A subnet mask is a 32-bit number used in networking to separate the IP address into two parts:

Network portion (which subnet the device belongs to)

Host portion (the specific device inside that subnet)

A subnet is a smaller network inside a bigger network created using a subnet mask.

• Network Address: The first IP address in a subnet, used to identify the subnet itself.
• Broadcast Address: The last IP address in a subnet, used to send messages to all devices within that subnet.
Example: For subnet 192.168.1.0/24
• Network Address: 192.168.1.0 → identifies the subnet
• Broadcast Address: 192.168.1.255 → sends messages to all devices in the subnet
So the Usable IPs: 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.254

Subnetting is the process of dividing a large network into smaller, manageable sub-networks (subnets) to improve IP address efficiency, network performance, security, and management.

Yes — in many cases you can “replicate delete markers.” For example, in Amazon S3 replication, there is a configuration option to replicate delete markers from a source bucket to a destination bucket.