Ethereal-users: Re: [Ethereal-users] Ethertype 886D

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From: Guy Harris <guy@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 15:19:46 -0700 (PDT)
> I would like to know what protocol does the ethertype
> 0x886D stand for. I have searched for it in RFC1700
> under assigned numbers for ether types but could not
> find it there.

RFC 1700 is several years old; no updated versions have been produced.

The page at

	http://www.iana.org/numbers.html

says:

	IANA houses the many unique parameters and protocol values
	necessary for operation of the Internet and its future
	development.  Types of numbers range from unique port
	assignments to the registration of character sets.  In the past,
	these numbers were documented through the RFC document series,
	the last of these documents was RFC 1700, which is also now
	outdated.  Since that time, the assignments have been listed in
	this directory as living documents, constantly updated and
	revised when new information is available and new assignments
	are made.  They are listed alphabetically.  Please check back
	periodically if you need up to date information from these
	files.  Thank you.

so you should look at that page, and pages to which it links, rather
than RFC 1700.

If you look under "E" on that page:

	http://www.iana.org/numbers.html#E

it says:

	Ethernet Numbers

	Many of the networks of all classes are Ethernets (10Mb) or
	Experimental Ethernets (3Mb).  These systems use a message
	"type" field in much the same way the ARPANET uses the "link"
	field.  The following list of EtherTypes is contributed
	unverified information from various sources.

The "Ethernet Numbers" link goes to

	http://www.iana.org/assignments/ethernet-numbers

but...

> I have a captured frame containing the ethertype as
> 0x886D that I want to decode.

...it has no entry for 886D.

A Google search for

	+886d +Ethernet

found

	http://www.ethereal.com/lists/ethereal-users/200102/msg00052.html


which is a message from a thread on, well, "ethereal-users", about the
Ethernet type 0x886d.

The conclusion in that thread appears to be that they're heartbeat
packets for some Intel-proprietary network adapter fault tolerance
protocol.  Good luck in finding a specification for that protocol....