Subnetting Made Easy - Critically Acclaimed! Wednesday, 28 November 2007 We need to start with the fundamentals of IP addressing.

An IP address is made u p of 32 bits, split into 4 octets (oct = 8, yes?). Some bits are reserved for id entifying the network and the other bits are left to identify the host. There are 3 main classes of IP address that we are concerned with. Class A Range 0 - 127 in the first octet (0 and 127 are reserved) Class B Range 128 - 191 in the first octet Class C Range 192 - 223 in the first octet Below shows you how, for each class, the address is split in terms of network (N ) and host (H) portions.

NNNNNNNN . Class A Address NNNNNNNN . Class B Address NNNNNNNN . Class C Address

HHHHHHHH NNNNNNNN NNNNNNNN

. . .

HHHHHHHH HHHHHHHH NNNNNNNN

. . .

HHHHHHHH HHHHHHHH HHHHHHHH

At each dot I like to think that there is a boundary, therefore there are bounda ries after bits 8, 16, 24, and 32. This is an important concept to remember. We will now look at typical questions that you may see on subnetting. More often than not they ask what a host range is for a specific address or which subnet a certain address is located on. I shall run through examples of each, for each c lass of IP address. What subnet does 192.168.12.78/29 belong to? You may wonder where to begin. Well to start with let's find the next boundary o f this address. Our mask is a /29. The next boundary is 32. So 32 - 29 = 3. Now 23 = 8 which giv es us our block size. We have borrowed from the last octet as the 29th bit is in the last octet. We st art from zero and count up in our block size. Therefore it follows that the subn ets are:192.168.12.0 192.168.12.8 192.168.12.16 192.168.12.24 192.168.12.32 192.168.12.40 192.168.12.48 192.168.12.56 192.168.12.64 192.168.12.72 192.168.12.80 .............etc

Our address is 192.168.12.78 so it must sit on the 192.168.12.72 subnet. What subnet does 172.16.116.4/19 sit on? Our mask is /19 and our next boundary is 24. Therefore 24 - 19 = 5. The block si ze is 25 = 32. We have borrowed into the third octet as bit 19 is in the third octet so we coun t up our block size in that octet. The subnets are:172.16.0.0 172.16.32.0 172.16.64.0 172.16.96.0 172.16.128.0 172.16.160.0 .............etc Our address is 172.16.116.4 so it must sit on the 172.16.96.0 subnet. Easy eh? What subnet does 10.34.67.234/12 sit on? Our mask is 12. Our next boundary is 16. Therefore 16 - 12 = 4. 24 = 16 which gi ves us our block size. We have borrowed from the second octet as bit 12 sits in the second octet so we count up the block size in that octet. The subnets are:10.0.0.0 10.16.0.0 10.32.0.0 10.48.0.0 .............etc Our address is 10.34.67.234 which must sit on the 10.32.0.0 subnet. Hopefully the penny is starting to drop and you are slapping the side of your he ad realising that you were a fool to think it was hard. We will now change the t ype of question so that we have to give a particular host range of a subnet. What is the valid host range of of the 4th subnet of 192.168.10.0/28? Easy as pie! The block size is 16 since 32 - 28 = 4 and 24 = 16. We need to coun t up in the block size in the last octet as bit 28 is in the last octet. 192.168.10.0 192.168.10.16 192.168.10.32 192.168.10.48 192.168.10.64 .................etc Therefore the 4th subnet is 192.168.10.48 and the host range must be 192.168.10. 49 to 192.168.10.62, remembering that the subnet and broadcast address cannot be used. What is the valid host range of the 1st subnet of 172.16.0.0/17? /17 tells us that the block size is 224-17 = 27 = 128. We are borrowing in the 3

