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What are subnets and how does a subnet mask work?

Answer

A subnet represents a logical division of a larger IP network into smaller isolated segments. Dividing a network into subnets helps optimize address space utilization, reduce broadcast traffic, and improve the overall security and performance of a corporate or home infrastructure.

The subnet mask determines which part of the IP address refers to the network ID and which part identifies a specific host device. It is a 32-bit number written in the same format as an IP address. The ones in the mask indicate the network portion, while the zeros denote the available bits for device addresses within that subnet.

To divide a network into parts, network engineers use classless addressing and modify the length of the network prefix. The basic rules for working with subnets include the following steps:

•Determine the number of required hosts in the future subnet, taking growth into account.
•Calculate the number of bits that need to be allocated for hosts using powers of two.
•Form a new subnet mask by changing the standard prefix.
•Calculate the network address and broadcast address for each resulting range.
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