On 08/13/2010 04:48 PM, Mathieu Baudier wrote:
NETMASK=255.255.255.255?
it surprised me as well first, but that is what OVH recommends and it works fine with virtual interfaces
That just means that the connected "network" contains only one machine. Depending on the actual topology this might be a bit inefficient but probably not in a serious way.
Sending traffic from 192.168.0.10 to 192.168.0.11 with a netmask of 255.255.255.0 will result in the traffic flowing directly between the machines because the system knows the target is part of the same subnet.
Using 255.255.255.255 as netmask means the system will no longer see the target as part of the same subnet and as a result will send the traffic to the default gateway instead which will then forward it to the target.
Regards, Dennis