0.0.0.0

aarklon

what exactly is the purpose of the reserved address 0.0.0.0 ? Is it used as a broadcast source address ?


druuna

Default Network: The special network 0.0.0.0 is generally used for routing.

see:-http://www.faqs.org/docs/linux_network/x-087-2-issues.ip-addresses.html
see:- http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial37.html


estabroo

With regards to applications with ip listening sockets it also means to bind to all addresses available instead of a particular one.


space teddy

0.0.0.0 is no address - or all addresses, depending on it's context.

if an interface has the address 0.0.0.0 it means it has no address - thus is unconfigured.

If a routing table contains the 0.0.0.0 it is the default gateway - meaning a router of last resort. Anything than cannot be handled by specific routes will be send there.