Not sure if this is exactly known but I am really curious about this. I have a web server running on my computer which goes through a router to access the internet. I have set up my router so that port 80 gets fwd'd to the node that's running the web server. My question is, what would happen if someone tries to acess the URL of my web server when my computer is turned off. Does that message somehow get routed by the router to the offline web server anyway? or does the router just reject the http packet since that IP address is not alive(at present, at least) ? Does it depend on the type of router? (I have a M$ MN-700). I hope the question is clear.

"Unable to Locate Host" - returned by the browser.

I understand that. But my question is, where does that HTTP message get terminated? Is it at the router or is it past the router (ie the router forwards the message on to the specified local machine).

it wud be at the router Sign Me Guestbook! jaymc.co.nr

Are you sure? Because if the router is on and the comp. is off, then wouldnt it just act like normal and forward the request to the computer, then there would be no answer... Excell Hosting for all your hosting needs.

well the router wud be the 1 sending back the 'could not connect' signal Sign Me Guestbook! jaymc.co.nr

"...where does that HTTP message get terminated? Is it at the router or is it past the router (ie the router forwards the message on to the specified local machine)." The HTTP message never gets terminated (there's no connection yet to terminate). First, your URI-request is never returned. Second, no end connection is ever established. When your server is off the host doesn't exist, so you never make it into a handshake. Upon request, your router matches against it's host table, and will basically refresh the table when your server is requested. Finding no entry, the router will drop the packet. The router will return to the original host an ICMP 3 (Destination Unreachable, flag 1) packet. This should not depend on the type of router. This is IPv4 behavior.