Subnet What is it, what is it for and how does it work?

You may have never heard of Subnetespecially if you are not a computer expert. However, here we are going to teach you a little about what it is, what it is for and how it works, considering that this is a tool that serves as mask for IP protocols.

And is that the subnet mask It will allow you to identify what part of the IP address refers to the subnet to which it belongs. This means that thanks to this function you will have the opportunity to know many more details about what IP networks are, as well as what is an IP address and how to identify it.

In this way, here we will explain a little more about the subnet and how it works in the different Internet protocols, as well as what are the subnetting addresses that you can currently find. For this, follow in detail everything that we will teach you below.

What is the subnet and what is this netmask for in IP protocols?

It should be mentioned that this is a fairly complicated and necessary process for networks around the world, and it should be mentioned that eThere are three types of network classes which today we will call networks I, networks II and networks III. In the case of networks I, you can say it is the Internet managerwhere highly recognized companies in the world like Microsoft make use of them and which are also known as WAM or Wide Area Network.

In the case of networks II, these are especially used by large companies and corporations but they are not as advanced as the WAM. They are called MAN Metropolitan Area Network where are they big enough not to be a LAN, but they are not big enough to be a WAM. And finally we find networks III, which are used by small and medium-sized businesses, and that are achieved in houses.

These are known as 192,168 … and they are denominated as LAN Local Area Network. So, this whole tool serves to identify a part of an IP address, which allows you to know a little plus the details of the IP address.

Taking into account that these addresses allow to identify a network interface that uses a IP protocol and which must be unique within said network. In addition, these protocols have different versions that are based on standards and that IPv4 and IPv6 networks are currently compatible with each other, although is migrating to IPv6 based on IETF RFC 3513 standards.

How does the subnet work in the different Internet protocols?

The subnet complies with an operation in the different internet protocols as they are IPv4 and IPv6.

That is why below we will explain in detail the process that is carried out in each of them:

In IPv4

In the case of IPv4 is the most widely used Internet protocol in every home, since despite the existence of IPv6 this protocol has not yet ended up being used by most clients. And this is because ISPs have not yet made the leap to IPv6 addressing. All this continues to make IPv4 remains one of the most fundamental protocols on the Internet.

The IPv4 protocol is the one who is going to allow to identify the different devices that are connected to the same network. These protocols have 32 bit, so they exist at least 4.3 billion completely unique addresses, although many of them are alreadyThey are reserved for specific tasks, as they are LAN private IP addressing ranges than are not routable over the internet.

In IPv6

The other protocol currently available is IPv6 and which has been created with the aim of being able replace IPv4, but which has not yet fully established itself. In this case you are Addresses are based on 128 bits. This protocol is much more extensive than the one mentioned above so it's very difficult to define the space with decimal notation.

IPv6 is conformed by eight 16-bit sections, which are separated by two points. Where each of 16-bit sections have two raised to 16 variations. An example of this would be IPv6: 2607; 4545; 200; f8ff; 67 cf. It should also be mentioned that this protocol is being designed to replace IPv4 protocol.

What are subnetting reserved addresses and what are they?

Another important aspect to consider are the addresses reserved in subnettingwhere inside each Subnet The first and last addresses cannot be assigned to any host. This is due to that the first address of the subnet is used as the address of the subnet, while the last address is reserved for local broadcast domains. Thus, RFC 950 it can not use the first and last subnet.

In this way, here we explain the two reserved addresses that are currently: