> I think I come to the same conclusion that you did, which is that you can > ping an unnumbered serial interface. It's kind of stretching the truth > though. You're pinging the router, but are you really pinging the serial > interface when you're using an address that is not associated with the > serial interface?
Proxy ICMP? (Does the source address contained in the echo replies affirm that possibility?) It seems as if designating certain details as implementation-specific might serve to partially undermine the scope of standard diagnostic protocols. In the simple case, If a device on the far side of one and only one serial link responds to pings even though the interface is unnumbered, you might reasonably infer that the interface is healthy enough to serve its traditional purpose (although you might have to sacrifice the level of diagnostic detail you are privy to when the interface is explicitly configured with a distinct ip address). If you have multiple unnumbered serial links to the same host, an echo reply surrenders some of its diagnostic credibility. If you are merely concerned with reaching the host and destinations behind it, this affirms the motivation & proper behavior of a loopback address. If you have non-trivial policy-routing in place, or some arrangement that exhibits a similar reliance upon the actual paths traversed, your reachability checks might lead you even further from the realtime status information you seek. >But I admit, I'm acting like Bill Clinton now and > questioning the meaning of words. ;-) It seems as he was quite comfortable to merely use them & leave the questioning to others. Even when cornered & forced to provide interpretation, his convictions were unwavering & left no room for question or debate of any kind. HE didn't have questions, the impeachment committee did . . . > Trace route works too, by the way, even when the Ethernet interface is down. > I don't have an easy way to test SNMP. It might work too. > Priscilla Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=49617&t=49347 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
