[address-policy-wg] RE: IPv6 addresses really are scarce after all

[jnc@localhost (Noel Chiappa)]

    > From: "Hallam-Baker, Phillip" pbaker@localhost

    > Perhaps you could define the term subnet?

"IP subnet", or "subnet" in the more general networking
(outside-the-IP-community - the null set these days, I know) sense?

For the first, originally, back in the days of class A/B/C "network numbers",
it was a chunk of address space smaller than the "network" it was assigned
from; it was used to provide addresses for a particular physical network. Now
that we have CIDR, it seems to basically just means a chunk of address space
assigned to a particular hardware network (the second meaning of "subnet").

For the second, it meant a particular physical network, i.e. the collection
of end-stations which could send packets directly to each other without going
through a router. This was before bridges, hubs, etc. Goodness knows what it
means now! I'd suggest "multicast broadcast domain" as a good modern
functional definition.

	Noel