#Ip subnet mask table how to#
#Ip subnet mask table windows 10#
#Ip subnet mask table windows#

The subnet mask is 255.255.255.0 in this example. This information is supplied in another 32-bit number called a subnet mask. Unless you have more information, the network and host addresses above can't be determined. In TCP/IP, the parts of the IP address that are used as the network and host addresses aren't fixed. The subnet mask is used by the TCP/IP protocol to determine whether a host is on the local subnet or on a remote network. The second item, which is required for TCP/IP to work, is the subnet mask. If you take the example 192.168.123.132 and divide it into these two parts, you get 192.168.123. The first part of an IP address is used as a network address, the last part as a host address. After the packet is delivered to the destination's network, the packet is delivered to the appropriate host.įor this process to work, an IP address has two parts.

#Ip subnet mask table how to#

Routers only know what network the host is a member of and use information stored in their route table to determine how to get the packet to the destination host's network. The decimal numbers separated by periods are the octets converted from binary to decimal notation.įor a TCP/IP wide area network (WAN) to work efficiently as a collection of networks, the routers that pass packets of data between networks don't know the exact location of a host for which a packet of information is destined. This number only makes a little more sense, so for most uses, convert the binary address into dotted-decimal format (192.168.123.132).

These 8-bit sections are known as octets. This number may be hard to make sense of, so divide it into four parts of eight binary digits. To understand how subnet masks are used to distinguish between hosts, networks, and subnetworks, examine an IP address in binary notation.įor example, the dotted-decimal IP address 192.168.123.132 is (in binary notation) the 32-bit number 11000000101010000111101110000100. IP addresses are normally expressed in dotted-decimal format, with four numbers separated by periods, such as 192.168.123.132. It uniquely identifies a host (computer or other device, such as a printer or router) on a TCP/IP network. IP addresses: Networks and hostsĪn IP address is a 32-bit number. To better understand how IP addresses and subnet masks work, look at an IP address and see how it's organized. One part identifies the host (computer), the other part identifies the network to which it belongs. A subnet mask is used to divide an IP address into two parts. Each of them can be divided into smaller subnetworks by system administrators. These networks are arbitrarily defined into three main classes (along with a few others) that have predefined sizes. The success of TCP/IP as the network protocol of the Internet is largely because of its ability to connect together networks of different sizes and systems of different types. To configure TCP/IP correctly, it's necessary to understand how TCP/IP networks are addressed and divided into networks and subnetworks.

#Ip subnet mask table windows#

When you configure the TCP/IP protocol on a Windows computer, the TCP/IP configuration settings require:

#Ip subnet mask table windows 10#

A glossary is included at the end of article.Īpplies to: Windows 10 - all editions Original KB number: 164015 Summary This article is intended as a general introduction to the concepts of Internet Protocol (IP) networks and subnetting.