Student with a subnetting question!

  • Thread starter Thread starter BPutnam
  • Start date Start date
B

BPutnam

I hope I'm asking this in the right place. I'm just starting out in my
studies for certifications, and I've come across a situation that has me a
bit perplexed. Probably no big deal to ya'll that have been doing this a
while, but it has got me wondering.

In class, one of the servers is setup incorrectly, using a Class B IP
address and a Class C subnet. The gateway is setup, supposedly (I haven't
seen it to verify), using a Class B address and subnet. I can connect to the
Internet with no problems from the server in question. Shouldn't this setup
*not* work, i.e. since the Gateway and my server are on different subnets,
shouldn't they be invisible to one another?

I'm guessing (just guessing, mind you!) that the answer to my question may
lie outside of the local network, possibly with the schools ISP?

I can also browse the local network with this server, and other users in the
class can see me there as well.

This seems to go against everything that I have learned so far, and I would
truly value the opinions of the experts here as to why this works!

Many thanks in advance,

Bryan
 
The subnet mask denotes which part of the ip address is the network address
and which is the host.
Because you are using a class C subnet, the first three octets of your ip
address are the network address, the remaining one is the host address for
your machine.

Your machine identifies whether an ip address is "local" or "remote" by
comparing the network address of the target ip address to its own. If the
network address is different, your machine assumes that the address is
remote, and will contact the gateway. The gateway, will forward your query
on untill it gets to the router that has the MAC address of the target
machine.

Basically, just research "local" and "remote" in regards to network
addressing and the subnet mask.
 
Thanks, Matt. I've been involved with computers, on the hardware side, for
the last 20 years, and am just making headway into the hardcore side of
networking. Most of the concepts are very straightforward. You make an
account, assign rights and permissions, etc, etc. Subnetting is a world unto
itself!

Bryan
 
Back
Top