Xref: utzoo comp.protocols.tcp-ip:4045 comp.dcom.lans:1561
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!ll-xn!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!cornell!rochester!udel!princeton!njin!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!hedrick
From: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu (Charles Hedrick)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip,comp.dcom.lans
Subject: Re: Strange Network Traffic (Booting a Sun)
Message-ID: 
Date: 8 Jul 88 03:42:53 GMT
References: <4356@fluke.COM>
Followup-To: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
Lines: 11

In at least some versions of the Sun software, the systems ended up
using an Internet address that was their system serial number.  This
was done during early stages of kernel operation, before the system
knew its Internet address.  Typically the serial numbers were small,
so you'd get an address that looked like 0.0.x.y.  In some releases,
this entry was never removed from the routing table.  Once the system
came up, it was interpreted as a default route.  I'm not sure whether
these things are still happening under current releases.  This is a
moderately dangerous practice.  0.0.x.y should be interepreted as
meaning "this net, host x.y".  It is certainly possible that there
could already be an x.y on the current network.  I'd be very surprised
if this practice continued into release 4.0