Question : How to Subnet

I am in the process of redesigning my infrastructure of our network. I want to create multiple Subnets for our network but I am not to savy on subnetting. Example:

172.168.1.0 - Servers
172.168.2.0 - Workstations

How do I figure out the subnet mask? I came of with 172.168.1.0 totally out of the blue so if anyone has any suggestions please let me know. Thanks

Answer : How to Subnet

Ok, so you're talking about running a flat network - no vlans, no routing.  Are you going to use static addressing or dynamic with a DHCP server?

Static addressing - you could address machines as you describe.  However, in my opinion, this is kind of pointless since you're not routing and there's no obvious place for security contorls - access lists or firewalls.  Use a decent naming convention and name resolution would tell you who and what the machine is.   Also, machines and people will move and quickly mess up your scheme.

Dynamic addressing - much easier to manage for a large(r) network - say over 20.  However, it would be a PITA to manage reservations forcing machines to certain IP's.  You'd want to minimize reservations and exclusions to special security needs (HR machines for instance), printers, servers.

I don't know how many machines you will have - but lets say it's between 255 and 512.

You could simply use a /23 mask - so you could have a network which is 192.168.32.0/23.

IP Address       : 192.168.32.0
Address Class    : Classless /23
Network Address  : 192.168.32.0

Subnet Address   : 192.168.32.0
Subnet Mask      : 255.255.254.0
Subnet bit mask  : nnnnnnnn.nnnnnnnn.nnnnnnnh.hhhhhhhh
Subnet Bits      : 23
Host Bits        : 9
Possible Number of Subnets : 1
Hosts per Subnet : 510

Subnet      Mask      Subnet Size      Host Range      Broadcast
192.168.32.0      255.255.254.0      510      192.168.32.1  to  192.168.33.254      192.168.33.255

>>Is this correct or should the subnet mask be 255.255.254 like you listed above. When I worked it out on paper it looked like it should be .224. But then again I am still confused about subnetting. Thanks
Do you need 8,000 hosts? A .224 mask would be roughly 8000 host addresses.  I suggested the /23 net because it gives you 510 hosts/subnet.