Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!think!barmar
From: barmar@think.COM (Barry Margolin)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re: remote broadcasts
Message-ID: <17703@think.UUCP>
Date: 10 Mar 88 02:55:48 GMT
References: <88.03.08.2044.910@pescadero.stanford.edu>
Sender: usenet@think.UUCP
Reply-To: barmar@fafnir.think.com.UUCP (Barry Margolin)
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 18

In article <88.03.08.2044.910@pescadero.stanford.edu> deering@PESCADERO.STANFORD.EDU (Steve Deering) writes:
>Could you explain in more detail what that one broadcast packet contained
>that effectively brought down your network, and why the fact that it came
>from another network was significant?  

I don't know what the original poster's answer will be, but my answer
to this is that one generally has some control over the systems on the
local net.  If they start abusing broadcasts we can remove the
programs that are causing trouble.  But if broadcasts can come from
anywhere there's not much that you can do to prevent them, and instead
you must defend against them.  While it is a good idea for systems to
be resilient, it's also harder to implement.

Barry Margolin
Thinking Machines Corp.

barmar@think.com
uunet!think!barmar