rd octet as bit 17 is in the 3rd octet. Our subnets are:172.16.0.0 172.16.128.0 The first subnet is 172.16.0.0 and the valid host range is 172.16.0.1 to 172.16. 127.254. You must remember not to include the subnet address (172.16.0.0) and th e broadcast address (172.16.127.255). What is the valid host range of the 7th subnet of address 10.0.0.0/14? The block size is 4, from 16 - 14 = 2 then 22 = 4. We are borrowing in the secon d octet so count in the block size from 0 seven times to get the seventh subnet. The seventh subnet is 10.24.0.0. Our valid host range must be 10.24.0.1 to 10.27 .255.254 again remebering not to include our subnet (10.24.0.0) and the broadcas t address (10.27.255.255). What if they give me the subnet mask in dotted decimal? If you're lucky and they give you a mask in dotted decimal format then you shoul d have an even easier time. All you need again is your block size. Let's say they have given a mask of 255.255.255.248 and you wish to know the blo ck size. Here's the technique: 1. Starting from the left of the mask find which is the first octet to NOT have 255 in it. 2. Subtract the number in that octet from 256 to get your block size (e.g. above it is 256 - 248 = block size of 8). 3. Count up from zero in your block size in the octet identified in step 1 as yo u have learned above (the example above would be in the last octet). Another example is a mask of 255.255.192.0 - you would simply count up in 256 192 = 64 in the third octet. One more example is 255.224.0.0 - block size is 256 - 224 = 32 in the second oct et. What other questions may they ask? You may find they ask for how many of subnets, the subnet mask needed of hosts per subnet. THESE ARE ALL s that you borrow bits for subnets There are two simple formulas: Number of subnets = 2n where n is the number of bits borrowed Number of hosts = 2(32 - n) - 2 where n is the number of bits in your subnet mas k Let's think of some questions. How many bits do you need to borrow to accommodat e 6 subnets? No matter what address you are given the maths is still the same. T he formula is 6 = 2n so you must find n which in this case is 3 as n = 2 gives o nly 4 subnets and n = 3 gives 8 subnets. Simply add n to your mask for your new bits you need to borrow for a certain amount for a certain number of hosts, or the number EASY TO CALCULATE! All you need to remember i and reserve bits for hosts.

subnet mask. For example, if you had a /24 address and you wanted 8 subnets then your mask will be 24 + 3 = /27. What subnet mask should you use if you wanted 60 hosts per subnet? The formula i s 60 = 2(32 - n) - 2 so you must find n which is 26. This is easy to find as you know that 26 - 2 = 62 so simply subtract 6 from 32 to get the 26. Therefore you r mask is /26. Lastly the number of hosts per subnet. How many hosts per subnet in the address 172.16.0.0/23? You have a /23 address therefore you formula is x = 2(32 - 23) 2 = 29 - 2 = 510. Another typical question they may ask will be giving you an IP address and mask and asking how many subnets and hosts there are from that address, for example: Question: How many subnets and hosts per subnet can you get from the network 172 .30.0.0/28? From this you only need two pieces of information: 1. The default subnet mask of the address class. 2. The subnet mask in the question Using the example above we know that: 1. The default subnet mask is /16 as the address given is a class B address 2. The subnet mask in the question is /28 The number of subnets = 2 ^ (subnet_mask_in_question - default_subnet_mask) The number of hosts = (2 ^ (32 - subnet_mask_in_question)) - 2 For our example question the number of subnets = 2 ^ (28 - 16) = 2 ^ 12 = 4096 s ubnets. The number of hosts = (2 ^ (32 - 28)) - 2 = (2 ^ 4) - 2 = 14 hosts per subnet Let's use another address: 192.168.1.0/29 We know that: 1. The default subnet mask is /24 as the address given is a class C address 2. The subnet mask in the question is /29 The number of subnets = 2 ^ (29 - 24) = 2 ^ 5 = 32 subnets. The number of hosts = (2 ^ (32 - 29)) - 2 = (2 ^ 3) - 2 = 6 hosts per subnet Finally, let's use another address: 10.1.1.0/24 We know that: 1. The default subnet mask is /8 as the address given is a class A address 2. The subnet mask in the question is /24 The number of subnets = 2 ^ (24 - 8) = 2 ^ 16 = 65536 subnets. The number of hosts = (2 ^ (32 - 24)) - 2 = (2 ^ 8) - 2 = 254 hosts per subnet Easy isn't it? What now? Now it's time to go and pick up those books again and go straight to the practic

