About this interactive
Subnetting a Class B or a Class A network uses the same steps as a Class C. Only the size of the numbers changes. Class B has 16 host bits to borrow from and Class A 24, so the subnet boundary usually lands in the third or the second octet, and each subnet spans whole octets. 172.40.0.0 split into /21 subnets steps by 8 in the third octet: 172.40.0.0, 172.40.8.0, 172.40.16.0. The third subnet runs from 172.40.16.0 to 172.40.23.255.
The octets after the boundary are all host bits. In the network address they are all 0, and in the broadcast address they are all 255, which is why a broadcast like 172.40.23.255 ends in .255 and the next network starts at 172.40.24.0. Taking one away from a network address borrows from the octet before it: one below 172.40.24.0 is 172.40.23.255. On a Class A, once the third octet runs out the network addresses carry over into the second: the fifth /17 subnet of 10.0.0.0 is 10.2.0.0.
Type addresses in dotted decimal. Anything you miss shows the answer and how to work it out. Seven of the twenty-two questions are drawn each run.
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