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N10-009 · Question #331

A junior network technician at a large company needs to create networks from a Class C address with 14 hosts per subnet. Which of the following numbers of host bits is required?

The correct answer is D. Four. To support 14 hosts per subnet, you need a minimum of 4 host bits because 2^4 - 2 (for network and broadcast addresses) equals 14 usable host IP addresses.

Submitted by stefanr· Mar 6, 2026Networking concepts

Question

A junior network technician at a large company needs to create networks from a Class C address with 14 hosts per subnet. Which of the following numbers of host bits is required?

Options

  • AOne
  • BTwo
  • CThree
  • DFour

How the community answered

(57 responses)
  • A
    12% (7)
  • B
    2% (1)
  • C
    5% (3)
  • D
    81% (46)

Why each option

To support 14 hosts per subnet, you need a minimum of 4 host bits because 2^4 - 2 (for network and broadcast addresses) equals 14 usable host IP addresses.

AOne

One host bit (2^1 - 2 = 0) provides no usable hosts.

BTwo

Two host bits (2^2 - 2 = 2) provides only 2 usable hosts, which is insufficient for 14.

CThree

Three host bits (2^3 - 2 = 6) provides only 6 usable hosts, which is insufficient for 14.

DFourCorrect

To support 14 usable hosts, you need `2^n - 2 >= 14`, where `n` is the number of host bits; `2^4 - 2 = 16 - 2 = 14`, meaning 4 host bits are required.

Concept tested: Subnetting calculations (Host bits)

Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/virtual-network-ip-addresses-overview-classic#subnets

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