Subnet Mask
Divides the network into 2 more more divisons.
- An IP address is a 32-bit number usually like:
192.168.1.2
The most common subnet mask for small home networks:
255.255.255.0 = 11111111.11111111.11111111.00000000
- The 1's are the network portion
- first 32 bits
- The 0's are the host portion
- last 8 bits
- identifies the device on the network
Citations
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subnet