What is the difference between subnet mask and default gateway

Class C is for smaller networks with fewer than hosts. You can determine the number and type of IP addresses any given local network requires based on its default subnet mask. Subnetting is the technique for logically partitioning a single physical network into multiple smaller sub-networks or subnets.

Subnetting enables an organization to conceal network complexity and reduce network traffic by adding subnets without a new network number. When a single network number must be used across many segments of a local area network LAN , subnetting is essential. This is the sole standards-based format in IPv6 to denote routing or network prefixes.

To assign an IP address to a network interface since the advent of CIDR, there are two parameters: a subnet mask and the address. Some know how to calculate subnet masks by hand, but most use subnet mask calculators. There are several types of network subnet calculators. Some cover a wider range of functions and have greater scope, while others have specific utilities. These tools may provide information such as IP range, IP address, subnet mask, and network address.

In this situation, the IP address is followed by the number of bits in the mask. For example:. Blog Contact Support. Request a Demo. Subnet Mask Definition Every device has an IP address with two pieces: the client or host address and the server or network address.

Computers understands, thes are in a same network with the help of netmask while in case of lan server ip work the gateway for clients. Subnetmask is divided the IP address into Host and Network.

Subnetmask is used to divide the IP address into is host bit and the network bit. Please Turn OFF your ad blocker. Learn More. Home Interview Questions Networking. Interview Candidate Jan 18th, 8 First Prev Next Last. Showing Answers 1 - 8 of 8 Answers. Subnetmask is nothing but a playning of network and Default gateway is comunicate to one network to another network given to router all pc in the network communicate to that particular default ip addreess.

Vishal Garg Jan 25th, In other words, you are 'borrowing' some of the bits used for the host address, and using them for the network portion of the address. The subnet mask It works because in binary notation, The first two digits of the last octet become network addresses, so you get the additional networks 0 , 64 , and Some administrators will only use two of the subnetworks using For more information on this topic, see RFC In these four networks, the last six binary digits can be used for host addresses.

Using a subnet mask of These four networks would have as valid host addresses:. Remember, again, that binary host addresses with all ones or all zeros are invalid, so you can't use addresses with the last octet of 0, 63, 64, , , , , or You can see how it works by looking at two host addresses, If you used the default Class C subnet mask of However, if you use the subnet mask of The result of this comparison tells the computer whether the destination is a local host or a remote host. If the result of this process determines the destination to be a local host, then the computer will send the packet on the local subnet.

It's then the responsibility of the router to forward the packet to the correct subnet. Incorrect Subnet Mask: If a network uses a subnet mask other than the default mask for its address class, and a client is still configured with the default subnet mask for the address class, communication will fail to some nearby networks but not to distant ones.

As an example, if you create four subnets such as in the subnetting example but use the incorrect subnet mask of In this situation, packets destined for hosts on different physical networks that are part of the same Class C address won't be sent to a default gateway for delivery. A common symptom of this issue is when a computer can communicate with hosts that are on its local network and can talk to all remote networks except those networks that are nearby and have the same class A, B, or C address.

Incorrect IP Address: If you put computers with IP addresses that should be on separate subnets on a local network with each other, they won't be able to communicate. They'll try to send packets to each other through a router that can't forward them correctly. A symptom of this problem is a computer that can talk to hosts on remote networks, but can't communicate with some or all computers on their local network. To correct this problem, make sure all computers on the same physical network have IP addresses on the same IP subnet.

If you run out of IP addresses on a single network segment, there are solutions that go beyond the scope of this article. Incorrect Default Gateway: A computer configured with an incorrect default gateway can communicate with hosts on its own network segment.

But it will fail to communicate with hosts on some or all remote networks. A host can communicate with some remote networks but not others if the following conditions are true:. Internet--The global collection of networks that are connected together and share a common range of IP addresses.

Network--There are two uses of the term network in this article. One is a group of computers on a single physical network segment. The other is an IP network address range that is allocated by a system administrator. Octet--An 8-bit number, 4 of which comprise a bit IP address. They have a range of that correspond to the decimal values Wide area network WAN --A large network that is a collection of smaller networks separated by routers.

The Internet is an example of a large WAN. Feedback will be sent to Microsoft: By pressing the submit button, your feedback will be used to improve Microsoft products and services. Privacy policy. Skip to main content. This browser is no longer supported. Download Microsoft Edge More info.