

A /24 network may be divided into the following subnets by increasing the subnet mask successively by one
The number of subnetworks available, and the number bit. This aects the total number of hosts that can be
of possible hosts in a network may be readily calculated. addressed in the /24 network (last column).
In the example (above) two bits were borrowed to create *only applicable for point-to-point links
subnetworks, thus creating 4 (22 ) possible subnets.
The RFC 950 specication recommended reserving the
subnet values consisting of all zeros (see above) and all
ones (broadcast), reducing the number of available subnets by two. However, due to the ineciencies introduced by this convention it was abandoned for use on the
public Internet, and is only relevant when dealing with
legacy equipment that does not implement CIDR. The
only reason not to use the all-zeroes subnet is that it is
ambiguous when the prex length is not available. RFC
950 itself did not make the use of the zero subnet illegal;
it was however considered best practice by engineers.

3 IPv6 subnetting
The design of the IPv6 address space diers signicantly
from IPv4. The primary reason for subnetting in IPv4 is
to improve eciency in the utilization of the relatively
small address space available, particularly to enterprises.
No such limitations exist in IPv6, as the large address
space available, even to end-users, is not a limiting factor.

An RFC 4291 compliant subnet always uses IPv6 adCIDR-compliant routing protocols transmit both length dresses with 64 bits for the host portion.[12] It therefore
and sux. RFC 1878 provides a subnetting table with has a /64 routing prex (12864 = the 64 most signifexamples.
icant bits). Although it is technically possible to use
[13]
The remaining bits after the subnet bits are used for ad- smaller subnets, they are impractical for local area netdressing hosts within the subnet. In the above example the works based on Ethernet technology, because 64 bits are
[14]
The
subnet mask consists of 26 bits, leaving 6 bits for the host required for stateless address auto conguration.
6
identier. This allows for 62 host combinations (2 2). Internet Engineering Task Force recommends the use of
/127 subnets for point-to-point links, which consist of
The all-zeros value and all-ones values are reserved for
only two hosts.[15][16]
the network address and broadcast address respectively.
In systems that can handle CIDR a count of two is there- IPv6 does not implement special address formats for
[17]
fore subtracted from the host availability, rather than the broadcast trac or network numbers, and thus all adn
subnet availability, making all 2 subnets available and dresses in a subnet are valid host addresses. The allzeroes address is reserved as the Subnet-Router anycast
removing a need to subtract two subnets.
address.[18]
For example, under CIDR /28 all 16 subnets are usable.
Each broadcast, i.e. .15 .31 - .255 comes o the client The recommended allocation for an IPv6 customer site
[19]
count, not the network, thus making the last subnet also was an address space with an 48-bit (/48) prex.
However, this recommendation was revised to encourage
usable.
smaller blocks, for example using 56-bit prexes.[20] AnOnly legacy technology not capable of using CIDR deother common allocation is a /64 prex for a residential
fault in accordance with the RFC 1878 standard required
customer network.
the subtraction of subnets, one at the beginning of the
range and one at the end of the range. Cisco added to Subnetting in IPv6 is based on the concepts of variablethis confusion by the use of subtracting from the subnet length subnet masking (VLSM) and the Classless Interformula in its publications, for so-called usable subnets Domain Routing methodology. It is used to route trac
up until 2007. Cisco routers, by default, did not allow an between the global allocation spaces and within customer
IP address belonging to subnet zero to be congured on networks between subnets and the Internet at large.
an interface.[10][11]
In general the number of available hosts on a subnet is
2h 2, where h is the number of bits used for the host
portion of the address. The number of available subnets
is 2n , where n is the number of bits used for the network
portion of the address. This is the RFC 1878 standard
used by the IETF, the IEEE and COMPTIA.
RFC 3021 species an exception to this rule for 31-bit
subnet masks, which means the host identier is only
one bit long for two permissible addresses. In such networks, usually point-to-point links, only two hosts (the
end points) may be connected and a specication of network and broadcast addresses is not necessary.

