On Fri, Aug 05, 2005 at 03:09:53PM -0400, Valdis.Kletnieks@vt.edu wrote:
On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 13:55:58 CDT, Scott Altman said:
Is there an RFC or other standard that specifies that IPv4 connected devices must support the concepts of Subnet Mask and Default Gateway?
No, because there's plenty of applications (embedded systems, for example), where you have no need or desire to be able to talk to things off-local-net.
Which doesn't really excuse you from subnet mask, I wouldn't think. You clearly don't need a default gateway if you're not going to reply to off-net packets, but how would you idenfity broadcast packets if you didn't know the netmask?
I have a kludgy (<- technical term) vendor that has developed a custom AP that only has an IP address.
Be afraid. Be very afraid. Any vendor in *this* year who makes gear that is supposed to connect edge devices to the rest of the net but doesn't get the ideas of subnet masks and default gateways should be feared.
Indeed, run far, far away. And yes, Scott: RFC 791. It's not just a good idea... Cheers, -- jra -- Jay R. Ashworth jra@baylink.com Designer Baylink RFC 2100 Ashworth & Associates The Things I Think '87 e24 St Petersburg FL USA http://baylink.pitas.com +1 727 647 1274 "NPR has a lot in common with Nascar... we both turn to the left." - Peter Sagal, on Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me!