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authorThomas Voss <mail@thomasvoss.com> 2024-11-27 20:54:24 +0100
committerThomas Voss <mail@thomasvoss.com> 2024-11-27 20:54:24 +0100
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+Network Working Group David D. Clark
+Request for Comments: 932 MIT, LCS
+ January 1985
+
+ A SUBNETWORK ADDRESSING SCHEME
+
+
+STATUS OF THIS MEMO
+
+ This RFC suggests a proposed protocol for the ARPA-Internet
+ community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements.
+ Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+ Several recent RFCs have discussed the need for a "subnet" structure
+ within the internet addressing scheme, and have proposed strategies
+ for "subnetwork" addressing and routing. In particular, Jeff Mogul
+ in his RFC-917, "Internet Subnets", describes an addressing scheme in
+ which a variable number of the leading bits of the host portion of
+ the address are used to identify the subnet. The drawback to this
+ scheme is that it is necessary to modify the host implementation in
+ order to implement it. While the modification is a simple one, it is
+ necessary to retrofit it into all implementations, including those
+ which are already in the field. (See RFC-917 by Mogul for various
+ alternative approaches to this problem, such as using Address
+ Resolution Protocol.)
+
+ This RFC proposes an alternative addressing scheme for subnets which,
+ in most cases, requires no modification to host software whatsoever.
+ The drawbacks of this scheme are that the total number of subnets in
+ any one network are limited, and that modification is required to all
+ gateways.
+
+THE PROPOSAL
+
+ In this scheme, the individual subnets of a network are numbered
+ using Class C addresses. Since it is necessary with this scheme that
+ a Class C address used to number a subnet be distinguishable from a
+ Class C address used to number an isolated network, we will reserve
+ for subnetworks the upper half of the Class C address space, in other
+ words all those Class C addresses for which the high order bit is on.
+ When a network is to be organized as a series of subnetworks, a block
+ of these reserved Class C addresses will be assigned to that network,
+ specifically a block of 256 addresses having the two first bytes
+ identical. Thus, the various subnetworks of a network are
+ distinguished by the third byte of the Internet address. (This
+ addressing scheme implies the limitation that there can only be 256
+ subnetworks in a net. If more networks are required, two blocks will
+ have to be allocated, and the total viewed as two separate networks.)
+
+
+
+Clark [Page 1]
+
+
+
+RFC 932 January 1985
+A Subnetwork Addressing Scheme
+
+
+ The gateways and hosts attached to this subnetted network use these
+ addresses as ordinary Class C addresses. Thus, no modification to
+ any host software is required for hosts attached to a subnetwork.
+
+ For gateways not directly attached to the subnetted network, it is an
+ unacceptable burden to separately store the routing information to
+ each of the subnets. The goal of any subnet addressing scheme is to
+ provide a strategy by which distant gateways can store routing
+ information for the network as a whole. In this scheme, since the
+ first two bytes of the address is the same for every subnet in the
+ network, those first two bytes can be stored and manipulated as if
+ they are a single Class B address by a distant gateway. These
+ addresses, which can be used either as a Class B or Class C address
+ as appropriate, have been informally called Class "B 1/2" addresses.
+
+ In more detail, a gateway would treat Class C addresses as follows
+ under the scheme. First, test to see whether the high order bit of
+ the address is on. If not, the address is an ordinary Class C
+ address and should be treated as such.
+
+ If the bit is on, this Class C address identifies a subnet of a
+ network. Test to see if this gateway is attached to that network.
+ If so, treat the address as an ordinary Class C address.
+
+ If the gateway is not attached to the network containing that
+ subnetwork, discard the third byte of the Class C address and treat
+ the resulting two bytes as a Class B address. Note that there can be
+ no conflict between this two-byte pattern and an ordinary Class B
+ address, because the first bits of this address are not those of a
+ valid Class B address, but rather those of a Class C address.
+
+OPTIMIZATIONS
+
+ If a network grows to more than 256 subnetworks, it will be necessary
+ to design two distinct blocks of special Class C addresses, and to
+ view this aggregate as two separate networks. However, the gateways
+ of these two networks can, by proper design, run a joint routing
+ algorithm which maintains optimal routes between the two halves, even
+ if they are connected together by a number of gateways.
+
+ Indeed, in general it is possible for gateways that are not directly
+ attached to a subnetworked network to be specially programmed to
+ remember the individual Class C addresses, if doing so provides
+ greatly improved network efficiency in some particular case.
+
+ It was stated earlier that no modification to the host software is
+ necessary to implement this scheme. There is one case in which a
+
+
+Clark [Page 2]
+
+
+
+RFC 932 January 1985
+A Subnetwork Addressing Scheme
+
+
+ minor modification may prove helpful. Consider the case of a distant
+ host, not immediately attached to this subnetworked network. That
+ host, even though at a distance, will nonetheless maintain separate
+ routing entries for each of the distinct subnetwork addresses about
+ which it has any knowledge. For most hosts, storing this information
+ for each subnet represents no problem, because most implementations
+ do not try to remember routing information about every network
+ address in the Internet, but only those addresses that are of current
+ interest. If, however, for some reason the host has a table which
+ attempts to remember routing information about every Internet address
+ it has ever seen, than that host should be programmed to understand
+ the gateway's algorithm for collapsing the addresses of distant
+ subnets from three bytes to two. However, it is not a recommended
+ implementation strategy for the host to maintain this degree of
+ routing information, so under normal circumstances, the host need not
+ be concerned with the C to B conversion.
+
+DRAWBACK
+
+ The major drawback of this scheme is that any implementation storing
+ large tables of addresses must be changed to know the "B 1/2"
+ conversion rule. Most importantly, all gateways must be programmed to
+ know this rule. Thus, adoption of this scheme will require a
+ scheduled mandatory change by every gateway implementation. The
+ difficulty of organizing this is unknown.
+
+OTHER VARIATIONS
+
+ It is possible to imagine other variations on the patterns of
+ collapsing addresses. For example, 256 Class B addresses could be
+ gathered together and collapsed into one Class A address. However,
+ since the first three bits of the resulting Class A address would be
+ constrained, this would permit only 32 such subnetted networks to
+ exist. A more interesting alternative would be to permit the
+ collapse of Class C addresses into a single Class A address. It is
+ not entirely obvious the best way of organizing the sub-fields of
+ this address, but this combination would permit a few very large nets
+ of subnets to be assembled within the Internet.
+
+ The most interesting variation of "B 1/2" addresses is to increase
+ the number of bits used to identify the subnet by taking bits from
+ the resulting Class B address. For example, if 10 bits were used to
+ identify the subnet (providing 1024 subnets per network), then the
+ gateway, when forming the equivalent address, would not only drop the
+ third byte but also mask the last two bits of the B address. Since
+ the first three bits of the address are constrained, this would leave
+ 13 bits for the network number, or 8192 possible subnetworked
+
+
+Clark [Page 3]
+
+
+
+RFC 932 January 1985
+A Subnetwork Addressing Scheme
+
+
+ networks. This number is not as large as would be desirable, so it
+ is clear that selecting the size of the subnet field is an important
+ compromise.
+
+ Danny Cohen has suggested that this scheme should be fully
+ generalized so that the boundaries between the network, subnetwork,
+ and host field be arbitrarily movable. The problem in such a
+ generalization is to determine how the gateway is to maintain the
+ table or algorithm which permits the collapsing of the address to
+ occur. This RFC proposes that, in the short run, only one single
+ form of "B 1/2" addresses be implemented as an Internet subnet
+ standard.
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+Clark [Page 4]
+