What Is A Subnet?

[saladiro]

hello,
I have been a PC user for over 20y years, i have 0 experienve with a MAC, so please forgive my elementary comments. I would like to know what a subnet is? and would I share one with.....lets say my brother in Colorado?😀

 

[mad jew]

Is this what you're after? By the way, MAC is a networking acronym whereas Mac is the type of computer (I believe you're referring to). Just thought I'd clear that up for you so as there's no confusion later. 🙂

 

[diamond.g]

hello,
I have been a PC user for over 20y years, i have 0 experienve with a MAC, so please forgive my elementary comments. I would like to know what a subnet is? and would I share one with.....lets say my brother in Colorado?😀

Subnet. If you want to have a network with your sibling in another location you are probably going to want to have some sort of VPN set up between the two of you along with static IP's. In a nutshell you would want to have a tunnel between the two of you (encrypted) where you both would show up on the same network. It would probably require a router that can do vpn (on both ends).

 

[saladiro]

Subnet. If you want to have a network with your sibling in another location you are probably going to want to have some sort of VPN set up between the two of you along with static IP's. In a nutshell you would want to have a tunnel between the two of you (encrypted) where you both would show up on the same network. It would probably require a router that can do vpn (on both ends).

How is that any different form logging on to AOL an chatting with a family member?

is there a benefit to a subnet? is it required?

Can I function with out setting up this VPN? I was under the impression, that once online, I could interact with everyone as I have done on my PC

 

[mad jew]

Mate, maybe tell us what you're aiming to do first. A subnet isn't a Mac term but rather a general networking term.

 

[yellow]

A subnet is a range of 255 IP addresses within a given network range, where the first 3 octets of the IP address are the same.

For example, 192.168.1.x, where x would be 0-254. All of those 255 possible IP addresses are in the same subnet.

It's frankly highly unlikely that you and your brother can share a subnet. Typically a subnet is reserved for computers behind the same router/switch. Meaning, they are typically within close proximity to each other.

What exactly do you need to know this for? It would be much easier for us to help you if we knew what you were trying to accomplish.

 

[saladiro]

A subnet is a range of 255 IP addresses within a given network range, where the first 3 octets of the IP address are the same.

For example, 192.168.1.x, where x would be 0-254. All of those 255 possible IP addresses are in the same subnet.

It's frankly highly unlikely that you and your brother can share a subnet. Typically a subnet is reserved for computers behind the same router/switch. Meaning, they are typically within close proximity to each other.

What exactly do you need to know this for? It would be much easier for us to help you if we knew what you were trying to accomplish.

thank you....I am probably going to switch over to the MAC after 20yrs of PC experience, I am cluelesss. Although I would not do this b/c it is illegal, its my curiosity that brings me to this question. I was wondering what would happen if I used my brothers copy of office 2004 (he lives in New Jersey, and I in NY) and installed it in my machine. I was told that we could not use the same app (eg MS word) at the same time
1) is this true?

 

[yellow]

OOoooooooooohhhh... now I understand.

Retail version of Office look for other instances of itself on the same subnet to curtail corporate malfeasance.
It's virtually impossible that you will be on the same subnet.

 

[Queso]

is there a benefit to a subnet? is it required?

Can I function with out setting up this VPN? I was under the impression, that once online, I could interact with everyone as I have done on my PC

OK, firstly this isn't a Mac thing, but to do with the way the Internet works for everyone, even on Windows. A subnet is essentially just a group of similar network addresses. When you put in an IP address, you define a subnet mask which tells the computer the boundary of this group. That's not the strictest definition but it's the easiest way to describe it for non-techie types.

Now, for the VPN. Although once online you can talk to just about anyone on the Internet, the connection between your computer and the one you want to talk to is not normally point-to-point. This means there are a large number of intermediate devices and networks that communication needs to pass through between the two machines, and at any point along the path someone could listen in. You get around this by creating a VPN. A VPN is a tunnel between the two computers, so that everything sent between them is encrypted. The computer at either end can still talk outside of the tunnel to the world at large, but when they talk to each other they do so privately. Since the VPN encryption algorithms are open to all computer and software vendors, a Mac can use a VPN with a PC and vice versa.

 

[pjo]

A subnet is a range of 255 IP addresses within a given network range, where the first 3 octets of the IP address are the same.

For example, 192.168.1.x, where x would be 0-254. All of those 255 possible IP addresses are in the same subnet.

Only true if the netmask of the hosts in that network is a /24 (i.e 255.255.255.0 ) and yes, that "number" you type in addition to your IP address defines your "subnet" or "network".

 

[yellow]

Only true if the netmask of the hosts in that network is a /24 (i.e 255.255.255.0 ) and yes, that "number" you type in addition to your IP address defines your "subnet" or "network".

Absolutely true.. but those details are far beyond the scope of this thread. In layman's terms, I think what I posted was close enough.

 

[saladiro]

OOoooooooooohhhh... now I understand.

Retail version of Office look for other instances of itself on the same subnet to curtail corporate malfeasance.
It's virtually impossible that you will be on the same subnet.

MUCH APPRECIATED!!! 😉

 

[diamond.g]

Now, for the VPN. Although once online you can talk to just about anyone on the Internet, the connection between your computer and the one you want to talk to is not normally point-to-point. This means there are a large number of intermediate devices and networks that communication needs to pass through between the two machines, and at any point along the path someone could listen in. You get around this by creating a VPN. A VPN is a tunnel between the two computers, so that everything sent between them is encrypted. The computer at either end can still talk outside of the tunnel to the world at large, but when they talk to each other they do so privately. Since the VPN encryption algorithms are open to all computer and software vendors, a Mac can use a VPN with a PC and vice versa.

Right, and using a VPN allows you to join two (or more) networks as one.

OT
You could make them use the same subnet, if you really wanted. It requires more work, but in the end makes it easier to use subnet based discovery services, like bonjour.
/OT

 

[Dunepilot]

is there some sort of networking for beginners site that any of the people who understand this stuff well would recommend?

Cheers