Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!ucsd!ucbvax!MCIMAIL.COM!0004219666
From: 0004219666@MCIMAIL.COM (Bob Stine)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: RE: IP routing and gateways
Message-ID: <10900710151001.0004219666NB4EM@mcimail.com>
Date: 10 Jul 90 15:10:00 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 33


 > My questions are:
 
>       1.) Is it the case that I need to provide a default gateway
>           address for IP packets that aren't destined for someone
>           within my subnet?
 
Only if you want them to get there :-).  Seriously, you'll need some
sort of route table entry or entries for the networks that you reach
by gateway.
 
>        2.) Do I need to implement an IGP like RIP ...
>            ... (even though this device only has one network
>           interface) ...
 
I wouldn't.
 
>                               ... or is it OK to go to the same
>           gateway (default) every time?
 
Not really, but see below.
 
>       3.) If the answer to 2 is that it's not smart to go to the
>           same gateway every time, then is something like RIP (which
>           should be available on most Unix networks because of
>           routed) the way to go, or does the ICMP redirect take care
>           of it.
 
Bingo!  If you have a decent IP implementation, then it will populate
its local routing table when it gets ICMP redirects.  BSD 4.3 does this.
Probably alot of other IPs do, too.
 
- Bob Stine