subnet

A network, either physical or logical, that operates as part of a larger network. In a local area network (LAN), for example, there may be many virtual LANs (VLANs), each of which may comprise many users on separate physical segments.The users are grouped in VLAN domains by physical port number, Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) port address, medium access control (MAC) address, or Internet Protocol (IP) address. Each VLAN operates as a subnet. See also LAN and VLAN.