At 10:03 PM 2/13/96 -0500, Adam Shostack wrote:
IP addresses are a scarce resource today. Try getting a /16 allocation (what used to be a class B). There are politics in the process already.
I know they are getting scarce. I just find the "let's sell IP addresses on the open market" do be a scary though. it will make them less available.
Addresses will not be easily 'transferable.' The IETF is discussing a 'Best Current Practices' document that talks about address portability. Basically, it can't happen, because the routers only have so much memory, and the routers at the core of the internet can't keep in memory how to reach every one; there needs to be aggregation. The only feasible aggregation seems to be provider based, ie, MCI, Alternet, and other large ISPs get blocks of addresses. They give them to smaller companies, like got.net, which gives them to customers. The result? The core routers have a few more years.
A good point. Having parts of subnet shifting around could be pretty painful from an admin point of view.
Lastly, 32 bit addressing is going away. IPv6 offers 128 bit address space, and (hopefully) much more efficient allocation, as well as such useful things as hooks for automatic renumbering of address space.
I just hope that the AT&T scheme does not get put into place. Otherwise it will be just viewed like a stock split. ("Wow! We have more addresses to sell!") The AT&T plan as described sounds like something dreamed up by a marketing droid as a way to "Make Money Fast Off Of The Internet". What is the timeline for implementation of IPv6? --- Alan Olsen -- alano@teleport.com -- Contract Web Design & Instruction `finger -l alano@teleport.com` for PGP 2.6.2 key http://www.teleport.com/~alano/ "We had to destroy the Internet in order to save it." - Sen. Exon "I, Caligula Clinton... In the name of the Senate and the people of Rome!" - Bill Clinton signing the CDA with the First Amendment bent over.