e questions, completely by-passing any of their techniques. Use my method and yo u will be laughing! If you are unsure that you have the correct answers why not download a subnet ca lculator to double-check your answers? There is a great one by 3Com and can be d ownloaded from here. Happy subnetting! Posted byChris Bloomfield at 16:20 Labels: best subnetting guide, block size, ccda, CCNA, ccnp, cidr, Cisco, easy, guide, ip, made, mask, Subnetting, VLSM 47 comments: Chris Bloomfield said... 24 May 2008 09:21 Reposted from Wildcard Mask post: Gino Angelo wrote: hello, i have just one question. why is it that on example What is the valid host range of the 7th subnet of address 10.0.0.0/14? The Answer was : Our valid host range must be 10.24.0.1 to 10.27.255.254 aga in remebering not to include our subnet (10.24.0.0) and the broadcast address (1 0.27.255.255). Ca you show to us the complete solution? is it correct that it should have? : 10.0.0.0 10.4.0.0 10.8.0.0 10.16.0.0 10.32.0.0 10.64.0.0 10.128.0.0 and the seventh subnet would be 10.128.0.0 not 10.24.0.0? help pls. thanks! Chris' Reply: Hi Gino, As it is a /14 address and the next boundary is a /16 our block size is 2^(1 6-14) = 2^2 = 4 (where ^ is "to the power of"). We are borrowing in the second o ctet so all we have to do is count up in 4's within that octet like so: 10.0.0.0 10.4.0.0 10.8.0.0 10.12.0.0 10.16.0.0 10.20.0.0 10.24.0.0 10.28.0.0 etc......

Our seventh subnet is 10.24.0.0 which has a broadcast address of 10.27.255.2 55 therefore our valid host range is 10.24.0.1 through to 10.27.255.254 Omer said... 11 June 2008 16:40 Hi there Nice stuff on subnetting BUT i am not sure about block size formula used. why are we using 2 power n or 256- non 255 octact value in subnet mask to wo rkout bloack size? Regards tlab said... 18 January 2009 04:26 Hi Chris, Thanks for the great article, it sure has made block sizes easier. Now can y ou help with using block sizes in a VLSM situation? Thanks - TLAB ninad said... 20 March 2009 15:50 HIIIIII This was a nice article I just wanted help in a problem Needed usable subnets: 250 Network address: 101.0.0.0 I need to figure out the Custom Subnet Mask for this question... Please help Thanks Javi said... 26 May 2009 09:36 Hi all First of all good work Chris , keep it coming. Now the reason i am posting this comment or rather question is because i hav e a question which nobody has an answer for.I am preparing for CCNA and somebody asked me this question.Any help will be appreciated. Question: What is the Binary ID of loopback's Network? Answer: a)0 b)1 c)10101010 d)11111111 Now here is what i interpret from this question.I have to find the binary re presentation of network for the address 127.0.0.1 . I am not sure if this question is correct but i am not sure what to do with this. Thanks in advance

Chris Bloomfield said... 26 May 2009 17:23 Hi Javi, First of all thanks for your question. This is how I see it being answered. The loopback address is 127.0.0.1 which is a Class A address. The network po rtion of a Class A address is the first octet, in this case 127. The binary repr esentation of 127 is 01111111. You may find text omitting the leading 0 so you m ay just have seven 1's. Check out http://www.thecertificationhub.com/networkplus/networkplus_test_ba nk.htm as your question is also answered there. HTH Javi said... 28 May 2009 08:06 Hey Chris thanks for the reply.I was not getting the question it seems so th ere is an issue with the answers. Once again keep up the good work. Kristin said... 3 June 2009 19:40 Thanks so much for this article! I'm not yet studying for my CCNA but rather my XP (70-270) and was having a heck of a time trying to understand subnets. Th anks for taking the time and trying to teach others what you've learned!! Kristin Buddy said... 26 August 2009 12:11 Hello Chris, I am getting different answers on this question. The number of valid subnets for 200.1.1.0/26 If I use the next boundary 32 in the /26 question I get 64 but the answer is 4 because of the Class C address of /24. I am confused, please help? Thanks, BT A said... 9 September 2009 08:21 BUDDY said "Hello Chris, I am getting different answers on this question. The number of valid subnets for 200.1.1.0/26 If I use the next boundary 32 in the /26 question I get 64 but the answer is 4 because of the Class C address of /24. I am confused, please help?" 64 is number of IP adress per subnet. so 256/64 = 4 that's number of subnets 1st subnet 200.1.1.0 2nd 200.1.1.64 3rd 200.1.1.128 4th 200.1.1.192 Chris Bloomfield said... 15 September 2009 20:32 Hi Buddy,

