I have an assignment that asked: Indicate what you think your MTU size is and why?
My MTU size is 1024 because i can only send 996 and then adding the 28 bytes, i get 1024.
I undersatnd that.
But then they asked: Explain why your MTU size has been set to this value?
I really don't have the answer. Can someone help me?
I think the limitation comes from the limit on the size of an Ethernet frame (around 1500 bytes, if I remember correctly). the main idea is to keep enough space for protocol (Ethernet, IP, TCP/UDP) header information.
under Windows you can tweak this via the registry (not recommend) HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\
If you send anything larger than the upstream's MTU, it will need to be fragmented at the router. If you send things larger than the local MTU, "bad things" will happen (basically lack of communication, sometimes (rarely) managing to confuse entire switches, bringing network segments to a halt). :-)