What is the subnet mask for a network that needs to support 500 hosts?

What is the subnet mask for a network that needs to support 500 hosts?

Step 1: Understand that a subnet mask determines how many hosts can be on a network.
Step 2: Know that the formula to calculate the number of usable hosts is 2^n - 2, where n is the number of bits available for hosts.
Step 3: To support 500 hosts, we need to find the smallest n such that 2^n - 2 >= 500.
Step 4: Calculate 2^9 = 512. Since 512 - 2 = 510, n = 9 is sufficient.
Step 5: The total number of bits in an IPv4 address is 32. If 9 bits are used for hosts, then 32 - 9 = 23 bits are used for the network.
Step 6: The subnet mask corresponding to 23 bits is 255.255.254.0.
Step 7: Therefore, the subnet mask for a network that needs to support 500 hosts is 255.255.254.0.

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