Explain the concept of subnetting in IP addressing. Provide an example subnetting scenario using a given IP address and subnet mask.

Subnetting is a method that is used to split a network into two or more smaller network sections, or subnets. It is used to optimize network performance and simplify management, as well as to improve network security.

Here's a step-by-step explanation of subnetting:

1. Identify the IP address and subnet mask: An IP address is a unique identifier for a device on a network. It is divided into two parts: the network address and the host address. The subnet mask is used to identify the network address. It is a 32-bit number that masks an IP address and divides the IP address into network address and host address.

2. Determine the subnet: The subnet is determined by the subnet mask. The bits of the subnet mask that are set to 1 represent the subnet.

3. Calculate the number of subnets and hosts per subnet: The number of subnets is determined by the number of bits that are set to 1 in the subnet mask. The number of hosts per subnet is determined by the number of bits that are set to 0 in the subnet mask.

4. Assign IP addresses to the subnets: Each subnet is assigned a range of IP addresses. The first IP address in the range is the network address, and the last IP address is the broadcast address. The remaining IP addresses can be assigned to devices on the network.

For example, let's consider the IP address 192.168.1.0 with the subnet mask 255.255.255.0. The subnet mask indicates that the first three octets (192.168.1) represent the network address, and the last octet (0) represents the host addresses. This means that the network has 256 possible IP addresses (0-255), but the first (192.168.1.0) is the network address and the last (192.168.1.255) is the broadcast address. So, there are 254 usable IP addresses (192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.254) that can be assigned to devices on the network.