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SupernettingandClasslessInterdomainRouting

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IntroductiontoTCP/IP

SupernettingandClasslessInterdomainRouting
WiththerecentgrowthoftheInternet,itbecamecleartotheInternetauthoritiesthattheclassBnetworkIDswould soonbedepleted.Formostorganizations,aclassCnetworkIDdoesnotcontainenoughhostIDsandaclassB networkIDhasenoughbitstoprovideaflexiblesubnettingschemewithintheorganization. TheInternetauthoritiesdevisedanewmethodofassigningnetworkIDstopreventthedepletionofclassBnetwork IDs.RatherthanassigningaclassBnetworkID,InterNICassignsarangeofclassCnetworkIDsthatcontainenough networkandhostIDsfortheorganization'sneeds.Thisisknownassupernetting.Forexample,ratherthanallocating aclassBnetworkIDtoanorganizationthathasupto2,000hosts,theInterNICallocatesarangeofeightclassC networkIDs.EachclassCnetworkIDaccommodates254hosts,foratotalof2,032hostIDs. AlthoughthistechniquehelpsconserveclassBnetworkIDs,itcreatesanewproblem.Usingconventionalrouting techniques,theroutersontheInternetnowmusthaveeightclassCnetworkIDentriesintheirroutingtablestoroute IPpacketstotheorganization.TopreventInternetroutersfrombecomingoverwhelmedwithroutes,atechnique calledClasslessInterdomainRouting(CIDR)isusedtocollapsemultiplenetworkIDentriesintoasingleentry correspondingtoalloftheclassCnetworkIDsallocatedtothatorganization. Conceptually,CIDRcreatestheroutingtableentry:[StartingNetworkID,count],whereStartingNetworkIDisthe firstclassCnetworkIDandthecountisthenumberofclassCnetworkIDsallocated.Inpractice,asupernetted subnetmaskisusedtoconveythesameinformation.ToexpressthesituationwhereeightclassCnetworkIDsare allocatedstartingwithnetworkID220.78.168.0: StartingNetworkID EndingNetworkID 220.78.168.0 220.78.175.0 11011100010011101010100000000000 11011100010011101010111100000000

Notethatthefirst21bits(underlined)ofalltheaboveClassCnetworkIDsarethesame.Thelastthreebitsofthe thirdoctetvaryfrom000to111.TheCIDRentryintheroutingtablesoftheInternetroutersbecomes: NetworkID 220.78.168.0 SubnetMask 255.255.248.0 SubnetMask(binary) 1111111111111111111110000000000

InnetworkprefixorCIDRnotation,theCIDRentryis220.78.168.0/21. AblockofaddressesusingCIDRisknownasaCIDRblock. Note Becausesubnetmasksareusedtoexpressthecount,classbasednetworkIDsmustbeallocatedingroups correspondingtopowersof2. InordertosupportCIDR,routersmustbeabletoexchangeroutinginformationintheformof[NetworkID,Network Mask]pairs.RIPforIPversion2,OSPFandBGPv4areroutingprotocolsthatsupportCIDR.RIPforIPversion1does notsupportCIDR. AddressSpacePerspective TheuseofCIDRtoallocateaddressespromotesanewperspectiveonIPnetworkIDs.Intheaboveexample,the CIDRblock[220.78.168.0,255.255.248.0]canbethoughtofintwoways:
l AblockofeightclassCnetworkIDs. l Anaddressspaceinwhich21bitsarefixedand11bitsareassignable.

Inthelatterperspective,IPnetworkIDslosetheirclassbasedheritageandbecomeseparateIPaddressspaces, subsetsoftheoriginalIPaddressspacedefinedbythe32bitIPaddress.EachIPnetworkID(classbased,subnetted, CIDRblock),isanaddressspaceinwhichcertainbitsarefixed(thenetworkIDbits)andcertainbitsarevariable(the hostbits).ThehostbitsareassignableashostIDsor,usingsubnettingtechniques,canbeusedinwhatevermanner bestsuitstheneedsoftheorganization.

SupernettingandClasslessInterdomainRouting

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