Subnetting and Subnet Masks

Subnetting divides a network address into sub-network addresses to accommodate more than one physical network on a logical network.

For example: A Class B company has 100 LANs (Local Area Networks) with 100 to 200 nodes on each LAN. To classify the nodes by its LANs on one main network, this company segments the network address into 100 sub- network addresses. If the Class B network address is 150.1.x.x, the address can be segmented further from 150.1.1.x through 150.1.100.x.

A subnet mask is a 32-bit value that distinguishes the network ID from the host ID for different sub-networks on the same logical network. Like IP addresses, subnet masks consist of four octets in dotted decimal notation. You can use subnet masks to route and filter the transmission of IP packets among your sub-networks. The value “255” is assigned to octets that belong to the network ID, and the value “0” is assigned to octets that belong to the host ID.

For the example above, if you want all the devices on the sub-networks to receive each other’s IP packets, set the subnet mask to 255.255.0.0. If you want the devices on a single sub-network only to receive IP packets from other devices on its own sub-network, set the subnet mask to 255.255.255.0 for the devices on that sub-network.

Subnet Mask Routing and Filtering

0.0.0.0IP packets are transmitted to all devices.

IP packets are only transmitted to devices that are IP that’s first octet

255.0.0.0matches the sender’s IP address’s first octet.

	IP packets are only transmitted to devices that are IP that’s first two octets
255.255.0.0	match the sender’s IP address’s first two octets.
	IP packets are only transmitted to devices that are IP that’s first three
255.255.255.0	octets match the sender’s IP address’s first three octets.