Saturday, December 27, 2008

Few words about ip directed broadcast :-)

An IP directed broadcast is an IP packet whose destination address is a valid broadcast address for some IP subnet, but which originates from a node that is not itself part of that destination subnet.

A router that is not directly connected to its destination subnet forwards an IP directed broadcast in the same way it would forward unicast IP packets destined to a host on that subnet. When a directed broadcast packet reaches a router that is directly connected to its destination subnet, that packet is "exploded" as a broadcast on the destination subnet. The destination address in the IP header of the packet is rewritten to the configured IP broadcast address for the subnet, and the packet is sent as a link-layer broadcast.

The ip directed-broadcast interface command controls the explosion of directed broadcasts when they reach their target subnets. The command affects only the final transmission of the directed broadcast on its ultimate destination subnet. It does not affect the transit unicast routing of IP directed broadcasts.

If directed broadcast is enabled for an interface, incoming IP packets whose addresses identify them as directed broadcasts intended for the subnet to which that interface is attached will be exploded as broadcasts on that subnet. If an access list has been configured with the ip directed-broadcast command, only directed broadcasts that are permitted by the access list in question will be forwarded; all other directed broadcasts destined for the interface subnet will be dropped.

If the no ip directed-broadcast command has been configured for an interface, directed broadcasts destined for the subnet to which that interface is attached will be dropped, rather than being broadcast.

Taken from Cisco's site:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios/12_3/ipaddr/command/reference/ip1_i1g.html#wp1081245

Best Regards,
Deepak Arora

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