I would say that as it is a Class C network your default mask is /24. You ha ve a /26 so you therefore have 2 ^ (26 - 24) subnets = 4. Your block size is 2 ^ (32 - 26) = 2 ^ 6 = 64. Your subnets are therefore at 0, 64, 128, and 192 in th e last octet as you have correctly put. HTH mab said... 23 September 2009 11:09 Hi, just wanna say that your article was great i was struggling with subnetting until I read this, very straight forward and easy to understand. Cheers chris, Regards, Mohammed Rakesh said... 25 September 2009 19:56 Hi Chris, I had such a confusion on subnetting that i couldnt follow, even after readi ng tons of books. Your method of subnetting is the best and have learnt in just a day. Thanks a lot.Keep up the good work. Regards Rakesh i said... 4 October 2009 17:05 Hi Chris, Fristly, I would like to thanks for your great article. After going through .. some questions came into my mind.. if question is like below : What subnet does 192.168.12.78/8 192.168.12.78/16 192.168.12.78/24 192.168.12.78/32 belong to? now according to your method what would be boundaries ? and valid host range ? I kindly request you to explain this with the example. Awaiting your kind reply. raj Chris Bloomfield said... 5 October 2009 09:56 Hi Raj,

Your examples aren't really subnets as your subnet masks fall on default cla ss boundaries. 192.168.12.78/8 - a /8 is a Class A boundary so you would expect an address between 1.x.x.x and 126.x.x.x, for example, 10.1.1.1/8 is network 10.0.0.0 with valid host range of 10.0.0.1 through to 10.255.255.254 There are no subnets! 192.168.12.78/16 - a /16 is a Class B boundary so you would expect an addres s between 128.x.x.x and 191.x.x.x, for example 172.16.1.1/16 is network 172.16.0 .0 with valid hostrange of 172.16.0.1 through to 172.16.255.254. There are no su bnets! 192.168.12.78/24 - a /24 is a Class C boundary so you would expect an addres s between 192.x.x.x and 223.x.x.x. In your example the network is 192.168.12.0 w ith a valid host range of 192.168.12.1 through to 192.168.12.254. There are no s ubnets! 192.168.12.78/32 - a /32 is a special case where the subnet and host is the same, that is, in your example, 192.168.12.78 is both the subnet and the valid h ost range. HTH, Chris Mawuena said... 20 October 2009 17:02 i just want to say GOD bless you so very much Krans said... 28 October 2009 11:08 Thx man! Exactly what I needed for my studies. Very nice work :) Zeller said... 3 December 2009 15:06 Hi Chris, 1. Starting from the left of the mask find which is the first octet to NOT h ave 255 in it. 2. Subtract the number in that octet from 256 to get your block size (e.g. a bove it is 256 - 248 = block size of 8). What if the mask is 255.255.255.0. 256-0 is 256. 256 is my block size? Thanks for all the help with this subnetting stuff. I've learned more from r eading this short article than in weeks of classroom explanation. Chris Bloomfield said... 3 December 2009 20:22 Hi Zeller, When you sit on the boundary as with your example your block size is the ful l allocation of the next octet (i.e. 256 addresses of which 254 can be host addr esses). If you take 10.0.0.0/24 your subnet is 10.0.0.0 with host range from 10.0.0. 1 to 10.0.0.254.