4 See also
IPv4 subnetting reference
IPv6 subnetting reference
Autonomous System

5 References
[1] RFC 950, Internet Standard Subnetting Procedure, J.

6 FURTHER READING

Mogul, J. Postel (August 1985), page 1, 16

[2] RFC 1122, Requirements for Internet Hosts -- Communication Layers, Section 3.3.1, R. Braden, IETF (October
1989)
[3] RFC 4861, Neighbor Discovery for IP version 6 (IPv6), T.
Narten et al. (September 2007)
[4] RFC 5942, IPv6 Subnet Model: The Relationship between Links and Subnet Prexes, H. Singh, W. Beebee, E.
Nordmark (July 2010)
[5] Document ID 13711 - Subnet Zero and the All-Ones
Subnet. Cisco Systems. 2005-08-10. Retrieved 201004-25. Traditionally, it was strongly recommended that
subnet zero and the all-ones subnet not be used for addressing. [...] Today, the use of subnet zero and the allones subnet is generally accepted and most vendors support their use.
[6] Document ID 13711 - Subnet Zero and the All-Ones
Subnet. Cisco Systems. 2005-08-10. Retrieved 201004-23. the rst [...] subnet[...], known as subnet zero
[7] Document ID 13711 - Subnet Zero and the All-Ones
Subnet. Cisco Systems. 2005-08-10. Retrieved 201004-23. [...] the last subnet[...], known as [...] the all-ones
subnet
[8] RFC 950, Jerey Mogul; Jon Postel (August 1985).
Internet Standard Subnetting Procedure. Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). p. 6. Retrieved 2010-0423. It is useful to preserve and extend the interpretation of
these special addresses in subnetted networks. This means
the values of all zeros and all ones in the subnet eld should
not be assigned to actual (physical) subnets.
[9] RFC 1878, Troy Pummill; Bill Manning (December
1995). Variable Length Subnet Table For IPv4. This
practice is obsolete! Modern software will be able to utilize all denable networks. (Informational RFC, demoted
to category Historic)
[10] VLSM Subnetting Chart published 13-May-2007 provided within correct information within: Network Funadmentals CCNA Exploration Companion Guide (c) 2008
by Dye, McDonald, Ru (Cisco Networking Academy
Publishers)
[11] Cisco IOS Software Releases prior to Cisco, Enhanced
Interior Gateway Routing Protocol, Cisco Document ID
164061.
[12] RFC 4291, IP Version 6 Addressing Architecture - section 2.5.1. Interface Identiers. Internet Engineering
Task Force. Retrieved 2011-02-13. For all unicast addresses, except those that start with the binary value 000,
Interface IDs are required to be 64 bits long and to be
constructed in Modied EUI-64 format.
[13] RFC 4862, IPv6 Stateless Address Autoconguration section 5.5.3.(d) Router Advertisement Processing. Internet Engineering Task Force. Retrieved 2011-02-13. It
is the responsibility of the system administrator to ensure
that the lengths of prexes contained in Router Advertisements are consistent with the length of interface identiers

for that link type. [...] an implementation should not assume a particular constant. Rather, it should expect any
lengths of interface identiers.
[14] RFC 2464, Transmission of IPv6 Packets over Ethernet
Networks - section 4 Stateless Autoconguration. Internet Engineering Task Force. The Interface Identier
[AARCH] for an Ethernet interface is based on the EUI64 identier [EUI64] derived from the interfaces built-in
48-bit IEEE 802 address. [...] An IPv6 address prex
used for stateless autoconguration [ACONF] of an Ethernet interface must have a length of 64 bits.
[15] RFC 6164, Using 127-Bit IPv6 Prexes on Inter-Router
Links. Internet Engineering Task Force. On inter-router
point-to-point links, it is useful, for security and other reasons, to use 127-bit IPv6 prexes.
[16] RFC 6547, RFC 3627 to Historic Status. Internet Engineering Task Force. This document moves Use of
/127 Prex Length Between Routers Considered Harmful (RFC 3627) to Historic status to reect the updated
guidance contained in Using 127-Bit IPv6 Prexes on
Inter-Router Links (RFC 6164).
[17] RFC 4291, IP Version 6 Addressing Architecture - section 2 IPv6 Addressing. Internet Engineering Task
Force. There are no broadcast addresses in IPv6, their
function being superseded by multicast addresses. [...] In
IPv6, all zeros and all ones are legal values for any eld,
unless specically excluded.
[18] RFC 4291, IP Version 6 Addressing Architecture - section 2.6.1 Required Anycast Address. Internet Engineering Task Force. This anycast address is syntactically the
same as a unicast address for an interface on the link with
the interface identier set to zero.
[19] IPv6 Addressing Plans. ARIN IPv6 Wiki. Retrieved
2010-04-25. All customers get one /48 unless they can
show that they need more than 65k subnets. [...] If you
have lots of consumer customers you may want to assign
/56s to private residence sites.
[20] IPv6 Address Assignment to End Sites. Internet Engineering Task Force. Retrieved 11 November 2013. APNIC, ARIN, and RIPE have revised the end site assignment policy to encourage the assignment of smaller (i.e.,
/56) blocks to end sites.

6 Further reading
RFC 1812 Requirements for IPv4 Routers
RFC 917 Utility of subnets of Internet networks
RFC 1101 DNS Encodings of Network Names and
Other Type
Blank, Andrew G. TCP/IP Foundations Technology
Fundamentals for IT Success. San Francisco, London: Sybex, Copyright 2004.

5
Lammle, Todd. CCNA Cisco Certied Network Associate Study Guide 5th Edition. San Francisco, London: Sybex, Copyright 2005.
Groth, David and Toby Skandier. Network + Study
Guide, 4th Edition. San Francisco, London: Wiley
Publishing, Inc., Copyright 2005.

