✅ What is CIDR ?

CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing), sometimes called supernetting) is a way to allow more flexible allocation of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses than was possible with the original system of IP address classes. As a result, the number of available Internet addresses was greatly increased, which along with widespread use of network address translation (NAT), has significantly extended the useful life of IPv4. 

Originally, IP addresses were assigned in four major address classes, A through D. Each of these classes allocates one portion of the 32-bit IP address format to identify a network gateway -- the first 8 bits for class A, the first 16 for class B, and the first 24 for class C. The remainder identify hosts on that network -- more than 16 million in class A, 65,535 in class B and 254 in class C. (Class D addresses identify multicast domains.)

To illustrate the problems with the class system, consider that one of the most commonly used classes was Class B. An organization that needed more than 254 host machines would often get a Class B license, even though it would have far fewer than 65,534 hosts. This resulted in most of the block of addresses allocated going unused. The inflexibility of the class system accelerated IPv4 address pool exhaustion. With IPv6, addresses grow to 128 bits, greatly expanding the number of possible addresses on the Internet. The transition to IPv6 is slow, however, so IPv4 address exhaustion continues to be a significant issue.

CIDR reduced the problem of wasted address space by providing a new and more flexible way to specify network addresses in routers. CIDR lets one routing table entry represent an aggregation of networks that exist in the forward path that don't need to be specified on that particular gateway. This is much like how the public telephone system uses area codes to channel calls toward a certain part of the network. This aggregation of networks in a single address is sometimes referred to as a supernet.