255.255.255.255 as an gateway number??? How???

[TiggerDaKat]

We have an isp in our area which assignes a default gateway of 255.255.255.255 to our dial in adapter when we connect to them through a dial-up. How is this possible? I've never heard of a default gateway assigned a number like that. Any help understanding this would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.


Eric

 

[ashpp]

Out of interest what does a "route print" give you?

Ash.

 

[manarth]

RFC1700
re IP block 240.0.0.0 - 255.255.255.255
'The "limited broadcast" destination address 255.255.255.255 should never be forwarded outside the (sub-)net of the source. The remainder of this space is reserved for future use.'

It's not common, but can be used as a destination - within a private subnet. The Internet IP 255.255.255.255 is reserved by IANA - so this should only appear within private networks.
Unusual configuration, though!

See IANA - Internet Assigned Numbers Authority - (

http://www.iana.org/)

for more information on IP allocations. <marc>[ul]help us help![li]please provide feedback on what works / doesn't[/li][li]not sure where to start? click here: faq581-3339[/li][/sup][/ul][/sup]

 

[TiggerDaKat]

Finally the ISP and I figured out that Windows 98 machines displayed this number....and cannot figure out why. He mentioned that come Windows 98 machines report IP info wrong. I'll accept that, since that's not the true subnet mask. The real subnet mask, which shows up on the other machines, is a valid number.

Thanks for the advice!!!! It helped to reinforce that this couldn't possibly be....

Tiggs