Supernetting
Supernetting is the process of combining multiple subnets into one larger network. This technique is often used to reduce the complexity of configuring and managing networks.
By combining multiple subnets into one larger network, network administrators can reduce the number of routing entries that need to be configured on routers and improve the efficiency of using IP addresses.
The process of supernetting involves merging the same IP address and subnet mask from multiple subnets into one larger subnet. In this larger subnet, the IP address ranges of the merged subnets will be part of the same address range.
Suppose we have the following four subnets:
- Subnet 1: 192.168.0.0/24
- Subnet 2: 192.168.1.0/24
- Subnet 3: 192.168.2.0/24
- Subnet 4: 192.168.3.0/24
In this example, the first bit on all subnets is 192.168.x.x/24, so the second bit needs to be checked.
The second bit in Subnet 1 and Subnet 2 is 0, while the second bit in Subnet 3 and Subnet 4 is 1. Therefore, we can combine Subnet 1 and Subnet 2 into one subnet, and combine Subnet 3 and Subnet 4 into one subnet.
The result is as follows:
- Supernet 1: 192.168.0.0/23 (IP address range: 192.168.0.0 – 192.168.1.255)
- Supernet 2: 192.168.2.0/23 (IP address range: 192.168.2.0 – 192.168.3.255)
By supernetting, we have combined four subnets into two larger subnets. This can help reduce the complexity of management and routing on the network, as well as optimize the use of IP addresses.