So yes, your block size is 256, in other words the entire octet. HTH, Chris raj said... 17 April 2010 20:42 hi chris, your blog and the above article on subnetting are very useful for me. i neve r felt subnetting that easy until i read ur article.im expecting more articles l ike this from you.if possible please do post articles on subnet zero and vlsm. l ast but not least Thank you so much for all the articles in your blog..... Tim said... 28 April 2010 00:59 Chris Thanks a lot for this article. I've just started learning Subnetting for my CompTIA Network+ and this is a great read! Tim Azliza said... 13 May 2010 04:28 Dear Chris, Can you help me to solve this question: After dividing the network 172.25.0.0 into eight equal subnets, which three ip addresess could be destined in the third subnet if the command ip subnet-zero is used in the router. (Choose three) a:172.25.78.243 b:172.25.98.16 c:172.25.72.0 d:172.25.94.255 Thank you. Rgds, Liza Chris Bloomfield said... 17 May 2010 20:47 Hi Liza, 172.25.0.0 is divided into 8 subnets. How many bits would we need to borrow to get 8 subnets? The answer is 3 as 2 ^ 3 = 8. The default maks for the above address is /16 so we add the 3 bits we are bo rrowing to /16 to give us a /19 mask. We know how to work out block sizes so in this example our next boundary is at 24. Our new mask is /19 so we subtract that from 24 to give us 5. Our block s ize is therefore 2 ^ 5 = 32. We count up in the block size in the 3rd octet as the 19th bit is in the 3rd octet. 172.25.0.0/19 = 1st subnet 172.25.32.0/19 = 2nd subnet 172.25.64.0/19 = 3rd subnet

172.25.96.0/19 = 4th subnet ....etc The host range of the 3rd subnet is 172.25.64.1 to 172.25.95.254 The possible answers given are: a:172.25.78.243 b:172.25.98.16 c:172.25.72.0 d:172.25.94.255 I would therefore say that answers a, c, and d are correct. Hope this helps and good luck with your studies! Strep said... 3 June 2010 21:57 Firstly - Your blog made subnetting easy (like it says on the tin)! That said I am having a few issues with questions where it asks for how many subnets and hosts for a given network. For example: Question: How many subnets and hosts per subnet can you get from the network 172.30.0.0/28? Answer: 4096 subnets and 14 hosts Now I can get the 14 hosts bit but from reading your blog I'm thinking that the /28 means that we're only looking at the 4th octet so I'm thinking that as o ur range is 16 there must be 16 available subnets (16 x 16 = 256) but clearly I' m wrong. I'm sure it has to do with the network being class B but where do I go from there? Chris Bloomfield said... 4 June 2010 13:34 Firstly - Your blog made subnetting easy (like it says on the tin)! That said I am having a few issues with questions where it asks for how many subnets and hosts for a given network. For example: Question: How many subnets and hosts per subnet can you get from the network 172.30.0.0/28? Answer: 4096 subnets and 14 hosts Now I can get the 14 hosts bit but from reading your blog I'm thinking that the /28 means that we're only looking at the 4th octet so I'm thinking that as o ur range is 16 there must be 16 available subnets (16 x 16 = 256) but clearly I' m wrong. I'm sure it has to do with the network being class B but where do I go from there? Hi, These sorts of questions are very simple. If I haven't covered these sorts o f questions perhaps I should add that in here somehwere. 172.30.0.0/28

What can we tell from that address? The two very basic things we know is tha t it is a Class B address and that it has a /28 mask. To calculate the number of subnets you use the following formula: 2 ^ (number_of_bits_in_mask - number_of_bits_in_default_mask) So for this question the forumla is 2 ^ (28 - 16) = 2 ^ 12 = 4094 subnets. To calculate the number of hosts you use the following formula: (2 ^ (32 - number_of_bits_in_mask)) - 2 So for this question the number of hosts per subnet is: (2 ^ (32 - 28)) - 2 = (2 ^ 4) - 2 = 14. Hope this helps and good luck with your studies! Edward Augusto said... 11 June 2010 18:07 Great info... Cannot be easier to understand!! it's helped me a lot!! Greeti ngs from Dominican Republic. Nikunj said... 21 June 2010 21:35 What is the valid host range of the 1st subnet of 172.16.0.0/17? /17 tells us that the block size is 224-17 = 27 = 128. We are borrowing in t he 3rd octet as bit 17 is in the 3rd octet. Our subnets are:172.16.0.0 172.16.128.0 The first subnet is 172.16.0.0 and the valid host range is 172.16.0.1 to 172 .16.127.254. You must remember not to include the subnet address (172.16.0.0) an d the broadcast address (172.16.127.255). In the above example, I am confused as to why the range is not 172.16.127.25 6 and why is it 172.16.127.254? Thank you. Nikunj said... 21 June 2010 21:43 Chris, never mind my previous comment. I understand the concept but am not a s smart as other people. Nikunj said... 21 June 2010 22:15 Can someone help me in solving this and explain it to me also? How many subnets and hosts per subnet can you get from 172.29.0.0 255.255.25 2.0? I know I have to convert 255.255.252.0 into block size and I get 4 for that. Now what? Please explain Chris. Thank you. R.T.Sundara Paal said... 13 July 2010 13:37 OMG !! I was banging my head with this subnetting !! Thanks a lot for the si mple explanation !! Raghav said... 3 September 2010 16:24

