Scribd
Upload
104 views

Difference Between CIDR and VLSM

CIDR and VLSM are techniques for optimizing network addressing. CIDR aggregates multiple networks into a single route to decrease routing table size, while VLSM allocates subnets of variable sizes to better utilize address space. Subnetting partitions a network into logical sub-networks, while supernetting combines smaller address ranges into a larger space to simplify routing. Both techniques aim to extend the lifetime of available IP addresses.

Uploaded by

Stojan Kitanov
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
104 views

Difference Between CIDR and VLSM

CIDR and VLSM are techniques for optimizing network addressing. CIDR aggregates multiple networks into a single route to decrease routing table size, while VLSM allocates subnets of variable sizes to better utilize address space. Subnetting partitions a network into logical sub-networks, while supernetting combines smaller address ranges into a larger space to simplify routing. Both techniques aim to extend the lifetime of available IP addresses.

Uploaded by

Stojan Kitanov
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 11

Difference Between CIDR and VLSM

CIDR and VLSM are the terms explicitly used at the time of designing a
network where CIDR is used for merging the routes in order to decrease the
routing information carried by the core routers. On the contrary, VLSM
facilitates in optimizing the available address space.
CIDR is just opposite of VLSM, where it describes rules for referencing set of
networks with a single route statement. Conversely, VLSM defines rules for
subdividing the networks.

Definition of CIDR

Before understanding the CIDR, we must understand what prefix routing is. It
means to allocate a set of classful networks, expressed by a single network
address. Prefix masks shows a set of TCP/IP network addresses using the
technique of address or subnet mask. The aggregation of classful networks
specifies the old structure of Class A, B, C addressing, or classful addressing.
However, this classful addressing would not useful at the time of establishing
connectivity between organizations through the internet. Therefore, for
aggregating these classful networks and connecting the organizations through
the network, the concept used is known as Interdomain Routing.

CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) does not use the ides of class-based
networks, as we know that classful addressing had the limitation where the
public IP addresses were lesser than the demand of the people for the public
addresses (For using the internet). Initially, it was designed to enable ISPs to
hand out the smaller or larger blocks of IP addresses instead of a class. It is also
known as route summarization.

Definition of VLSM

VLSM (Variable Length Subnet Masking) is a technique of assigning the host


space of distinct size between the networks through distributing a network
into several subnetworks. It was basically designed to provide more flexibility
for configuring a network using different masks.

In other words, the Variable Length Subnet Masking or VLSM is the technique
of applying multiple subnet mask to a provided class of addresses over a
routed system. This was not possible before as the previously designed
protocols like RIPv1 would not support subnet mask of advertised networks in
their routing updates. As an outcome, they are unable to learn the existence of
more than one mask length.

The classless routing protocols like OSPF, RIPv2, EIGRP, IS-IS and BGP make
the implementation of VLSM possible by incorporating the subnet mask for
the networks that are advertised in the routing updates. Previously, the use of
networks were limited to only/26 masks throughout the system.
Example of CIDR

For example, ISP “a” owns a Class C networks 198.0.0.0 by 198.255.255.0.


When no CIDR is used, all the other ISPs’ routing tables would be having a
distinct route to each of the 2^16 Class C networks that begin with 198. But
when CIDR is implemented the other ISPs’ routers have a unique route to the
198.0.0.0/8, as shown in the diagram. Alternatively, it contains a route to all
hosts in which the IP address starts with 198. However, more than 2.09 million
Class C networks alone exist, but CIDR has promoted internet routers shorten
their routing tables to a more manageable size.

A routing protocol that interchanges the mask, as well as the subnet/network


number, helps in obtaining the classless view of the number. Let’s assume,
198.0.0.0/8 defines a group of addresses whose first 8 bits are to decimal 198.
Now, the work of the ISP “a” is to advertise this certain route to the remaining
ISPs, who requires the only route to the IP address 198.0.0.0/8. The ISP “a” is
aware of which Class C networks are at which customer sites.
Example of VLSM

Let’s take an example of a university which has several departments with


different computing needs, such as engineering department needs 75 hosts,
management department needs 50, similarly arts department with 25 and
medical science department with 20. Here, we are taking regular class C
address space – 192.168.1.0. If we employ fixed subnetting in the above
example, the 255 host addresses will be divided into 4 subnets of 62 hosts.
Therefore, the engineering department will experience a shortage of IP
addresses while medical science department would get IP addresses in
abundance.

