Setting the Netmask

Setting the Netmask

The netmask option of the ifconfig command is used to interpret and define the network portion (subnets included) of the Internet address. A network mask defines the portion of the Internet address that is to be considered the network part. This mask normally contains the bits corresponding to the standard network part as well as the portion of the host part that has been assigned to subnetworks. If no network mask is specified when the address is set, it will be set according to the class of the network.

To configure a station's primary interface to recognize a subnetted Class B address that is using 8 bits of the host ID for defining the subnets, create or modify the /etc/config/ifconfig-1.options file and insert the following line:

netmask 0xffffff00

This netmask value indicates that for the primary interface, the upper 24 bits of the Internet address represent the network portion of the address, and the remaining 8 bits represent the host ID. The nonsubnetted netmask for a Class B address (in hexadecimal) would be 0xffff0000. The netmask value can be set using hexadecimal, dot-notation Internet address, or pseudo-network name formats. This entry must be made on all stations on the subnet.

Note: For stations with multiple interfaces, the network mask should be set for each interface in the appropriate ifconfig-*.options file.