Hi Chris, I am really glad full to you that you wrote this article to make our lives e asier :) I am stuck with a special kind of question that you have not covered in your article.. The Question - You need 500 subnets, each with about 100 usable host address es per subnet. What mask will you assign using a class B network address? Please help me with this question as soon possible... Please Chris Bloomfield said... 7 September 2010 17:01 This is quite a simple question. Just ask yourself how many bits you would n eed to borrow in order to create 500 subnets. The answer is 9 as 2 ^ 9 = 512 whi ch covers your requirements. The question them tells you to use a Class B address. You know that the defa ult mask is /16 so you simply need to add 9 to that to get a mask of /25 or in d otted decimal format 255.255.255.128 Note that this leaves 7 bits available for hosts giving (2 ^ 7) - 2 hosts pe r subnet, in other words, 126. Hope this helps. Chris Subnetting said... 9 November 2010 09:51 Hi Chris, Thanks a ton for your time publishing this to us free.God bless you my frien d. I got following problem, please help me. --------------------------------Question: Which subnet does host 172.31.56.247 255.255.255.240 belong to? An swer: 172.31.56.240 -----------------------------172.31.56.247 255.255.255.240 Block = 256 - 240 = 16 So 172.31.0.0 172.31.16.0 172.31.32.0 172.31.48.0 172.31.64.0 I was thinking 172.31.48.0 is the answer Chris Bloomfield said... 10 November 2010 11:07 Hi, You have to remember that you are subnetting in the fourth octet hence you s hould be counting up in your block size in the fourth octet. 172.31.56.0 172.31.56.16

172.31.56.32 ............ 172.31.56.224 172.31.56.240 Therefore 172.31.56.247 is on the 172.31.56.240 subnet Hope this helps and good luck with your studies! Subnetting said... 10 November 2010 12:44 Hi Chris, Thanks again for your quick update regarding my question and your answer was really awesome. I spend too much money on Cisco Academy, but could not figure i t out, how do subletting. All the i was so confused. I know i was also stupid di dn't try that hard, some people even from cisco academy in my place did well, fe w of them was like me got lost on the way. I do believe many people stack on it, BUT ALL YOUR EFFORT, ONLY YOURS THAT MADE MY SELF CONFIDENT, whatever my positi on its only after reading your blog, thanks google, thank Chris. -------------------------------What is the broadcast address of the network 172.28.229.0 255.255.255.0? Answer: 172.28.229.255 -------------------I am not sure where to start here, how to find out the block size, sorry to disturb you again, hope you don't mind Chris Bloomfield said... 21 November 2010 14:09 Hi and I'm glad my post has helped you out :-) Your question involves subnetting directly on a boundary. In your case you h ave a Class B address subnetted to the default mask of a Class C address (i.e. / 24). In this case the Class B address behaves just as it would a Class C address with a default mask. For example, let's take a Class C address with default mask: 192.168.1.0/24 You automatically know that the broadcast address is 192.168.1.255 as you ha ve the whole of the final octet. Take a Class B address of: 172.28.229.0/24 There is no difference except for the numbers of course. You still have the whole of the last octet to play with so the broadcast address must be 172.28.229 .255 I hope you understand this. If not I'm more than happy to assist you further . Good luck with your studies! Chris Rita said... 18 December 2010 04:48 Thanks for your article. I have read the subnetting using cidr from tutorial

