[ale] "Small Guy" redundant routing

[The Don Lachlan]

On 04/05/2011 11:19 PM, Michael B. Trausch wrote:
> On Tue, 2011-04-05 at 10:31 -0400, Don Lachlan wrote:
> I Just really am wondering why the barrier-to-entry for the ability to
> announce routes from your own network is so high.  It isn't really a
> technical issue, just an issue of how much one is willing to pay for
> their pipe, at least as I understand it.

No and yes. No, it *is* a technical issue and yes, it is an issue of how 
much one is willing to pay.

Bob comes to me and says, "I want a IP." Ok, sure, no problem. Jane 
comes to me and says, "I want 3 IPs." Ok, sure, no problem. Tom comes to 
me and says "I want to advertise a subnet to the internet." Shit, dude, 
that's not quite so easy. If he wants it, homeboy's gonna PAY.

So, "no" and "yes."

When you start advertising routes on the internet, you leave the realm 
of Internet User and become Network Operator. Pakistan took down the 
internet a few years back because it was trying to block YouTube. It 
still could today. (Yes, it's more difficult but it still could. Shut 
up.) The internet relies upon "good behavior" by the people involved and 
the Network Operators are some higher-level individuals responsible for 
enforcing that. Whatever your intent, a "best effort" fuck-up could have 
serious repercussions because your "best effort" sucked. And what if 
your intent was malicious? A Network Operator can't be an upgrade on an 
ADSL or home cable package. I suspect there aren't m?any business DSL or 
cable packages that allow you to advertise routes. (Quoting one 
counter-example does not invalidate the entire argument, you pedants.)

IPv6 resolves a lot of these issues. IPv4 has not yet and likely will 
not ever. For both technical and logistical reasons, you, a home user, 
will not advertise IPv4 subnets on the internet without cash or cred 
behind it.

And I return to... If you tell us what you're trying to do, we can 
prolly come up with a plan that isn't completely ridiculous, where 
ridiculous is defined as "How do I get $3k of services for $200?!?" From 
a purely academic standpoint, I've tried to answer your question. To 
resolve whatever underlying issue prompted your question, I'm still 
uncertain if you have an answer.

-L