The Classless Inter Domain Routing (CIDR) standard is already in effect

and most newer routers supports it. In a few years it is likely to be the
way IP addressing is handled. It is already becoming common for ISP and
major providers to use this scheme.
The old Classful IP Addressing scheme provided for Class A, B and C
networks:
How many

Starting bits for

Class type

networks per

the first octet

Class?

How many hosts

Range of the

per network?

first octet

(2^24)-2=~16

Class A

126

Class B

10

2^14=16384

Class C

110

2^21=~2 Million

(2^8)-2=254

192-223

Class D

1110

224-239

Class E

1111

240-255

Million
(2^16)2=~65000

1-126

127=Loopback

128-191

The default Subnet Masks for these networks are:

Number of bits used for

Number of bits used for

the Network ID

the Host ID

Class A

24

255.0.0.0

Class B

16

16

255.255.0.0

Class C

24

255.255.255.0

Class type

Total number
Number
CIDR
Block

Class C subnets

Class B

of

subnets Network
ID bits

Number
of Host
ID bits

Default Subnet Mask

Number of

of Host

usable Host

addresses per

addresses per

segment= (2

segment= (2

^# of Host ID

^# of Host ID

bits)

bits)-2

Subnet Mask

/30

64

16384

30

255.255.255.252

/29

32

8192

29

255.255.255.248

/28

16

4096

28

16

14

255.255.255.240

/27

2048

27

32

30

255.255.255.224

/26

1024

26

64

62

255.255.255.192

/25

512

25

128

126

255.255.255.128

/24

256

24

256

254

255.255.255.0

/23

128

23

512

510

255.255.254.0

/22

64

22

10

1,024

1,022

255.255.252.0

/21

32

21

11

2,048

2,046

255.255.248.0

/20

16

20

12

4,096

4,094

255.255.240.0

/19

19

13

8,192

8,190

255.255.224.0

/18

18

14

16,384

16,382

255.255.192.0

/17

17

15

32,768

32,766

255.255.128.0

/16

16

16

65,536

65,534

255.255.0.0

/15

15

17

131,072

131,070

255.254.0.0

/14

14

18

262,144

262,142

255.252.0.0

/13

13

19

524,288

524,286

255.248.0.0

To remember the subnetting tables for B and C all you have to do is start with the CIDR
prefix.
/30
/29
/28
/27
/26
/25
/24
/23
/22
/21
/20
/19
/18

/17
/16
all you have to do is start with 4 and double it until you get to 16384 Write them
downward on a sheet of paper and when you are done just subtract 2 from each number.
ie:
4=2
8=6
16 = 14
32 = 30
64 = 62
once you have done that all you need to do is reverse the order of all the numbers going back
up the sheet:
subnets hosts
2 62
6 30
14 14
30 6
62 2
See how the numbers flip flop between each column? My example is for class C but it works
for class B just the same.
Once you have the subnet/host numbers written out, just remember the following numbers
.192, .224, .240, .248, .252
class C:
sub hosts
.192 /26 2 62
.224 /27 6 30
.240 /28 14 14
.248 /29 30 6
.252 /30 62 2
The numbers with a slash (ie /26) are just short hand ways of writing out subnets. They can
be really confusing if you are trying to learn subnetting for the first time. Just remember that
ip addresses are made up of 32 bit , or /32. These 32 bit addresses are broken down into class
A,B, and C. class B are from /18 to /30 and class C go from /26 to /30. The reason the
numbers dont go up to /32 are because it goes against the rules of subnetting (according to
Cisco), I dont have any other reason why.
You need to memorize this stuff!!! When I went to work I jotted notes all over my desk and
tool boxes just so I would see it all the time.
Here is the class B example:
(1). start with 4 and double it till 16384: 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096,
8192, 16384.
(2). subtract 2 from each number: 2, 6, 14, 30, 62, 126, 254, 510, 1022, 2046, 4094, 8190,
16382.

(3). write them downward on a sheet of paper and then write them back up in reverse order:
2 16384
6 8190
14 4094
30 2046
62 1022
126 510
254 254
510 126
1022 62
2046 30
4094 14
8190 6
16382 2
(4) Finally you just have to add the net number to your list Remember these numbers:
.192.0 (/1) .224.0 (/19) .240.0 (/20) .248.0 (/21) .252.0 (/22) .254.0(/23) .255.0 (/24) .255.128
(/25) .255.192 (/26) .255.224 (/27) .255.240 (/28) .255.248 (/29) .255.252. (/30)

Default Administrative Distances

Connected

Static

eBGP

20

EIGRP (internal)

90

IGRP

100

OSPF

110

IS-IS

115

RIP

120

EIGRP (external)

170

iBGP

200

EIGRP summary route