In Classful routing - a network must use the same subnet mask for the entire network.

In Classless routing – more than one subnet mask for a network address is allowed.

In Classless Routing: It is not recommended to use the First and Last subnets: The first shares the
Network Address and the last shares the Broadcast address.

However, in VLSM the Subnet Mask can change in a single network thus allowing the first network
to be used.

Forth Octet
 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
2
Bits
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Borrowed
No.
SubNets 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
or Hosts
IP /No. /25 /26 /27 /28 /29 /30 /31 /32
Class
A/B/C 128 192 224 240 248 252 254 255
.Number
Third Octet – can not be modified by Class C Networks
 215 214 213 212 211 210 29 28
2
Bits
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Borrowed
No.
SubNets 32,768 16,384 8,192 4,096 2,048 1,024 512 256
or Hosts
IP /No. /17 /18 /19 /20 /21 /22 /23 /24
Class
A/B 128 192 224 240 248 252 254 255
.Number
Second Octet – can not be modified by Class B and Class C Networks
 223 222 221 220 219 218 217 216
2
Bits
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Borrowed
No.
SubNets 8,388,608 4,194,304 2,097,152 1,048,576 524,288 262,144 131,072 65,536
or Hosts
IP /No. /9 /10 /11 /12 /13 /14 /15 /16
Class A
128 192 224 240 248 252 254 255
.Number
First Octet – can not be modified by Class A and Class B and Class C Networks
Class A 255.0.0.0 IP Address /8 by default
Class B 255.255.0.0 IP Address /16 by default
Class C 255.255.255.0 IP Address /24 by default
th
Class C: can borrow between 2 and 7 bits: in 4 Octet Only.
Class B: can borrow between 2 and 15 bits: in 3rd & 4th Octets.
Class A: can borrow between 2 and 23 bits: in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Octets.

Cisco Learning North West (UK) – CCNA Version 3.1 - Ipv4 Subnetting Help Sheet- Page 1 of 1