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CBT Nuggets Subnetting Cheat Sheet

Binary Conversion/Subnets/Subnet Mask Chart
Bits 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Decimal Value 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
Decimal Mask NA 192 224 240 248 252 254 255
Binary Mask NA 11000000 11100000 11110000 11111000 11111100 11111110 11111111
# of Subnets 0 2 6 14 30 62 126 254
Subnet Breakout NA .64- .32- .16- .8- .4- .2- .1-
High/ Low Order High Order Bit Low Order Bit

* How to reproduce the chart above

• Decimal value starts at 1 for low order bit and doubles until 128 (the high order bit)
• Decimal mask is a sum of the decimal values of the bits you are using (starting from the high order bit)
• # of subnets is calculated by assigning a value of 0 to the mask for the high order bit, and then doubling and adding
two as you go to the right
• Subnet breakout is the range of IP addresses you can assign: increment by the number you start with, start with the
number that is the decimal value of the low order bit of your subnet mask.

Tip: Determine the number of bits you need for the network and the number of bits you need for the hosts and then use
this equation to find the decimal equivalent:
2bits -2
Scenario 1: You want X number of subnets, what is the subnet mask?
• Look at the chart above –or-
• Convert X to binary, determine how many low-order bits you need to make the number (can’t have all 1’s; if number is
all 1’s add another bit), that many bits is the number of high-order bits that make up your subnet mask, convert the
high-order bits to decimal value –or-

Scenario 2: Determine what the range of valid address is (subnet breakout) for X subnet mask
• Look at the chart above –or-
• Convert X to binary and determine the decimal value of the lowest high-order bit, start the range of addresses at that
value, and increment the range by that value

Scenario 3: Convert binary to decimal and decimal to binary

• Start at the low-order bit, it’s value is 1, the value of every bit to the left is double the one to the right of it, add all the
values where there is a one in the binary number, disregard the zero’s. –or-
• Use the scientific view on the Windows calculator to convert either way

Scenario 4: You want X number of hosts and X number of subnets

• Look at the chart above for the subnets, then use the equation 2bits –2 to determine the number of hosts (use the
number of bits left for hosts) –or-
• Convert X (for the subnets) to binary, determine how many low-order bits you need to make the number (can’t have
all 1’s; if number is all 1’s add another bit), that many bits is the number of high-order bits that make up your subnet
mask, convert the high-order bits to decimal value- that is the number of subnets; take the number of bits left and
convert that to decimal and subtract 1 – that is the number of hosts

Scenario 5: Determine the # of subnets for X subnet mask

• Look at the chart above –or-
• Convert X to binary and use the equation 2bits –2 to determine the number of subnets

Class A Addresses 1-127.x.x.x

Class B Addresses 128-191.x.x.x
Class C Addresses 192-223.x.x.x
Class D Addresses 224-239.x.x.x
Class E Addresses 240-254.x.x.x