In CIDR notation, what does the suffix '/24' specify?

• A. The total number of hosts in the subnet.
• B. The broadcast address.
• C. The length of the network prefix in bits.
• D. The default gateway.

Answer: (C)

The suffix in CIDR notation tells you how many leading bits are fixed for the network—the length of the network prefix. A /24 means the first 24 bits are the network portion, leaving 8 bits for host addresses within that subnet. This defines the subnet size: 2^(32-24) = 256 total addresses (with 254 usable for hosts, if you exclude the network and broadcast addresses). So the key idea is that the suffix specifies the length of the network prefix in bits.

The other ideas don’t fit because the suffix itself isn’t directly declaring how many usable hosts there are, the exact broadcast address, or the default gateway. Those can be inferred from the prefix and the specific addressing scheme, but they are not what the /24 suffix itself specifies.