multi-homing fixes

Sat Aug 25 01:43:42 UTC 2001

	By the way, my favorite provider insanity (circa 1998) went like this:

Provider: We need 80% of your IPs to be pingable by next week or we're going
to have to take some of your IPs away.

Customer: This is coming out of nowhere. That requirement isn't in our
contract.

P: Your contract says that you have to follow our IP allocation policies and
if you don't we can take them back. So, our new policy is that 80% of your
IPs have to be pingable.

C: Well that's a problem because about 40% of my IPs have been allocated to
customers who have asked me to block incoming pings, which I do.

P: Well, I'm sorry, that's just the way it is. We need the IPs badly and
ARIN won't allocate us any more right now. So we need you to prove usage or
we'll take them back.

C: I have an idea. If you can tell me what IP or small block of IPs you'll
be pinging from, I'll talk to the affected customers about making an
exception for your ping boxes.

P: I'm sorry, I can't tell you that information.

C: Why not?

P: If you knew where we'd be pinging from, you could block our pinger. Then
we'd have no idea what IPs you were using.

	Most likely, this particular provider had done something majorly wrong for
their allocations to be refused. But it's their customers that suffer. This
alone is sufficient reason to multihome. It lets you keep your hair.

	DS