On Fri, Jul 21, 2000 at 09:06:57AM +1000, DaZZa wrote:
>
[using something other than "all ones hostid" for the broadcast address]
>
> OK, fine - but how do external sites to yours find your broadcast
> address?
same as any other directed broadcast: you still have to know the
address.
routers along the way never know whether any address is a broadcast
address, since they can't know the netmask. they just forward the
packet according to their routing rules (which is fine, since a
broadcast packet doesn't require special handling until it reaches the
intended network).
i should mention that the "undirected broadcast address" is always
255.255.255.255, and no router (that's working correctly) will forward
it.
the debian install used to ask you whether your subnet followed "all
ones", "all zeroes" or something else for your broadcast hostid. they
seem to have removed that question in the potato install disks.
--
- Gus
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