Click here for Part 1 of this series.

WARNING: You must master subnetting using our course or some other trusted materials before you start using these shortcut approaches. It is a common issue for Cisco candidates to move directly to subnetting shortcuts for the exams without fully understanding exactly how subnetting functions.

ICND1 (CCENT)

Question 2: You have run the ipconfig command and discovered your IP address and mask are 192.168.20.102 and 255.255.255.224. How many hosts are permitted on your subnet?

Step 1: I reference the Powers of Two chart I created on my scratch paper when I encountered the first question. Adding 128 + 64 + 32 = 224. There are 3 bits used for subnetting and that leaves 5 bits for hosts.

2^7=128  |  2^6=64  |  2^5=32  |  2^4=16  |  2^3=8  |  2^2-=4 | 2  ^1=2  |  2^0=1

Step 2: The equation for the number of hosts per subnet is 2^h - 2 where h is the number of host bits. From the chart I see that 2^5  = 32. 32-2 = 30 hosts per subnet! Too easy!

As always, let us know in the comments if you have a quicker approach.