Iniche UDP package length

Here's what the Linux kernel documentation has to say about UDP and packet length:

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

--- Quote Start ---

By default Linux UDP does path MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit) discovery. This means the kernel will keep track of the MTU to a specific target IP address and return EMSGSIZE when a UDP packet write exceeds it. When this happens the application should decrease the packet size.

Path MTU discovery can be also turned off using the IP_MTU_DISCOVER socket option or the ip_no_pmtu_disc sysctl, see ip(7) for details. When turned off UDP will fragment outgoing UDP packets that exceed the interface MTU. However disabling it is not recommended for performance and reliability reasons.[/b]

--- Quote End ---

So, what I take out of this, is that you shouldn&#39;t exceed your MTU, and, when you do, be prepared for poor performance (i.e.: dropped packets, lost data, etc.), especially in a shared network environment.

Cheers,

- slacker