Several sites now contain a complex of local links connected to the Internet via a gateway. The details of the internal connectivity are of little interest to the rest of the Internet. One way of organizing these local complexes of links is to use the same strategy as the Internet uses to organize networks, that is, to declare each link to be an entity (like a network) and to interconnect the links with devices that perform routing functions (like gateways). This general scheme is called subn...| IETF Datatracker
The problem of treating a set of local area networks (LANs) as one Internet network has generated some interest and concern. It is inappropriate to give each LAN within an site a distinct Internet network number. It is desirable to hide the details of the interconnections between the LANs within an site from people, gateways, and hosts outside the site. The question arises on how to best do this, and even how to do it at all. In RFC-917 Jeffery Mogul makes a case for the use of "explicit subn...| IETF Datatracker
This memo discusses the utility of "subnets" of Internet networks, which are logically visible sub-sections of a single Internet network. For administrative or technical reasons, many organizations have chosen to divide one Internet network into several subnets, instead of acquiring a set of Internet network numbers. This memo specifies procedures for the use of subnets. These procedures are for hosts (e.g., workstations). The procedures used in and between subnet gateways are not fully descr...| IETF Datatracker