VLSM, Slash Notation, and Subnet Mask

Networking II VLSM, Slash

Notation, and
Subnet Mask

ENGR. RUEL G. GRAFIA

SORSOGON STATE UNIVERSIRY
Assistant Professor

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 VLSM, Slash Notation, and Subnet Mask

VLSM, SLASH NOTATION, AND SUBNET MASK

What is VLSM?
VLSM (Variable Length Subnet Mask) is a technique that network administrators employ in order
to use their IP subnet(s) in a more effective manner. By using VLSM, a long mask can be used on
a network that has a few hosts and a short net mask on subnets that have a large number of
hosts. To use VLSM, however, a routing protocol that supports it has to be used. Cisco routers
support the concept with the following protocols: Integrated IS-IS (Integrated Intermediate
System to Intermediate System), EIGRP (Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol), RIP v2,
Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), and static routing. VLSM also allows more than one subnet
mask within the same network address space, which is also referred to as “subnetting a subnet.”

How does VLSM Work?

Routing protocols required a single network use the same subnet mask. VLSM allows networks
to have different subnet masks if the routing protocol on the network on which it is employed
supports it.

How is Route Aggregation Accomplished with VLSM?

When VLSM is employed, the subnetwork numbers are normally grouped together in order to
allow the network routers using VLSM to aggregate network traffic. For example, if networks
171.15.14.0 and 171.15.13.0 are kept near each other, then the network routers will only have
to store a single route for the two using aggregation. When used in conjunction with CIDR
(Classless Inter-Domain Routing), VLSM helps prevent address waste and promotes route
summarizing or aggregation on the network. In order to do this, however, the network routers
have to be using a classless routing protocol such as EIGRP or OSPF. These protocols carry a 32
bit IP address and bit mask in their routing updates. The routers on the network supporting
aggregate routes have fewer entries in their routing tables. VLSM allows routes to be summarized
and increases the network’s flexibility by basing route summaries on the higher-order bits shred
on the left for contiguous and non-contiguous networks.

Where is VLSM Used?

VLSM is often used in a college campus environment. If the network administrator has a Class B
block of addresses to use on several campuses, he/she normally uses variable length subnets.
The subnets may then be further divided by building and workgroup on the campuses, which
would require different numbers of addresses. If fixed subnet masks were used to allocate the
same number of IP addresses to the locations, a number of addresses would be wasted. If VLSM
is employed, then there is less waste in the allocated address space across all of the campus
locations, giving more room for network growth.

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 VLSM, Slash Notation, and Subnet Mask

Slash Notation
What is Slash Notation?
Slash notation, also known as CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) notation, for many
purposes, such as policy configuration. You use slash notation differently for IPv4 and IPv6
addresses.

IPv4
Slash notation is a compact way to show or write an IPv4 subnet mask. When you use slash
notation, you write the IP address, a forward slash (/), and the subnet mask number.

Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR)

Another term you need to familiarize yourself with is Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR). It’s
basically the method that Internet service providers (ISPs) use to allocate a number of addresses
to a company, a home and their customers. They provide addresses in a certain block size.
When you receive a block of addresses from an ISP, what you get will look something like this:
192.168.10.32/28. This is telling you what your subnet mask is. The slash notation (/) means how
many bits are turned on (1s). Obviously, the maximum could only be /32 because a byte is 8 bits
and there are 4 bytes in an IP address: (4 × 8 = 32).
For example, a Class A default subnet mask, which is 255.0.0.0. This tells us that the first byte of
the subnet mask is all ones (1s), or 11111111. When referring to a slash notation, you need to
count all the 1 bits to figure out your mask. The 255.0.0.0 is considered a /8 because it has 8 bits
that are 1s—that is, 8 bits that are turned on.
A Class B default mask would be 255.255.0.0, which is a /16 because 16 bits are ones (1s):
11111111.11111111.00000000.00000000.
Table 1 has a listing of every available subnet mask and its equivalent CIDR slash notation.

CIDR Value/
Subnet Mask Slash Notation

255.0.0.0 /8

255.128.0.0 /9

255.192.0.0 /10

255.224.0.0 /11

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 VLSM, Slash Notation, and Subnet Mask

255.240.0.0 /12

255.248.0.0 /13

255.252.0.0 /14

255.254.0.0 /15

255.255.0.0 /16

255.255.128.0 /17

255.255.192.0 /18

255.255.224.0 /19

255.255.240.0 /20

255.255.248.0 /21

255.255.252.0 /22

255.255.254.0 /23

255.255.255.0 /24

255.255.255.128 /25

255.255.255.192 /26

255.255.255.224 /27

255.255.255.240 /28

255.255.255.248 /29

255.255.255.252 /30

The /8 through /15 can only be used with Class A network addresses. /16 through /23 can be
used by Class A and B network addresses. /24 through /30 can be used by Class A, B, and C
network addresses. This is a big reason why most companies use Class A network addresses.
Since they can use all subnet masks, they get the maximum flexibility in network design.

