Right off the bat, you're talking about a disfunctional network. I'll get to that in a second.
Your two hosts are never going to acknowledge each others' existence. In fact, if you look at the internal routing table of either host by doing a "route print" you'll see (among other things) this entry: Network Address Netmask Gateway Address 172.16.2.1 255.255.255.255 127.0.0.1 So if host A tries to ping host B, it's just going to ping itself (remember, 127.0.0.1 is a loopback). Granted, it may keep host A from feeling lonely (kinda like sending yourself flowers on Velentine's Day) but host A won't communicate with host B on its best day. Now ask yourslf this: when a host from a different network tries to send traffic to 172.16.2.1, will it go to host A or host B? Answer that question and come up with a solid justification for your answer, and much of your confusion will vanish in a poof of one's and zero's. hth, Hal Logan Network Specialist / Adjunct Faculty Computing and Engineering Technology Manatee Community College > -----Original Message----- > From: Steven A. Ridder [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Friday, December 14, 2001 2:07 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: Mask in L3 Packet [7:29182] > > > Say I have 2 networks: > > Network 1. 172.16.x.x/16 > and > Network 2. 172.16.2.x/24 > > We all agree that they are two different networks, right? > > Now if Host A on > Network 1 is 172.16.2.1/16 > > and > > Host B is on Network 2 is 172.16.2.1/24, > > How does the host know that the second host is on a different > network? Are > they differnt addresses because of the mask, or are they > considered the same > address regardless of mask, and therefore illegal? I > understand ANDing on > the local host. It's just if 2 hosts had the same numbers, > only marked > differently by the mask, are they the same or not? Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=29235&t=29182 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]