SUBNETTING MADE EASY

IP Classes
The class system has become "old" in the ever demanding Internet paradigm, it has been (partially) replaced by CIDR system, which allows more efficient and practical allocation of IP addresses for the need of smaller networks. Nevertheless, it is important to know and understand what class system is and how it works, which has been the backbone of the IP. IP addresses have been classified into 5 classes and special purpose addresses, depending upon the value in the first octet. Viz-

Class A - This is a class for very large networks, such as IBM which holds IP addresses in the range - 9.0.0.0 - 9.255.255.255. (almost 16,777,216 IP addresses).

First Octet - - The first octet is between 1 to 126. (Starts with binary bit - 0). Network Address - The n/w address is denoted by first 8 bits or first octet. Host/Node Address - Host address is denoted by last 24 bits or last 3 octets. This Network-Host IP configuration for class A can be shown as - network.host.host.host and each can have 1 to 3 decimals. Thus forming 126 network addresses (27 - 1) and each of them capable of having 16,777,214 (224 -2) host addresses.

Class B - This is a class for medium-sized networks.

First Octet - - The first octet is between 128 to 191. (Starts with binary bits - 10). Network Address - The n/w address is denoted by first 16 bits or first 2 octets. Host/Node Address - Host address is denoted by last 16 bits or last 2 octets. This Network-Host IP configuration for class B can be shown as - network.network.host.host and each can have 1 to 3 decimals. Thus forming 16,384 network addresses (214) and each of them capable of having 65,534 (216 -2) host addresses.

Class C - This is a class for small-sized networks.

First Octet - - The first octet is between 192 to 223. (Starts with binary bits - 110). Network Address - The n/w address is denoted by first 24 bits or first 3 octets. Host/Node Address - Host address is denoted by last 8 bits or last octet.

This Network-Host IP configuration for class C can be shown as - network.network.network.host and each can have 1 to 3 decimals. Thus forming 2,097,152 network addresses (221) and each of them capable of having 254 (28 -2) host addresses.

Class D - This is a class meant for multicasting only, for sending multicast messages to other
First Octet - - The first octet is between 224 to 239. (Starts with binary bits - 1110). The class D is a special purpose reserved class, and addresses in this range are not assigned as IP addresses on an IP network, including Internet.

groups of host machines.

Class E - This is a class meant for experimental purpose only.

First Octet - - The first octet is between 240 to 255. (Starts with binary bits - 1111). The class E is also a special purpose reserved class, and addresses in this range are not assigned as IP addresses on an IP network, including Internet. The IP address 255.255.255.255 in this range is also known as Broadcast.

Private Networks
There are 3 IP network addresses reserved for private networks.
10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255

CIDR
CIDR stands for Classless Inter-Domain Routing, which is a new addressing scheme for the Internet which allows for more efficient allocation of IP addresses than the old classes address scheme. It has been developed primarily to take care of following issues

To overcome the shortage of allocable IP addresses. To assign IP addresses more efficiently, in order to cater to various sized networks.

A Class C network is capable of having 254 hosts, but not all class C networks needed all these hosts, as a result a very small percentage of the assigned IP addresses were used. This was even more prominent for Class A and Class B networks. CIDR was developed to be a much more efficient method of assigning addresses. CIDR allows networks as small as 32 hosts to networks as big as 524,288 hosts, thus reducing lot of "wasted" IP addresses. A typical CIDR IP address looks like 207.17.10.36/26

Binary Math secret: it is easier to learn than it is to try and learn tricks.

Route summarization is a technique used to keep routing tables as compact as possible while keeping an accurate picture of the network topology. Your ability to summarize routes will be tested on the CCNA exam, and when you practice this skill, you will solve every question regarding summarization that Cisco or anyone else asks you.

Example 2

Example 3