Module 6

VLSM and CIDR

Objectives
Compare and contrast classful and classless IP
addressing.
VLSM
CIDR

Classful and Classless Addressing

Classful IP Addressing
Exponential growth of hosts on the Internet

As of January 2007, there are over 433 million hosts on the Internet
Initiatives to conserve IPv4 address space include:
VLSM & CIDR notation (1993, RFC 1519)
Network Address Translation NAT (1994, RFC 1631)
Private Addressing (1996, RFC 1918)

Classful IP Addressing

Class

Higher Order Bits

Start

End

Class A

0.0.0.0

127.255.255.255

Class B

10

128.0.0.0

191.255.255.255

Class C

110

192.0.0.0

223.255.255.255

Multicast

1110

224.0.0.0

239.255.255.255

Experimental

1111

240.0.0.0

255.255.255.255

Classes of IP addresses are identified by the decimal number of the 1st

octet
Class A address begin with a 0 bit Range of class A addresses =
0.0.0.0 to 127.255.255.255
Class B address begin with a 1 bit and a 0 bit Range of class B
addresses = 128.0.0.0 to 191.255.255.255
Class C addresses begin with two 1 bits & a 0 bit Range of class C
addresses = 192.0.0.0 to 223.255.255.255

Classful IP Addressing
Subnet Mask based on Class

Number of Networks and Hosts per Network for Each Class

Address
Class

First Octet
Range

Number of Possible
Networks

Number of Host
per Network

Class A

0 to 127

128 (2 are reserved)

16,777,214

Class B

128 to 191

16,348

65,534

Class C

192 to 223

2,097,152

254
6

Classful Routing Protocol

Classful Routing Updates

R2 applies its

R3 applies the

serial 0/0/0 /24 mask

classful/16 mask

to the 172.16.1.0

to the 172.16.0.0

routing update from R1

routing update from R2

Classful Routing Protocol:

RIPv1
IGRP

Classless IP Addressing
Classless Inter-domain Routing (CIDR RFC 1517) allows for:
More efficient use of IPv4 address space
Prefix aggregation, which reduced the size of routing tables
To CIDR-compliant routers, address class is meaningless. The
network portion of the address is determined by the network subnet
mask, also known as the network prefix, or prefix length (/8, /19, etc.)

Classless IP Addressing

Summary Route

Variable Length Subnet Masking (VLSM): Allows a subnet to be further subnetted according to individual needs
Prefix Aggregation also know as Route Summarization
CIDR allows for routes to be summarized as a single route
9

Classless Routing Protocol

172.16.0.0/16

172.16.0.0/14

172.17.0.0/16
172.18.0.0/16
172.19.0.0/16

172.16.0.0/14
Summary route

Classless routing protocols: RIPv2, EIGRP, OSPF, IS-IS, BGP:

Routing updates include the subnet mask
Supports VLSM
Supports Route Summarization
10

VLSM (Variable Length Subnet Mask)

VLSM in Action
VLSM Subnets

10.0.0.0/8

12

VLSM and IP Addresses

Subnets of the Subnet

13

Calculating Addresses: Case 1

Network Topology

14

Calculating Addresses: Case 1

Calculating Addresses with VLSM Address Ranges for Subnets

15

Calculating Addresses: Case 2

Calculating Addresses for Host Requirements

12

The given IP address is

192.168.1.0/24

16

Calculating Addresses: Case 3

IP Address 192.168.1.0
60 hosts

100 hosts

12 hosts

12 hosts

17

CIDR (Classless Interdomain Routing)

Route Summarization

ip route 172.16.0.0 255.248.0.0 s0/0/0

Routes are summarized with masks that are less than that of the
default classful mask.
Example: 172.16.0.0/13 is the summarized route for the
172.16.0.0/16 to 172.23.0.0/16 classful networks
19

Calculating Route Summarization

20

Good luck with this module!