[XEROX PARC] An Ethernet packet that contains bootstrap (see
boot) code, periodically sent out from a working
computer to infuse the ‘breath of life’ into any computer on
the network that has happened to crash. Machines depending on such packets
have sufficient hardware or firmware code to wait for (or request) such a
packet during the reboot process. See also
dickless workstation.
The notional kiss-of-death
packet, with a function complementary to that of a
breath-of-life packet, is recommended for dealing with hosts that consume
too many network resources. Though ‘kiss-of-death packet’ is
usually used in jest, there is at least one documented instance of an
Internet subnet with limited address-table slots in a gateway machine in
which such packets were routinely used to compete for slots, rather like
Christmas shoppers competing for scarce parking spaces.
