I just got my new “Routing TCP/IP” book yesterday…it’s still all new and with that “new Cisco Press book smell.” Ahhh! I’m reading through the first chapter, which is basically just a review of TCP/IP in general and I stumble upon this when they’re talking about how traceroute and extended ping (which is oh so cool) use TTL:
“…the equivalent field in the IPv6 header has been renamed Hop Limit to more accurately reflect its true usage.”
You have got to be kidding. I mean, seriously, folks, Time To Live sounds much more dramatic and way cooler than Hop Limit. I want to think of that poor packet dying a nasty death once the count reaches 0, dropping off the face of the internet as a router cruelly denies to pass it on, like a Paris Hilton wannabe turned away at a dance club door by a gruff bouncer. I want to see myself as a superhero sent to prevent this kind of harsh death and allow those poor little packets to safely reach their destinations. Hop Limit? That just sounds like the router politely denies the packet to pass, like a bouncer cutting off a drunken patron. “Sorry, packet, you’ve had too many hops tonight, now go outside the network and sleep it off.” Where’s the drama there? Time To Live really expresses the urgency of all this…these packets will DIE if they don’t get where they are going in 30 hops or less! They only have so much time on this network to live and they want to make the most of it. They want to see their destination before they die! Don’t send them to packet **** where they will never reach the host they were intended for!
Ok, maybe I need more sleep. It’s been a long week and by the end of yesterday I’d already put in a week’s worth of hours…but still, you’d think the people who make these kinds of decisions would think about the egos of us lowly protectors of packets!
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