Frank,

I think this is CIDR notation for subnet masks.

A subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 is really the 10-base notation of a
binary masking system: 11111111.11111111.11111111.00000000. (Notice 
11111111 equals 255, and 00000000 equals 0.) The 1s indicate
which part of the number is the network, and the 0s represent the
machine number. 

The mask is always in two distinct pieces, so 11111111.11111111.
11111111.11000000 is possible, but never something intermixed like
11111111.11001100.10101000. So if you know the last 6 bits are the all
0s (for machine address), you also know then remaining 26 bits are all
1s and represent the network address.

CIDR notation takes advantage of this numbering trick to represent the
whole submask by only counting how many bits represent machine numbers. 
So 192.168.0.1/8 is 192.168.0.1/11111111.11111111.11111111.00000000
or 192.168.0.1/255.255.255.0.

Clear as mud?

Miark


> In some previous posts I have noticed people refering to their IP address
> range as xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/xx.
> 
> Just curious as to what the /xx refers to.  Is it some type of range?

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