Installing and Administering LAN/9000 Software

Chapter 6 123
Network Addressing
Overview of Network Addressing Schemes
Overview of Network Addressing Schemes
With HP-UX 11i Release, Hewlett-Packard offers several types of
addressing schemes. Table 6-1 below shows the advantages and
disadvantages of each type of scheme.
Table 6-1 Comparison of Subnet and Supernet Addressing Schemes
Address Type Advantages Disadvantages
Fixed-Length
Subnet Addressing
Simplicity
- same netmask across network
- same size subnets across the
network
Inefficiency & Inflexibility
- waste of address space
- same size subnets across the
network
- cannot grow subnet beyond the
fixed size
Variable-Length
Subnet Addressing
Efficiency & Flexibility
- address space allocated according
to projected size of subnets
- variability in subnet size
- expandability in subnet size
- grow subnet by changing subnet
mask only
Complexity
- keeping track of subnet ranges
- keeping track of netmasks
Supernet
Addressing
Simplicity
- same netmask across subnets
- no gateway configuration for
networks
Network Impact
- performance. Network
bandwidth is shared by all nodes
in the supernet.
- requires bridges if the supernet
is spread across multiple physical
networks