All i really want is help in understanding what im doing. This is the problem:

Determine two separate IP configuration options for the office:

 Choose appropriate, distinct Class C private IP Address ranges for each office
o Include the Network Address and Subnet Mask or CIDR notation
 Choose one Class C IP Address to work with
o Subnet this IP Address space to provide the minimum number of networks needed for the site
o Provide the Subnet ID and Subnet Mask or CIDR notation


For the 3 office space addresses i have so far:
Office
Name Network Address Subnet Mask Broadcast Address
Office 1 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.255
Office 2 192.168.2.2 255.255.255.0 192.168.2.255
Office 3 192.168.3.3 255.255.255.0 192.168.3.255

For the next part i need to using a single private Class C address space, calculate subnets using the minimum number of networks needed for this scenario and fill in the table below



i do not understand what it is im supposed to do. so if someone can just steer me in the right direction that would be extremely helpful

Name Network Address Subnet Mask Broadcast Address
Office 1 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.255
Office 2 192.168.2.2 255.255.255.0 192.168.2.255
Office 3 192.168.3.3 255.255.255.0 192.168.3.255

this isn't quite right. should be:

The network address is the same thing as Network ID/Subnet ID. Your subnet is /24 so only the first 3 octets are part of your network ID. meaning the 4th octect will be 0 for your network addresses. So just remember that you can only use the bits in your subnet mask for the network ID.

For the second part we just choose an office. lets got with office 1. I will make up a hypothetical as I need more details. It says provide "minimum number of networks needed for the site". Well, I don't know the network requirements for this site.

Hypothetical: Office requires vlans for: 2 client networks; 1 phone network, and 1 printer network. so total you need 4 networks:
so we need to subnet 192.168.1.0/24 into 4 subnets (minimum). We will assume same size networks though real world you wouldn't.
Our mask for 4 networks is 255.255.255.192. binary of last octet: 11000000. there are 2 bits reserved for the subnet ID which gives us room for exactly 4 networks of the same size.