Publication 1998 Issue No. 6 - June Abstract - Algorithms for Variable Length Subnet Address Assignment
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Algorithms for Variable Length Subnet Address Assignment
June 1998 (vol. 47 no. 6)
pp. 693-699
 ASCII Text x Mikhail J. Atallah, Douglas E. Comer, "Algorithms for Variable Length Subnet Address Assignment," IEEE Transactions on Computers, vol. 47, no. 6, pp. 693-699, June, 1998.
 BibTex x @article{ 10.1109/12.689648,author = {Mikhail J. Atallah and Douglas E. Comer},title = {Algorithms for Variable Length Subnet Address Assignment},journal ={IEEE Transactions on Computers},volume = {47},number = {6},issn = {0018-9340},year = {1998},pages = {693-699},doi = {http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/12.689648},publisher = {IEEE Computer Society},address = {Los Alamitos, CA, USA},}
 RefWorks Procite/RefMan/Endnote x TY - JOURJO - IEEE Transactions on ComputersTI - Algorithms for Variable Length Subnet Address AssignmentIS - 6SN - 0018-9340SP693EP699EPD - 693-699A1 - Mikhail J. Atallah, A1 - Douglas E. Comer, PY - 1998KW - AddressingKW - algorithmsKW - computer networksKW - prefix codes.VL - 47JA - IEEE Transactions on ComputersER -

Abstract—In a computer network that consists of M subnetworks, the L-bit address of a machine consists of two parts: A prefix si that contains the address of the subnetwork to which the machine belongs, and a suffix (of length L$-$ |si|) containing the address of that particular machine within its subnetwork. In fixed-length subnetwork addressing, |si| is independent of i, whereas, in variable-length subnetwork addressing, |si| varies from one subnetwork to another. To avoid ambiguity when decoding addresses, there is a requirement that no si be a prefix of another sj. The practical problem is how to find a suitable set of sis in order to maximize the total number of addressable machines, when the ith subnetwork contains ni machines. Not all of the ni machines of a subnetwork i need be addressable in a solution: If $n_i > 2^{L-|s_i|},$ then only $2^{L-|s_i|}$ machines of that subnetwork are addressable (none is addressable if the solution assigns no address si to that subnetwork). The abstract problem implied by this formulation is: Given an integer L, and given M (not necessarily distinct) positive integers $n_1, \cdots, n_M,$ find M binary strings $s_1, \cdots, s_M$ (some of which may be empty) such that 1) no nonempty string si is prefix of another string sj, 2) no si is more than L bits long, and 3) the quantity $\sum \nolimits _{|s_k|\ne0} \min \left\{ n_k, 2^{L-|s_k|} \right\}$ is maximized. We generalize the algorithm to the case where each ni also has a priority pi associated with it and there is an additional constraint involving priorities: Some subnetworks are then more important than others and are treated preferentially when assigning addresses. The algorithms can be used to solve the case when L itself is a variable; that is, when the input no longer specifies L but, rather, gives a target integer γ for the number of addressable machines, and the goal is to find the smallest L whose corresponding optimal solution results in at least γ addressable machines.

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Index Terms:
Addressing, algorithms, computer networks, prefix codes.
Citation:
Mikhail J. Atallah, Douglas E. Comer, "Algorithms for Variable Length Subnet Address Assignment," IEEE Transactions on Computers, vol. 47, no. 6, pp. 693-699, June 1998, doi:10.1109/12.689648