XPost: sci.space.history   
   From: someguy@somewhere.se.retro.com   
      
   Rick Jones wrote:   
   > In sci.space.tech th  wrote:   
   >   
   >>I don't understand your comment on how the 8-bit protocol ID field in   
   >>the IP datagram would be used for routing. It should rather be the IP   
   >>address that determiones the routing   
   >   
   >   
   > Demux to a higher level protocol or application within the node. Not   
   > routing.  In a plain terrestrial IP network, the protocol field will   
   > direct one to UDP or TCP (or some of the other protocols), which have   
   > 16 bit port numbers (TCP and UDP) to take one to the actual endpoints.   
   >   
   > When someone suggested (or I interpreted them as suggesting) using   
   > plain/bare IP, I took that to mean using the IP protocol field as the   
   > only demux, hence a limit of 256 "endpoints/connections" at a given IP   
   > address.   
   >   
   I think the intention was to use the "Options" field to specify the   
   routing path or to record the path used to reach the destination. I have   
   no idea whether this has been used in real life.   
      
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