Question

Difficulty: EasyIPv4 Addressing and Subnetting

A network administrator is designing an IPv4 addressing scheme for a local subnet that must support $60$ usable host IP addresses. The administrator assigns the smallest subnet prefix length (largest mask) that accommodates this host requirement. How many total usable host IPv4 addresses are provided by this assigned subnet?

Answer: 62 hosts

Answer

The assigned subnet provides 62 total usable host IPv4 addresses.

To support 60 host addresses, a subnet must allocate 6 host bits because

2^6 - 2 = 62

usable addresses. 5 host bits only provide 30 usable addresses (

2^5 - 2

), which is insufficient.

Step-by-Step Solution

1

Determine the required number of host bits.

6 host bits are required (

2^6 - 2 = 62

).

5 host bits only yield

2^5 - 2 = 30

usable IP addresses, which is not enough for 60 hosts.

2

Calculate the usable host capacity of the subnet.

62 usable host addresses.

With 6 host bits, the total IP space is

2^6 = 64

. Subtracting the network address and the broadcast address leaves 62 usable host IP addresses.

Key Concept

IPv4 Usable Host Calculation

Estimated Time:45s

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Topics

IPv4 Addressing and Subnetting

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