Supernetting, IP Supernetting, IP Supernetting tutorial, How to Supernet, Supernetting Guide, Supernetting Concepts

In this lesson you will learn what is Supernetting and how to supernet two different contiguous networks.

Supernetting is the method for combining two or more contiguous network address spaces to simulate a single, larger, address space. You may remember, in Subnetting we are adding the bits from the host part to the network part. But in Supernetting we do the reverse. Here in supernetting we add bits from the network part to the host part. To supernet two contiguous networks is simple. Just convert the networks in to bineries, compare the bits of the two networks. Till where you have the similiar bit pattern, use a subnet mask bit of "1", and after that "0". Use the altered subnet mask for two networks. That’s it!

For example, you may want to supernet the networks 192.168.10.0 and 192.168.11.0 to make a single, large network. Following two lines are the conversions of the above network addresses to binaries and the last line is the new subnet mask.

11000000.10101000.0000101 | 0.00000000
11000000.10101000.0000101 | 1.00000000

11111111.11111111.1111111 | 0.00000000

The changed subnet mask is 255.255.254.0 can be used to supernet 192.168.10.0 and 192.168.11.0. The concept of supernetting is used in routing protocols for "route summarization".

In this Supernetting lesson, you have learned what is supernetting and how to supernet two different networks. Click "Next" to continue.