So, resolve this issue VLSM (Variable Length Subnet Masking) is used, the 255
addresses are first divided into two parts each having 126 hosts. One subnet
will be allotted to the engineering department. The other subnet is divided into
two sub-subnets each having 62 hosts, among which one is assigned to the
management department. Similarly, the sub-subnet with 62 hosts is further
split to generate two sub-sub-subnets containing 30-30 hosts each which
covers the remaining two departments.
Merits of CIDR

 Reduces the size of the routing table.


 Generates less overhead with respect to network traffic, CPU and
memory.
 Provides flexibility in designing, addressing the networks.
Merits of VLSM

 Effective utilization of the address space.


 It is capable of hierarchical addressing.
 Reduces the size of the routing tables.

Conclusion

The CIDR allows to aggregate several networks in a single address, and this is
done with the help of a routing table entry which expresses the aggregation of
the network. In contrast, the VLSM helps in creating a hierarchy of subnets
holding distinct sizes from an IP address space.
Difference Between Subnetting and
Supernetting

Subnetting is the technique of partitioning a large network into smaller


networks. On the other hand, the supernetting is the method used for
combining the smaller ranges of addresses into larger space. Supernetting was
devised to make the routing process more convenient. Additionally, it reduces
the size of routing table information so that it could consume less space in the
router’s memory. The well-defined method for the subnetting is FLSM and
VLSM while for supernetting CIDR is used.

Subnetting and supernetting are the techniques invented for resolving the


problem of address depletion. Although, the techniques were not able to
eliminate the problem, but certainly decreased the rate of address depletion.
Supernetting is inverse process of subnetting.
Comparison Chart
Definition of Subnetting

Subnetting is a technique of partitioning an individual physical network into


several small-sized logical sub-networks. These subnetworks are known
as subnets. An IP address is made up of the combination of the network
segment and a host segment. A subnet is constructed by accepting the bits
from the IP address host portion which are then used to assign a number of
small-sized sub-networks in the original network.

The Subnetting basically convert the host bits into the network bits. As
mentioned above the subnetting strategy was initially devised for slowing
down the depletion of the IP addresses.

The subnetting permits the administrator to partition a single class A, class B,


class C network into smaller parts. VLSM (Variable Length Subnet Mask) is a
technique which partitions IP address space into subnets of different sizes and
prevent memory wastage. Furthermore, when the number of hosts is same in
subnets, that is known as FLSM (Fixed Length Subnet Mask).
Definition of Supernetting

Supernetting is inverse process of subnetting, in which several networks are


merged into a single network. While performing supernetting, the mask bits
are moved toward the left of the default mask. The supernetting is also known
as router summarization and aggregation. It results in the creation of more
host addresses at the expense of network addresses, where basically the
network bits are converted into host bits.

The supernetting is performed by internet service provider rather than the


normal users, to achieve the most efficient IP address allocation. CIDR
(Classless Inter-Domain Routing) is scheme used to route the network traffic
across the internet. CIDR is a supernetting technique where the several
subnets are combined together for the network routing. In simpler words,
CIDR allows the IP addresses to be organized in the subnetworks independent
of the value of the addresses. 
Advantages of Subnetting

 Minimizes the network traffic through decreasing the volume of


broadcasts.
 Increases addressing flexibility.
 Increases the number of allowed hosts in local area network.
 The network security can be readily employed between subnets
rather than employing it in the whole network.
 Subnets are easy to maintain and manage.
Advantages of Supernetting

 The size of the router memory table is minimized by summarizing


several routing information entries into a single entry.
 It also increases the speed of routing table lookup.
 Provision for the router to isolate the topology changes from the
other routers.
 It also reduces the network traffic.
Disadvantages of Subnetting

 However, it is quite expensive.


 It requires trained administrator to perform subnetting.
Disadvantages of Supernetting

 The combination of blocks should be made in power 2;


alternatively, if the three blocks are required, then there must be
assigned four blocks.
 The whole network should exist in the same class.
 When merged, it lacks covering different areas.

Conclusion

Subnetting and supernetting both the terms have inverse meaning where
subnetting is used to separate the smaller subnetworks form each other by
dividing a larger network. Conversely, supernetting is used to combine the
smaller range of addresses into a larger one to make routing process more easy
and fast. Ultimately, both techniques are used to increase the availability of the
IP addresses and reduce the depletion of IP addresses.

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy