Introduction
I see a lot of posts in dev but I haven't seen a clean one to explain about Subnetting , So why wait for others lets just jump on and created one myself.. ( And its pretty good Trust me )
Lets Get Started
Subnetting is a technique used in computer networking to divide a single, large network into smaller, more manageable sub-networks or subnets. Each subnet is identified by its own unique subnet address, allowing for efficient utilization of IP addresses and improving overall network performance and security (Thanks to ChatGPT for this one)
First when you check for the IP address in your terminal , You will see 3 addresses
- IP Address
- Subnet Mask
- Broadcast
Lets say for an example we have an IP address : 192.168.241.9 and Subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 , Here 255 symbolizes that it doesn't change for other devices under the same network while 0 can be changed for other devices.
That is 192.168.241.2 , 192.168.241.245 exists while 192.168.24.56 doesn’t exist , From here you may got an idea of range for IP Address 192.168.241.0 -> 192.168.241.255 But here is a catch , Both the First address and last one are not assigned to any devices as their IP Because they have their own specific purpose
- 192.168.241.0 -> Network channel
- 192.168.241.255 -> Broadcast channel
Network Channel
- The network address is like the label for the entire subnet.
- It indicates the base address of the subnet. Devices within the subnet use the network address as a reference point to understand that they are part of the same network.
- For example, if a computer is configured with the IP address 192.168.241.5 and another device is configured with 192.168.241.10, both devices recognize that they are in the same network because they share the common network address, 192.168.241.0.
Broadcast Channel
- The broadcast address is used to send messages to all devices within the subnet. For instance, if a device sends a broadcast message to 192.168.241.255, all devices in the subnet will receive that message.
Why we need Subnetting
The key purpose is to organize IP addresses for better traffic control and security purpose
Consider you are maintaining a college with different
depts like science , maths , admin and much more. Without subnetting if science people want to share a specfic info to their science nerds when they use broadcast channel other depts will also be receiving the info and What if all the depts access the broadcast address simultanously , See this causes TrafficAnother scenario where one device is got hacked or corrupted then the entire network and all the devices in it will be affected
Now if we use subnetting , all have their separate own space (Isolation) so the traffic is less , if one device got affected only the devices in that subnet share the effect while other depts can calm and chill
Conclusion
In a simple way , When you have all your games , anime , movies and stuff under a same folder , That's pretty nasty right . Organize it and you are good to go! [Same stuff but for IP address and device communication]
See you again , Comment down how was it [ Be Nice :) ]
Top comments (3)
DAMN!,
i really enjoyed that little analogy you provide everytime
i just read the "IP ADDRESS" another post of you, and this one
the only missing piece is where is some hard and more needed(to understand) topic as what is "dhcp" and "how IP is assigned" , "why do we care about that"?
like that thign
in my own im not a network Engineer, heck i get to know about networking much by only your posts THANK you
Me too , I am also not a network engineer myself , I am just pouring out what i learned and how I understand . Thank you
Excellent Explanation!...