Choosing an Address Allocation Method

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Choose an address allocation method that best fits your structured address model. Addressing by topology is recommended. However, you can choose one or more of the following methods:

  • Random address allocation. Under a random addressing structure, you can assign blocks of addresses randomly. Random address allocation might be the most frequently used address allocation method, but it is the least desirable. For a small network where no significant growth is anticipated, this approach might be appropriate. However, if the network does grow, random address allocation can cause extra work for network administrators. Summarizing the random collection of routes might be difficult or impossible. This method can cause stability problems, with numerous routes being advertised to the core tier.

  • Addressing by organization chart. To base your address structure on your organization chart, you create subnets based on a pool of addresses preassigned to a department or team. If, for example, you designate the Sales department as 10.2.0.0/16, the address 10.2.1.0/24 might be the subnet for the sales team at one site and 10.2.2.0/24 might be the subnet for the sales team at another site. To the extent that contiguous subnets remain unassigned, this address allocation method offers limited possibilities for route summarization, but, as a rule, this kind of addressing scheme does not scale well.

  • Addressing by geographical region. When you base your address structure on location, a greater degree of summarization is possible. However, as the internetwork of a geographically diverse organization continues to grow, fewer routes are available for summarization.

  • Addressing by topology. By basing your address structure on topology, you can ensure that summarization takes place and that an internetwork remains scalable and stable. Addressing by topology makes the addressing structure router-centric, enhancing efficiency.