1024 hosts per network segment

[NFI]

Hello,

I've been reading up on Ethernet recently and have come across this limit of 1024 nodes per segment.

I assume this goes back to the days of ethernet over coax and is there to limit the number of nodes in a ring, but I was just wondering where this is defined? Is there something in the ethernet frame header which limits the number of nodes to 1024 and if so, how?

I also assume that, with modern switched networks, this is pretty much a redundant limit, as the number of nodes per segment is only ever going to be two, unless the switch does a broadcast and even then, it's hardly likely to be 1024.

Can anybody shed any light on this for me?

Thanks,

Paul

 

[LawnBoy]

I don't know where that 1024 number came from, but you are correct that it is irrelevant in a switched environment.


"We must fall back upon the old axiom that when all other contingencies fail, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." - Sherlock Holmes

 

[vipergg]

I sure would never run that many on a single broadcast domain . 512 hosts max , we usually use a /24.

 

[burtsbees]

Not to mention a single collision domain!

Burt

 

[jimbopalmer]

http://cgi.ebay.com/SynOptics-Latti...ryZ11175QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Could hold as many as 265 ports in a single 10 meg hub, I do not miss those days.

I tried to remain child-like, all I acheived was childish.