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 VLSM, Slash Notation, and Subnet Mask

What is Subnet Mask?

A subnet mask is a 32 bits address used to distinguish between a network address and a host
address in IP address. A subnet mask identifies which part of an IP address is the network address
and the host address. They are not shown inside the data packets traversing the Internet. They
carry the destination IP address, which a router will match with a subnet.

Figure 1. Shows Valid Subnet Mask

Two types of subnet masks are:

1. The default Subnet Mask is the number of bits which is reserved by the address class.
Using this default mask will accommodate a single network subnet in the relative class.
2. A Custom Subnet Mask can be defined by an administrator to accommodate many
Network

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 VLSM, Slash Notation, and Subnet Mask

How to find the subnet mask number: (IPv4)

1. Convert the decimal representation of the subnet mask to a binary representation.
2. Count each “1” in the subnet mask. The total is the subnet mask number.
For example, to write the IPv4 address 192.168.42.23 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 in
slash notation:
1. Convert the subnet mask to binary.
In this example, the binary representation of 255.255.255.0 is:
11111111.11111111.11111111.00000000
2. Count each 1 in the subnet mask.
In this example, there are twenty-four (24).
3. Write the original IP address, a forward slash (/), and then the number from Step 2.
The result is 192.168.42.2 /24.

Understanding CIDR Subnet Mask Notation

The CIDR Subnet Table to find the CIDR equivalent of a decimal subnet mask:

CIDR Total IP Usable IP Number of /24

Subnet Mask
Prefix Address Address Network

255.255.255.252 /30 4 2 1/64

255.255.255.248 /29 8 6 1/32
255.255.255.240 /28 16 14 1/16
255.255.255.224 /27 32 30 1/8
255.255.255.192 /26 64 62 1/4
255.255.255.0 /25 128 126 1/2
255.255.254.0 /24 256 254 1
255.255.252.0 /23 512 510 2
255.255.250.0 /22 1024 1022 4
255.255.248.0 /21 2048 2046 8
255.255.240.0 /20 4096 4094 16

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 VLSM, Slash Notation, and Subnet Mask

255.255.224.0 /19 8192 8190 32

255.255.192.0 /18 16,384 16,382 64

255.255.128.0 /17 32,768 32,766 128

255.255.0.0 /16 65,536 65,534 256

255.254.0.0 /15 131,072 131,070 512

255.252.0.0 /14 262,144 262,142 1024

255.248.0.0 /13 524,288 524,286 2048

255.240.0.0 /12 1,048,576 1,048,574 4096

255.224.0.0 /11 2,097,152 2,097,150 8192

255.192.0.0 /10 4,194,304 4,194,302 16,384

255.128.0.0 /9 8,388,608 8,388,606 32,768

255.0.0.0 /8 16,777,216 16,777,214 65,536

254.0.0.0 /7 33,554,432 33,554,430 131,072

252.0.0.0 /6 67,108,864 67,108,862 262,144

248.0.0.0 /5 134,217,728 134,217,726 1,048,576

240.0.0.0 /4 268,435,456 268,435,454 2,097,152

224.0.0.0 /3 536,870,912 536,870,910 4,194,304

192.0.0.0 /2 1,073,741,824 1,073,741,822 8,388,608

128.0.0.0 /1 2,147,483,648 2,147,483,646 16,777,216

0.0.0.0 /0 4,294,967,296 4,294,967,294 33,554,432

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 VLSM, Slash Notation, and Subnet Mask

The use of /31 networks is a special case defined by RFC 3021 where the two IP addresses in the
subnet are usable for point-to-point links to conserve IPv4 address space. Not all operating
systems support RFC 3021, so use it with caution.
On systems that do not support RFC 3021, the subnet is unusable because the only two
addresses defined by the subnet mask are the null route and broadcast and no usable host
addresses.

Where do CIDR numbers come from?

The CIDR number comes from the number of ones in the subnet mask when converted to binary.
The common subnet mask 255.255.255.0 is 11111111.11111111.11111111.00000000 in binary.
This adds up to 24 ones, or /24 (pronounced ‘slash twenty four’).
A subnet mask of 255.255.255.192 is 11111111.11111111.11111111.11000000 in binary, or 26
ones, hence /26.

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