Classful vs Classless Routing v1.10 – Aaron Balchunas
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All original material copyright © 2006 by
Aaron Balchunas (aaron@routeralley.com),
unless otherwise noted. All other material copyright © of their respective owners.
This material may be copied and used freely, but may not be altered or sold without the expressed written
consent of the owner of the above copyright. Updated material may be found at http://www.routeralley.com.
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- Classful vs. Classless Routing -
Classful vs Classless routing protocols
Classful routing protocols do not send subnet mask information with their
routing updates. A router running a classful routing protocol will react in one
of two ways when receiving a route:
• If the router has a directly connected interface belonging to the same
major network, it will apply the same subnet mask as that interface.
• If the router does not have any interfaces belonging to the same major
network, it will apply the classful subnet mask to the route.
Belonging to same “major network” simply indicates that they belong to the
same “classful” network. For example:
• 10.3.1.0 and 10.5.5.0 belong to the same major network (10.0.0.0)
• 10.1.4.5 and 11.1.4.4 do not belong to the same major network
• 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.254 belong to the same major network
(192.168.1.0)
• 192.168.1.5 and 192.167.2.5 do not belong to the same major
network.
Take the following example (assume the routing protocol is classful):
If Router B sends a routing update to Router A, it will not include the subnet
mask for the 10.2.0.0 network. Thus, Router A must make a decision.
If Router A has a directly connected interface that belongs to the same major
network (10.0.0.0), it will use the subnet mask of that interface for the route.
For example, if Router A has an interface on the 10.4.0.0/16 network, it will
apply a subnet mask of /16 to the 10.2.0.0 network.
If Router A does not have a directly connected interfacing belonging to the
same major network, it will apply the classful subnet mask of /8. This can
obviously cause routing difficulties.
When using classful routing protocols, the subnet mask must remain
consistent throughout your entire network.