Exactly what is subnetting and why should I care? Well, if you have to ask that question, then perhaps you should ask a Sysadmin to subnet your network for you. However, if you’re a home user with a network, you’re the Sysadmin. Or, at least you should be working to that end.

Essentially, subnetting is a way to break up one large network into smaller networks. Why you might want to or need to do this varies. For a corporate network, subnetting allows the organization to sandbox users of separate groups or departments from one another so employees of one department can’t easily access (unless you want them to) files, forms, reports, and other data since they will be on a separate network and the servers that host those documents can’t be reached. So, for example in a departmentally-subnetted network, employees in marketing can’t access data in the business department and vice versa, and business department employees can’t access data residing on the admin department network, and vice versa, etc. Additionally, a Sysadmin might segregate departments into their on subnets in order to make it easier to keep track of the host devices and to maintain them, as well as to lessen the administrative burden on supporting those PCs and the customers they are linked to.

Read more...

Dan Calloway
Asheville, NC 28805
LCDR, SC, USNR (Ret.) / 20-Year Veteran