Understanding the purpose of the subnet mask
Both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses have an accompanying subnet mask. The subnet mask plays a very important role within the network and helps a sender device determine whether to forward a message to the default gateway or not. The following are the important key characteristics of the subnet mask and its responsibilities:
- An IPv4 subnet mask has the same length as an IPv4 address, which is
32
bits in length, while an IPv6 subnet mask is128
bits in length. - The subnet mask is used with an IPv4 or IPv6 address to help devices identify the network and host ports of the IP address.
- The subnet mask is used to help devices and network professionals determine the total number of IP addresses and usable (assignable) addresses within an IP network.
- The subnet mask helps a sender device determine whether the destination host is on the same IP network as the sender or on another network. If the destination host is on another IP subnet...