External links
Cisco-IP Addressing and Subnetting for New Users
Subnetworking at DMOZ
Netmask Quick Reference Chart

8 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

8.1

Text

Subnetwork Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subnetwork?oldid=650661203 Contributors: The Anome, Paul, Kwertii, Kku, Darkwind, Mulad, Jake Nelson, Jnc, Gamera2, ZimZalaBim, Babbage, Stewartadcock, P0lyglut, PedroPVZ, Tobias Bergemann, Crimson30,
Djinn112, Varlaam, AlistairMcMillan, Neilc, Isidore, Bob.v.R, Mamizou, PFHLai, Aerion, Abdull, Thorwald, Eep, Byap, JTN, Vapetino,
Rimshot, Johnteslade, Chirag, Wrs1864, Krellis, Alansohn, Andrewpmk, Water Bottle, Esrob, SidP, Rick Sidwell, Stephan Leeds,
Mark1000, Hoziron, Angr, Woohookitty, Mindmatrix, Unixer, Jz32300, Pennyroyaltea, Isnow, Outlyer, Mandarax, Dimovi, Kbdank71,
Josh Parris, Search4Lancer, Rjwilmsi, Seraphimblade, Phantom784, Dosowski, Taboo Tongue, AlisonW, Aapo Laitinen, Weirdstapler,
Slant, Mancini, Halloko, David H Braun (1964), SirGrant, Borgx, Hairy Dude, RussBot, TheDoober, Jengelh, Pontillo, Bovineone,
Yrithinnd, NawlinWiki, Wiki alf, Greyowl7, Mikeblas, Froth, Natkeeran, Pap3rinik, Graciella, Snoops, Azrael81, SmackBot, Domeng,
Samdutton, Basil.bourque, Tjpayne, Canderra, Kdg81, Gilliam, Ohnoitsjamie, Marc Kupper, Lapsus Linguae, The ball, Stv, Dart evader,
Srbanator, Nomenclator, JonHarder, Sidious1701, Gothmog.es, Areguera, C J B Scholten, Jdlambert, MichaelBillington, Tylclement,
Dreadstar, Bigmantonyd, Zac67, JovBlackheart, Bezenek, Aicer, NigelJohnson, Lovtolaph, Romeu, Kvng, Hu12, Zero sharp, Blehfu,
Courcelles, Tawkerbot2, Vipinsh001, T23c, Crossmr, Christopher P, Omicronpersei8, PamD, Hcberkowitz, Ajo Mama, Stannered, AntiVandalBot, Yonatan, OlivierWeb, Grandmaster e, TexMurphy, Yubal, AubreyEllenShomo, JAnDbot, Cameltrader, Connormah, DrSeehas,
Logictheo, DerHexer, Notmat, Floydpink, 0612, DancingPenguin, Haner, J.delanoy, Mange01, PCock, Train2hlp, Mike.lifeguard, Thisisfutile, Allstone, Jeepday, Thoglette, Remember the dot, Rob Cranll, VasilievVV, Nikul padhya, Philip Trueman, DoorsAjar, WatchAndObserve, Anna Lincoln, Kirkpthompson, Izzyp, SpecMode, Kyrikan, Kbrose, SieBot, Nubiatech, Araignee, Reinderien, Doctoruy,
Ddxc, Manway, Danielro, WikiLaurent, Denisarona, ClueBot, Methossant, Boing! said Zebedee, JSandbrook, Srinivasbt, Excirial, Anon
lynx, Ryucloud, Zac439, Promethean, DhananSekhar, Maine12329, Muro Bot, Versus22, Johnuniq, SoxBot III, Aurigas, Xerxes72, SilvonenBot, Dgtsyb, Alexius08, Getsnoopy, Addbot, Aos101, Thankgodimacountrygeek, Jsg24, Glane23, Kajaro, Jasper Deng, Tide rolls, The
Bushranger, Legobot, AnomieBOT, Jim1138, Sonnenhohl, Materialscientist, Capricorn42, PlaysWithLife, Mage Whopper, Ruy Pugliesi,
Ivan Shmakov, Marchash, In fact, Samwb123, Dilic, Iamcreasy, Weylinp, Callanecc, Zvn, Nodiscc, Tonyhallmailbox, Electried Fooling
Machine, DARTH SIDIOUS 2, Klaver, MoodFreak, EmausBot, Yann Lejeune, Heracles31, Dewritech, Tommy2010, Wikipelli, MithrandirAgain, Grampajoe, Wayne Slam, L Kensington, Mentibot, ClueBot NG, A520, Vlhsrp, Widr, Theopolisme, MerlIwBot, Strike Eagle, AvocatoBot, TheJJJunk, JurgenNL, Lugia2453, Asgdfgwqer, Obst137, Reatlas, Dave Braunschweig, Ugog Nizdast, Amiricool, JaconaFrere,
Monkbot, Vieque, Campos 2, Ajiratech and Anonymous: 496

8.2

Images

File:Subnetting_operation.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Subnetting_operation.svg License: CC

BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Derived from w:File:Subnet.gif, via w:File:Subnet diagram.png Original artist: User:Kbrose, w:User:Mancini,
w:User:Jengelh
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8.3

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