Layer3 Network Technology

Classification and Aggregation of IPv4 Addresses

 Main Content

Classification and Aggregation of IPv4 Addresses

 Common Technology Courses
• Tom had been in the company for two weeks and had gained much network knowledge. He became clear about
communication details and showed more interest in networking. He was always energetically participating in new
projects.
• There was another new project and the manager asked Tom to try it. As shown in the figure below, devices on the left are
deployed in one building while devices on the right are deployed in another. They are connected through two layer-3
switches. The customer requires that the departments be capable of accessing each other.

Building A Building B
10.1.1.1/30 10.1.1.2/30

VLAN 10 VLAN 11 VLAN 20 VLAN 30

Information Planning Administration Procurement
department department department department
IP: 192.168.10.0/25 IP: 192.168.10.128/25 IP: 192.168.20.0/24 IP: 192.168.30.0/24
GW: 192.168.10.126 GW: 192.168.10.254 GW: 192.168.20.254 GW: 192.168.30.254
 Common Technology Courses
• After checking the topology and reviewing the principle of the layer-3 switch, Tom found that he could configure an SVI for each
VLAN on the layer-3 switch, so as to easily implement networking between two departments with PCs served by the same layer-3
switch.
• But how could two layer-3 switches communicate with each other? Tom had no clue about the IP address "10.1.1.1/30" and the
subnet mask in "192.168.10.0/26" was different from the conventional mask expression.

10.1.1.1/30 10.1.1.2/30

VLAN 10 VLAN 11 VLAN 20 VLAN 30

Information Planning Administration Sales
department department department department
IP: 192.168.10.0/26 IP: 192.168.10.64/26 IP: 192.168.20.0/24 IP: 192.168.30.0/24
GW: 192.168.10.62 GW: 192.168.10.126 GW: 192.168.20.254 GW: 192.168.30.254
 Classification and Aggregation of IPv4 Addresses
• IPv4 Address

• In early days, IPv4 addresses were classified into five classes based on the network scale: Class A, Class B, Class C,
Class D, and Class E. Such classification was simple and effective. However, with the network development,
classful classification fixes the network scale and wastes of IP addresses. Variable Length Subnet Mask (VLSM)
and Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) were proposed later to solve this problem.

• VLSM

• It further classifies subnets into smaller networks based on classful classification.

• For example, the network segment 192.168.1.0/24 is further classified into the 192.168.1.0/25 and
192.168.1.128/25 subnets.
192.168.1.0/24

192.168.1.0/25 192.168.128.0/25

172.16.0.0/16

172.16.0.0/24 ●●●●●● 172.16.255.0/24

 Classification and Aggregation of IPv4 Addresses
• IPv4 Address

• CIDR

• It combines multiple classful subnets into one subnet to reduce routing entries in the routing table.

• For example, 192.168.0.0/24 and 192.168.1.0/24 can be combined into 192.168.0.0/23.

• On existing networks, subnet masks can be used to break the classful boundary of subnets, so as to
divide and combine networks conveniently.

192.168.0.0/24 192.168.1.0/24
192.168.0.0/23
 Classification and Aggregation of IPv4 Addresses

• Subnet Mask
• Both IP addresses and subnet masks are composed of 32 binary digits. They are
often presented in dotted decimal notation for ease of writing. They can be
combined to differentiate network bits from host bits in IP addresses.

192.168.1.2 11000000 10101000 00000001 00000010

255.255.255.0 11111111 11111111 11111111 00000000

Network bits Host bits

• A subnet mask is composed of consecutive 1s and 0s. 1 indicates a network bit in

an IP address while 0 indicates a host bit.
 Classification and Aggregation of IPv4 Addresses

• Subnet Division

10.1.1.2 00001010 00000001 00000001 00000010

255.255.255.252 11111111 11111111 11111111 111111 00

• According to the subnet mask, the first 30 bits of the IP address are network bits and the last
two bits are host bits.
Network bits of 10.1.1.2 are represented in binary notation as follows:
00001010 00000001 00000001 00000000
00、 01、 10、 11
• The last two bits have four combinations. Therefore, the network segment has four IP
addresses: 10.1.1.0 to 10.1.1.3. The first and last IP addresses of each network are
unavailable. Only 10.1.1.1 and 10.1.1.2 are actually available.
 Classification and Aggregation of IPv4 Addresses
• Subnet Division
• Subnet division on networks:
• Number of subnets: 2x (x indicates the number of subnet bits).
• Number of effective hosts in each subnet: 2y – 2 (y indicates the number of host bits)
• Example: 192.168.10.213 255.255.255.192 (/26)

192.168.10.213 11000000 10101000 00001010 11010101

255.255.255.192 11111111 11111111 11111111 11000000

• 192.168.10.213 is a Class C address and the default subnet mask is /24.

• Number of subnets: 226-24 = 22 = 4
• Number of effective hosts in each network: 232-26 – 2 = 26 – 2 = 62
192.168.10.0 192.168.10.64 192.168.10.128 192.168.10.192
192.168.10.63 192.168.10.127 192.168.10.191 192.168.10.255
 Classification and Aggregation of IPv4 Addresses
• Subnet Aggregation
• Example: 192.168.1.213 255.255.254.0 (/23)
192.168.1.213 11000000 10101000 00000001 11010101

255.255.254.0 11111111 11111111 11111110 00000000

• 192.168.1.213 is a Class C address. Its subnet mask is 23, which is smaller than the default subnet mask 24, indicating
that networks are aggregated.

• One subnet bit is "borrowed" and the number of aggregated subnets is 21 = 2.

• Number of effective hosts in each network: 232-23 – 2 = 29 – 2 = 510

192.168.0.0 192.168.1.0
192.168.0.255 192.168.1.255

192.168.0.0
192.168.1.255
 Classification and Aggregation of IPv4 Addresses
• Summary
• In this chapter, Tom had a deeper understanding of subnet masks, which can be used to
flexibly divide or combine subnets.

• IP addresses need to be combined with subnet masks to present network bits and host bits.
Tom also grasped the meaning of "10.1.1.1/30" and "192.168.10.0/26" in the figure.

• Then, how do two layer-3 switches communicate with each other? It will be described in the
next chapter.
• Exercises
• How many subnets are obtained by dividing the subnet 192.168.5.78/28? What are the start
and end IP addresses of each network segment?

• How can subnet masks be divided if three subnets are required in the network 172.3.0.0/16?
THANKS
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