I think it is better to tell the difference of Subnet Mask and Variable Length Subnet Mask(VLSM) at the beginning. As I discuss in earlier article Subnet Mask is there to split one IP address into several IP’s which can use in difference LAN’s. But the question is it limit the number of accessible hosts(computers) in each LAN. Let takes the previous example, 192.168.5.0/26 (LAN A) can only have 62 (2^6 -2) computers(hosts). But Imagine that we need to keep 100 computers in LAB A? Now I think you can understand how Subnet Mask is questioned. The answer is Variable Length Subnet Mask. I try to discuss how we use VLSM in practice in this article. I rearrange the previous example as following. ISP given address -> 192.168.5.0 /24 LAN A -> 100 (lets think LAN A need 100 computers). LAN B ->50 LAN C -> 50 LAN D ->50 Let see how we solve this problem. 192.168.5.0 /24 is the given IP and we take one bit from host side of that IP. We can define two di...