Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia
6. Gateways and Broadcasts

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6. Gateways and Broadcasts

6. Gateways and Broadcasts

Most of the complexity in supporting broadcasts lies in gateways. If a gateway receives a directed broadcast for a network to which it is not connected, it simply forwards it using the usual mechanism. Otherwise, it must do some additional work.

When a gateway receives a local broadcast datagram, there are several things it might have to do with it. The situation is unambiguous, but without due care it is possible to create infinite loops.

The appropriate action to take on receipt of a broadcast datagram depends on several things: the subnet it was received on, the destination network, and the addresses of the gateway.


Next: 7. Broadcast IP Addressing - Proposed Standards

Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia
6. Gateways and Broadcasts