[urgent assistance] 198.32.0.0/16 - Disappeared...

Sun May 13 22:35:15 UTC 2007

On 12-May-2007, at 06:34, Fergie wrote:

> Just as a follow-up to this:
>
> The situation still exists: 198.32.0.0/16 is still missing in
> action in the routing system, and more importantly, so are
> EP.net's DNS servers. :-(

I'm not sure that 198.32.0.0/16 was ever advertised. EP.NET runs a  
registry for exchange points and other people that Bill feels like  
helping out and assigns from that number range; since the /16 covers  
many varied applications and organisations all over the planet, it  
seems unlikely that a /16 would do anything useful.

I have no problems reaching FLAG.EP.NET (198.32.4.13), DOT.EP.NET  
(198.32.2.10), both of which live in subnets numbered from  
198.32.0.0/16 and administered by EP.NET directly.

A quick RIS query suggests that none of the RIS probes have ever seen  
an advertisement 198.32.0.0/16.

> So, if Bill magically re-appears, or if anyone else can provide any
> insight or assistance, please contact ops-staff at mail-abuse.org.

There are a number of prominent DNS servers numbered within  
198.32.0.0/16; however, for various reasons a noticeable number of  
network operators take the position that all routes within that /16  
are necessarily bogons, since it was originally designated for use in  
numbering exchange-point fabrics and those blocks ought properly not  
be advertised.

I take no philosophical position on any of that (it's far too sunny  
and verdant here to form that kind of opinion here this afternoon),  
and in a similar vein apologies for any historical inaccuracies I may  
have inferred above. However, from a purely operational perspective,  
you may want to check that the specific subnets of 198.32.0.0/16 that  
you are interested in have not been filtered by your transit providers.

Joe