breath-of-life packet: n.
[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.