AppleTalk Bridges: RTMP Broadcasts

This article contains information about AppleTalk's Routing Table Maintenance Protocol (RTMP).
AppleTalk protocol, under certain conditions, sends packets out onto the Ethernet network in which the Ethernet source address contains all 1s (Fs).

The packets with the "all Fs" as addresses are broadcast packets that are sent out periodically by AppleTalk bridges. The Routing Table Maintenance Protocol (RTMP) is used by AppleTalk bridges to maintain their routing information to enable them to send packets to the appropriate bridges and networks connected to those bridges.

It is part of the RTMP specification that, every 10 seconds, each AppleTalk bridge sends a broadcast RTMP packet in order to keep the routing information for the network current.

Published Date: Feb 20, 2012