How Supernetting Works?

Answer: Supernetting is the opposite of subnetting, it is also known as route summarization, in subnetting there is a single network that is large in capacity and it’s divided into smaller multiple networks that act as a subnetwork.

Subnetting is useful when combining more than a few networks into a bigger is known as subnetting. similarly when we combine multiple small-size networks into a bigger network then it is known as supernetting. Supernetting reduces the number of routing table entries in a network, enhancing efficiency and scalability.

Supernetting helps in reducing the size of the routing tables and helps to reduce the size of the routing updates which constantly happens by various routing protocols.

Working of Supernetting

Supernetting occurs by following a set of steps that are important for converting the large network into smaller networks, following are the steps involved in the supernetting:

1. Identify the Subnets
2. Determine the Common Prefix
3. Select the New Prefix Length
4. Calculate the Supernet Address
5. Update Routing Tables
6. Allocate IP Addresses
7. Ensure Contiguity