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Cisco IOS in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition
book

Cisco IOS in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

by James Boney
August 2005
Intermediate to advanced content levelIntermediate to advanced
798 pages
31h 12m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from Cisco IOS in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

Name

ip directed-broadcast — interface

Synopsis

ip directed-broadcast [access-list]
no ip directed-broadcast

Configures

Broadcast forwarding

Default

Enabled (disabled for IOS 12.0 and later)

Description

By default, the router automatically translates directed broadcasts to physical broadcasts within your network. In other words, Layer 3 broadcasts to the IP broadcast address (10.10.1.255 for the subnet 10.10.1.0/24) are translated into Layer 2 broadcasts with an address appropriate for the interface (e.g., ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff for an Ethernet interface).

While this can be useful, an interface that is configured to the outside world could allow a potential hacker to flood your network by pinging the broadcast address on your interface. It is recommended that directed-broadcast is disabled on your external interfaces to prevent this attack from occurring. Directed broadcast is also the primary mechanism used for the “smurf” attack. It is recommended that you disable directed broadcast on all your interfaces unless you have a very good reason to use it.

Example

To disable directed broadcasts:

interface serial 0
     no ip directed-broadcast
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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 0596008694Errata