+##verify subnet has at least n IPs
+##params: subnet mask, n IPs
+function verify_subnet_size {
+ IFS=. read -r i1 i2 i3 i4 <<< "$1"
+ num_ips_required=$2
+
+ ##this function assumes you would never need more than 254
+ ##we check here to make sure
+ if [ "$num_ips_required" -ge 254 ]; then
+ echo -e "\n\n${red}ERROR: allocating more than 254 IPs is unsupported...Exiting${reset}\n\n"
+ return 1
+ fi
+
+ ##we just return if 3rd octet is not 255
+ ##because we know the subnet is big enough
+ if [ "$i3" -ne 255 ]; then
+ return 0
+ elif [ $((254-$i4)) -ge "$num_ips_required" ]; then
+ return 0
+ else
+ echo -e "\n\n${red}ERROR: Subnet is too small${reset}\n\n"
+ return 1
+ fi
+}
+