Configuring IP unnumbered

Typically, you assign an IP address to an interface either manually or through DHCP. If the IP addresses are not enough, or the interface is used only occasionally, you can configure an interface to borrow an IP address from other interfaces. This is called IP unnumbered, and the interface borrowing the IP address is called IP unnumbered interface.

You can use IP unnumbered to save IP addresses either when available IP addresses are inadequate or when an interface is brought up only for occasional use.