Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!caen!hellgate.utah.edu!csn!boulder!daemon From: jerry@olivey.ATC.Olivetti.Com (Jerry Aguirre) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.sys.cisco Subject: Re: minimum maximum transfer unit. Message-ID: <34842@boulder.Colorado.EDU> Date: 7 May 91 23:46:03 GMT Sender: daemon@boulder.Colorado.EDU Lines: 21 >From: Allen Robel >Oh, I get it now. It refers to the smallest MTU along >a path to a network. So, if you had: > >ethernet FDDI T1 >----------{}---------{}----------- > >then the minimum MTU would be 1.544Mbs. It >just looked kinda funny at first glance... Sort of except that MTU is the Maximum Transfer Unit, not the bandwidth. The MTU in your example would probably be limited by the ethernet to a 1500 byte packet. Even though the FDDI or the T1 might be able to handle larger packets that is the largest that one can send without having to worry about fragmentation. There is also a "minimum bandwidth" which would be the 1.544 Megabits/s that you mention. The T1 line being the slowest and thus establishing the minimum. Jerry Aguirre