The /30 subnet, explained.

The /30 subnet uses 255.255.255.252 as its subnet mask — meaning the first 30 bits of every address identify the network, and the remaining 2 bits identify the host within that network. That gives you 4 total addresses (2 usable on standard RFC math, after subtracting the network and broadcast addresses).

The wildcard mask — the bitwise inverse of the subnet mask — is 0.0.0.3. Wildcards are what Cisco access-control lists and OSPF area definitions use instead of subnet masks; the "1" bits mark "don't care" positions. For a /30, that leaves 2 don't-care host bits.

To find the network address for any IP in a /30 block, perform a bitwise AND between the IP and the subnet mask. To find the broadcast, OR the network address with the wildcard. Modern tools — like our subnet calculator — do this in microseconds, but the underlying mechanics are straightforward binary arithmetic.

A /30 holds 4 addresses with only 2 usable. The classic point-to-point link sizing: one address for each end of a router-to-router connection. /30 is the smallest standard-math subnet that still has usable hosts.

Cloud-provider quirks matter at every prefix size: AWS and Azure reserve 5 IPs per subnet, GCP reserves 4, and OCI reserves 3. So a /30 on standard RFC math gives you 2 usable hosts, but on AWS or Azure that drops to 0. The capacity-planning gap bites hardest at small prefixes (a /28 has 14 usable on paper, only 11 on AWS) but exists at every size. Our cloud-aware calculator applies the right math automatically.