Chapter 9

IP addressing Plan

IP addressing

An IP address uniquely identifies a device on an IP network.

Allocating, recycling, and documenting IP addresses and subnets in a network can get
confusing very quickly if you have not laid out an IP addressing plan. A sound plan will help
you prepare the network foundation to support additional services such as unified
communications, wireless access, and enhanced network security.
IP addressing is a Network Foundation service, which makes it core to the network design. It
provides the base for all other network and user services. Without the foundation, it would
not be possible to interact with network and user services, from picking up the phone using
the phone service to reading email using the email service.
By following recommended IP address management standards, you can avoid:
• Overlapping or duplicate subnets
• Unsummarized routes in the network
• Duplicate IP address device assignments
• Wasted IP address space
• Unnecessary complexity

IP addresses are distributed in a hierarchical system. As the operator of Internet Assigned

Numbers Authority (IANA) functions, ICANN allocates IP address blocks to the five
Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) around the world. (The “regions” of the Regional Internet
Registries are roughly continental in size.) The RIRs then allocate smaller IP address blocks
to ISPs and other network operators. From there, the ISPs and other Internet operators assign
the addresses to the individual Internet connections you are probably accustomed to.
The IP addressing plan is the foundation upon which a successful logical design is built.
Variable-length subnet masking

Variable length subnet masking (VLSM) means implementing more than one mask on the
same major class of a network. It allows for a more efficient use of IP address space both in
terms of hosts and subnets. On a network that does not have an abundance of IP address
space it can be essential. In order to implement different masks for the same major network it
is required to have a routing protocol that supports VLSM. Such routing protocols are called
classless routing protocols. They carry the mask information along with the route
advertisements therefore allowing for the support of more than one mask.

Examples of classless routing protocols include OSPF, RIP version 2, Cisco's EIGRP, BGP
and IS-IS. Consider an example that employs VLSM. Assume that the Class B address
172.16.0.0 is required to support a network that entails a total of 200 sites. The busiest LANs
may support up to 100 hosts and there is a maximum projected total of 400 point-to-point
WAN links. Hence there is a requirement for 600 subnets with a maximum of 100 hosts on
any subnet. Even with a Class B address there is insufficient address space to meet this
requirement without employing VLSM. When planning a VLSM solution you should start
with the shortest mask in other words plan the subnets that support the most hosts. This is
typically the mask that will be used on most or all of the LAN segments.

In this example there are 200 LAN segments each supporting up to 100 hosts. While 7 host
bits or a /25 subnet mask would meet this requirement, it is probably neater in terms of
administration to use a /24 mask. This is a luxury afforded simply because VLSM is being
used in this case. The LAN segments can be numbered from 172.16.1.0/24 to
172.16.200.0/24. Now it is time for the second stage of VLSM, which entails choosing from
the available subnets and subnetting further: This is sometimes called "subnetting the
subnets". It is important to remember that this can only be done with one or more subnets that
have not already been used up. The 172.16.201.0 range is free and could be subnetted with a
/30 mask creating an additional 64 subnets in this range.

Similarly, the 172.16.202.x/30 range produces 64 more subnets suitable for point-to-point
links. Each range up to an including 172.16.207.x/30 could be used to provide enough subnet
address space for 400 serials links. This means that the addressing requirements were met and
there is still a considerable amount of address space free. Aim to use contiguous subnets
where possible: Although it is not essential it certainly makes very good sense to choose a
continuous range of addresses and apply a particular mask to them. As will be highlighted in
the next section, when route summarization is discussed, efficient allocation of IP addresses
is not done merely for the sake of neatness; it is often essential for good network design.