computer can you explain this article thanks Devin said... 20 December 2010 17:23 Hi Chris, First off, thank you so much for this. It is a huge help in studying for my CCNA, as subnetting has been my biggest issue. I'm still a little weird on the t ypes of questions like the following: You have a network ID of 140.140.0.0 and need to break it down into a number of subnets. You need 600 host IDs per subnet, with the largest number of subnet s available. Which of the following subnet masks should you use? a)255.255.240.0 b)255.255.252.0 c)255.255.224.0 d)255.255.248.0 How best do I answer this? Instead of figuring out the numbers for each of t he listed subnet masks? Thank you, Devin Chris Bloomfield said... 28 December 2010 19:26 Hi, 600 hosts requires 10 bits as (2 ^ 10) - 2 = 1022 hosts. If we subtract the 10 bits from the 32 bits that make up an IP address we ha ve 22 bits. If we convert /22 into longhand we have 255.255.252.0 which is your answer. HTH, Chris PRA??? said... 5 January 2011 16:10 how many subnet and host for this network pls give your answer with calculat ion means show me the calculation you did to get answer.the network is 154.20.14 .10/7 John said... 14 January 2011 00:00 Regarding question: What is the valid host range of the 7th subnet of addres s 10.0.0.0/14? I was wondering how the answer for the broadcast address is 10.27.255.255 an d not 10.24.255.255 Please help me figure this out. I am very impressed with this subnetting lesson. Thank you Chris Bloomfield said... 15 January 2011 09:50 Hi John, The block size in this question is 4 as your next boundary is 16 while your subnet mask is /14. If we subtract 14 from 16 we get 2. We then say 2 to the pow

er of the 2 we just worked out which gives us 4. As our mask is /14 we then can say that the 14th bit is in the second octet. We therefore count up in our block size in the 2nd octet. Our first subnet is therefore: 10.0.0.0/14 And the 2nd subnet is: 10.4.0.0/14 3rd is: 10.8.0.0/14 etc Until we come to the 7th octet which is 10.24.0.0/14 Our 8th octet is 10.28.0.0/14 so the broadcast address for the 7th subnet is one less than the 8th subnet so this must be 10.27.255.255 Hope this helps and good luck with your studies! junaid said... 9 March 2011 15:40 Hi chris ,Junaid here, Ive couple of questions which i couldn't understand ,am pasting the related paragraphs: Let's think of some questions. How many bits do you need to borrow to accomm odate 6 subnets? No matter what address you are given the maths is still the sam e. The formula is 6 = 2n so you must find n which in this case is 3 as n = 2 giv es only 4 subnets and n = 3 gives 8 subnets. Simply add n to your mask for your new subnet mask. For example, if you had a /24 address and you wanted 8 subnets then your mask will be 24 + 3 = /27. What subnet mask should you use if you wanted 60 hosts per subnet? The formu la is 60 = 2(32 - n) - 2 so you must find n which is 26. This is easy to find as you know that 26 - 2 = 62 so simply subtract 6 from 32 to get the 26. Therefore your mask is /26. 1: in the 1st paragraph how can we calculate the value of n , please elabora te it for me. 2: In the 2nd paragraph how did you got the value of n =26?? please help me get over with it and the rest of things u described here are outstanding, Thanx Chris Bloomfield said... 9 March 2011 18:47 Hi, Remember that this is 2 to the power of n (2 ^ n) and not 2n as you seem to write it. Maybe that is where you are getting stuck?

weznagwama said... 4 April 2011 05:08 great post, penny = dropped. i have been dreading subnetting as i am terribl e at maths but this is perfect. Thanks. Rishabh "xero" Dangwal said... 29 May 2011 16:18 Chris..You just rock man :) Amazing and really easy method for subnetting. I am a network novice and was turned off by the trivial methods, but you just sim plified the things to the core level. Keep up the good work. naren said... 21 September 2011 11:29 Hi Chris wow , you are fantastic , i never knew subnetting was so easy Post a Comment