Route summarization
Route summarization
(also supernetting)
Route summarization definition
Route summarization or route aggregation is used for network management in cybersecurity. The process involves condensing multiple smaller network addresses into a single larger address block. In other words, the supernetting technique reduces routing table size to boost network efficiency. Organizations and businesses can cover the network structure using the route summarization process, making it more challenging for malicious actions to identify and target specific hosts and subnets.
See also: anti-malware, Internet Protocol address
What are the advantages of route summarization?
Not only route summarization reduces routing table size, but it also carries other advantages that can improve the optimization of network performance.
- Better routing efficiency: Since route summarization reduces table size, there are fewer routing entries to the whole process, so routers can make routing decisions faster. Moreover, routers can route the traffic on broader address blocks instead of individual subnets. That results in faster packet forwarding and better network performance.
- Reduced routing table size: Superneting aggregates multiple smaller network addresses into single larger address blocks to reduce the routing tables. These features lead to more economical usage of memory and process resources in routers.
- Increased network security: Route summarization boosts network security by covering network details from attackers. In that way, organizations or individuals can hide their network structure and make it challenging to identify subnets or hosts.
- Efficient IP address utilization: The route summarization process promotes address allocation by smaller subnet aggregation into larger address blocks. That way, organizations can implement IP address space optimization. These processes result in more efficient address assignments and allow more accessible allocation of IP addresses to locations or networks.
- Simplified network management: Smaller routing tables due to route summarization can lead to simplified network management tasks, such as reduced administrative overhead. Administrators can easily understand summarized routes, streamline some operations and improve overall network performance.