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You can think of the Internet as one big network. As such, each device on the network needs its own unique IP
address. In the early days of the Internet, every device would receive a registered IP address. As the Internet
grew, however, it became apparent that the number of hosts would quickly exceed the number of possible IP
addresses.

One solution to the problem is Classless Interdomain Routing (CIDR). c
 addresses are IP addresses that
use the default subnet mask. They are classfull because the default subnet mask is used to identify the
network and host portions of the address. c
 addresses are those that use a custom mask value to
separate network and host portions of the IP address. CIDR allows for variable length subnet masking (VLSM)
and enables the following features:

y| Subnetting, dividing a network address into multiple smaller subnets. For example, this allows a single
Class B or Class C addresses to be divided and used by multiple organizations.
y| Supernetting, combining multiple network addresses into a single larger subnet. For example, this
allows multiple Class C addresses to be combined into a single network.
y| Route aggregation (also called route summarization), where multiple routes are combined in a routing
table as a single route.

CIDR routers use the following information to identify networks.

y| The beginning network address in the range

y| The number of bits used in the subnet mask

For example, the routing table represents the address as 199.70.0.0/21, where 21 is the number of bits in the
custom subnet mask.

In addition to CIDR, the following other solutions were put into place to make efficient use of available IP
addresses:

y| IP version 6. IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses instead of the 32-bit addresses used with IPv4.
y| Private addressing with address translation. With private addressing, hosts are assigned an
unregistered address in a predefined range. All hosts on the private network use a single registered IP
address to connect to the Internet. A special router (called a Network Address Translation or NAT
router) translates the multiple private addresses into the single registered IP address.

 
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y| To perform subnetting operations, you will need to be proficient at converting decimal and binary
numbers. When working with IP addresses, work with each octet separately. The following table shows
the decimal value for various binary values with a single 1 bit.

G

 10000000 01000000 00100000 00010000 00001000 00000100 00000010 00000001



 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

y| To find the decimal value of a number with multiple 1 bits, simply add the decimal value of the bits
together. For example, the decimal value of the binary number 10010101 is:
y| 10000000 = 128
00010000 = 16
00000100 = 4
00000001 = 1
Total = 128 + 16 + 4 + 1 = 149
y| To calculate the number of valid subnets or the number of hosts per subnet, you will need to know
how to find the exponential values of 2. Use the following chart to identify the exponent values and
the final possible number (after subtracting 2 from each exponent).

å
 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 212


 2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256 512 1024 2048 4096


 0 2 6 14 30 62 128 254 510 1022 2046 4094

y| Memorize the shaded values. To find smaller or larger values, divide or multiply the exponent
value by 2.


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Use the following chart to identify the solutions to common subnetting tasks.

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Given a network address and subnet Begin by converting the subnet mask to a binary number. Then
mask, how many subnets can you have? decide which formula to use (p is the number of additional bits
borrowed from the default mask):
p
Use if:

y| The network uses a classless routing protocol, such as RIP

version 2, EIGRP, or OSPF
y| The !
command is configured
y| Variable-length Subnet Mask (VLSM) is used

p
Use
if:

y| The network uses a classful routing protocol, such as RIP

version 1 or IGRP
y| The 
!
command is configured

"
 If no network details are provided, use p.
p
Given a network address and subnet

mask, how many hosts per subnet can Begin by converting the subnet mask to a binary number. Then use
you have? the formula to find the number of hosts.
To find the number of valid hosts, n = the number of unmasked bits
by the custom mask.
p p
Given a network address and customer 

requirements, what subnet mask should Write out the default subnet mask in binary. Then borrow bits and
you use? use the formula to find the number that gives you enough subnets
and hosts.
Given a network address and a subnet 
 p

mask, identify the valid subnet The magic number is the decimal value of the last 1 bit in the
addresses. subnet mask.
The magic number identifies:

y| The first valid subnet address

y| The increment value to find additional subnet addresses

Given an IP address and subnet mask, x   p

find the: Use the following process to find the information you need:

y| Subnet address 1.| Identify the subnet and host portions of the mask, draw a
y| Broadcast address line
y| Valid host address range 2.| To find the subnet address, set all host bits to 0
3.| To find the broadcast address, set all host bits to 1
4.| The valid host range is:
„| First address = Subnet address + 1
„| Last address = Broadcast address - 1