What is Supernet?

In the world of networking, a super net is a technique used to concatenate multiple IP networks into a larger network that has a single address and therefore keep a table of routing small. This process finds application when the organizations possess clusters of networks, which they are supposed to treat as one unit.

A Supernet, for instance, is an approach in the networking practice that improves the performance of small, separate IP networks into a single, complicated network. The emergence of path aggregation helps in that way by decreasing the number of routing table entries that are necessary for the traffic to be routed among the networks.

• Supernet: A Supernet is a unified, aggregated network that comprises of many network segments. It helps automate routing operations in a network, thus reducing the network’s routing table size.

• IP Network: IP network is a group of devices network through which communication is done by the Internet Protocol (IP). Every piece of device on the network is provided with a particular IP address.

• Aggregation: Aggregation can be defined as a collection of several networks into one bigger network. This is for easing the routing procedure and manually decreasing the number of routing table entries.

• Routing: Routing is the algorithm that decides successfully the shortest way data packets to be transferred over a network from a source to a destination. Involves the selection of the shortest and therefore the most efficient route in relation to network congestion and latency.

• Routing Table: A routing table is a data list that is stored in a router or any computer network to which indicates routes to certain target destinations. Forwarding of data packets is needed to achieve this goal.

• Prefix: We call this IP networkability in industry and imply that the IP address has been allocated to blocks of IP addresses, therefore, the network has now the chance to identify them. Address length is measured in bits allotted for the network address portion. Also written in CIDR notation.

• CIDR: An example of the IIP routing scheme is CIDR, short for Classless Inter-Domain Routing. They are, yet, somehow, a classifying process which something is describing what IP addresses are used for and how they are allocated. CIDR notation is another name for a shorthand way of writing IP address ranges for which is the shortest possible form compared with the numbers in the full address group.

• Routing Protocol: A routing protocol is a suite of guidelines that, for the most part, are implemented by the routers to swap data about the network topology structure. Consequently, all the required infrastructure processes of OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) and BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) like for example.

• Subnet: A subnetwork mostly refer to smaller networks which are present in the bigger network. It enables to be break down into smaller parts and more effective tools that can easily be integrated in the network.

• Internet Protocol (IP): Internet Protocol (IP) is a way of formatting the so called IP packets to be sent any computer network (s) via the Internet. IP is assumed to be an evolving set of rules. It provides a layer which is responsible for the devices’ identification on the network. Furthermore, it allows to establish a connection between the devices and to add in access and security features.

Supernetting is applied in two networks if they follow below rules:

• Network ID must be contiguous.
• Size of the network must be same.
• Number of the network must be in the power of 2.
• First network id must be divisible by the total size of the suppernet.

• Supernetting reduce routing table entry.
• Router will take less time for processing the packet.
• It improve flexibility of IP address allotment i.e., if someone required 500 address then we have no need to purchase class B network we can combine two class C network.
• Efficient use of IP address: We know for every network two IP address is not assign to any host because one is used for network id and other is used for broadcast address. So if we use three network then six IP address is not assign to any host, this is wastage of IP address if we combine three network into single then only two IP address is not assign to any host.

• Security: If supernetting is not done in proper way then security may be a issue, id we combine several networks in a single network may increase the attacking surface and this make network security more challenging.
• Complexity: Suppernetting is not a easy task, it is challenging task to merge different networks into single one. And while performing supernetting software and hardware are required, this increase the cost and network complexity.
• Increase Complexity in Routing: In suppernetting, finding a proper path for a data packet is not a easy task, this leads to increase in routing complexity.
• Limited Scalability: We can not add two networks if their network id not contiguous.

Super netting is a specific network scalability technology that helps companies to combine into a larger, aggregated network several smaller IP networks. Super netting accomplices this by simplifying routing and decreases the size of the tab routing. As a result, there is an improvement in efficiency and scalability in networking. It is necessary to strictly monitor and design super netting underlining that it is in accordance with the corporation’s expectations. Otherwise, it entails routing issues and networks inefficiency.

Why is super netting or hyper lacing used?

In other words, super netting is a method to group a few smaller IP networks into a network that is on a broader scale. This aids optimize routing, reduce the number route table entries, and this is why the network becomes efficient and scalable.

What sets aside super netting from subnetting?

The network subnetting process divides the large IP network into smaller subnetworks, while the super netting merges the IP networks into a single network. Subnetting serves to provide IP address numbers of the network while super netting is used to achieve simplified routing of traffic between networks.

Will we be able to use subnet masks from different networks with the super network?

Yes, contiguous IP address ranges are required for systems of different subnet masks as long as they undergo Super netting. Nevertheless, the final Supernet mask will be determined by the common prefix, appearing in the network addresses.