Difference between Subnetting and Supernetting

In this article, we are going to study about the Subnetting and Supernetting. We are going to see the differences between Subnetting and Supernetting. Both Subnetting and Supernetting are related to network management.

What is Subnetting?

Subnetting is a process or a technique in which the large network is divided into small parts or small logical Subnetworks. The small parts of network which are divided from large network can also be called as subnet and the parent network is called as the host network. One IP address will be created with the combination of the network segment and the host segment. Subnet will only accept the data which is transferring from the IP address of the host segment. The main functionality of the Subnetting is to convert the host bits into the network bits. Subnetting was developed for slowing down the depletion of the IP address. Subnetting technique allows the administrator to bring up the partitions in a single class. Address depletion was the main purpose of developing the Subnetting, but the Subnetting does not fully resolve the address depletion problem in the network systems.

What is Supernetting?

Supernetting is quite different from the Subnetting, but it also deals with the address depletion problem. In Supernetting technique many small parts of the networks are merged or clubbed together to form a large network. The Supernetting technique is also called as the router summarization. The Supernetting technique will give the IP address of the host segment based on the network IP addresses. In the Supernetting technique the network bits are converted into the host bits. Usually, the Supernetting process is carried out by the lot of internet service providers. The Supernetting technique helps the internet service providers in finding the most efficient IP address allocation to the networks. In Supernetting technique, they use a process called Classless Inter-Domain Routing which helps in the routing of the networks. In this process, different ranges of IP addresses are merged to form a large network system. CIDR process allows organizing all the IP addresses in the network system.

Advantages of Subnetting

The Subnetting has got a lot of advantages in the network routing in the big network ecosystems.
The Subnetting will helps in decreasing the network traffic by reducing the volume of broadcasts.
The maintenance of the Subnets is easy because of their size and the organizing will be also easy with the Subnetting process.

Advantages of Supernetting

By using the Supernetting technique helps in reducing the size of router memory tables.
The Supernetting technique improves the speed of routing table.
The network traffic will also be reduced when the Supernetting technique is used.

Disadvantages of Subnetting

Subnetting is a very expensive process and the Subnetting process requires the trained people to perform it in the large network systems.
It also increases the overall cost to the company using the Subnetting.

Disadvantages of Supernetting

There are many disadvantages for the Supernetting technique.
The Supernetting process only works when the whole network system presents in the same class.
It does not work when there are networks of different classes are present.