Well, I'm not a CCIE, but I don't think you need to be a CCIE to answer this question. The subnet mask has nothing to do with the amount of load on the network. A side effect of having a small network mask is that there are potentially more hosts on the network, which could mean that there is more broadcast traffic, but it's just a side effect; the small network mask doesn't cause the load, the number of hosts does. If you had 25 hosts on a /24 subnet, you would have the same amount of traffic as if you put them on a /8 "subnet" all else being equal.
There are some things that could be different, but again they are side effects. For instance, if you had a network management device that sends ICMP echo requests out to every IP address in the subnet (and resultant broadcast ARPs) then there would be more "load" on the network. It is suggested that you use the proper mask for subnets though. Fred Reimer - CCNA Eclipsys Corporation, 200 Ashford Center North, Atlanta, GA 30338 Phone: 404-847-5177 Cell: 770-490-3071 Pager: 888-260-2050 NOTICE; This email contains confidential or proprietary information which may be legally privileged. It is intended only for the named recipient(s). If an addressing or transmission error has misdirected the email, please notify the author by replying to this message. If you are not the named recipient, you are not authorized to use, disclose, distribute, copy, print or rely on this email, and should immediately delete it from your computer. -----Original Message----- From: Steven Aiello [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2003 7:16 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: ??? Dumb Consultant ??? - Please Help [7:75213] Hello all, I need some folks with hopefully a CCIE to answer this question. If there is an un subnetted class A, and there are 25 or users on the network. would the fact that the network is unsubnetted cause a large load of network traffic? here is the reason and layout. Our company uses Xerox printers and they came with address 10.6.1.45 - 255.0.0.0 10.6.1.44 - 255.0.0.0 our clients are all on the same network using a DHCP pool of 10.6.1.100 - 10.6.1.150 even if there is broadcast it is one message across the network (lets say for Netbios name resolution) there is one broadcast not a unicast to 16,7xx,xxx some host. Only 25 hosts will answer correct? So how will a class A subnet mask cause this? Thanks for all input, please feel free to ramble, Steve **Please support GroupStudy by purchasing from the GroupStudy Store: http://shop.groupstudy.com FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=75218&t=75213 -------------------------------------------------- **Please support GroupStudy by purchasing from the GroupStudy Store: http://shop.groupstudy.com FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html
