What is Subnetting

As the name implies, subnetting/subnets are networks created from other networks. This is achieved using network masks, which tell the device an IP is assigned to which network it belongs on. To fully understand the concept of network masks, you need a solid understanding of IP addresses and how they work, you can read my article on IP addresses for more information.

Structure of a Network Mask

A network mask is typically represented by a number that looks just like an IP address. The one most people would be familiar with is 255.255.255.0, which is a class C network, the most common home network configuration. A class C network has 255 IP addresses, 1 – 254 of which can be used, while 0 is the Network ID, and 255 is the broadcast address. A broadcast address is simply the address a packet is sent to if it is meant for everyone on the network capable of receiving it.

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What’s an IP Address?
First, you can find your Internet Protocol (IP) address Here, so if you have no idea what an IP is,
knowing what yours looks like is a good start. It is also recommended you be familiar with binary to understand some of the concepts in this article. You can familiarize yourself with binary here.

An IP address is a number assigned to network interfaces that are using the “Internet Protocol” (IP) for communication. The original concept which is still widely in use today is IPv4, which is a 32 bit number. The newer concept developed to accommodate a much greater number of addresses is IPv6, which is a 128 bit number. To keep things simple this article will mostly focus on IPv4, as this is most likely what you will encounter in your every day life.

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While working with computers you will often come accross three types of number systems. Decimal, that we all use in our every day lives. Binary, the language of computers (ones and zeroes), and Hexadecimal, a more human-friendly representation of binary. This article aims to tie together these 3 number systems in as simple a way possible for people who want to learn about it.

Decimal is the number systems we’re all used to. It uses the digits 0 through 9 to represent any number we can imagine. When you count in decimal, you start off with 0 and go up to 9. When you reach 9 and run out of digits, you move one space to the left and start over again. This is the only difference between all these number systems. All that changes is how many symbols you cycle through before starting over and shifting to the left.

Decimal is base10, which means you have 10 symbols to cycle through. Binary is base2, so all you have is a 1 and a 0, and Hexadecimal is to the base16, with 16 symbols. You can pretty much use any symbols you want to represent these, if you managed to invent 10 new symbols to replace 0 – 9, you could count using those instead, however to keep things simple this article makes use of what most sane humans use, 0 – 9, 0 – 1, and 0 – F.

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