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Why Google Went Offline Today and a Bit about How the Internet Works

blog.cloudflare.com

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Re: Why Google Went Offline Today and a Bit about How the Internet Works

#121
post #113
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are outdated to the extent that you would have been behind the times in the 1680s where the word was already being used to mean 'what follows must be taken in the strongest admissible sense'.

Curious why such a specific time period. Is there a source for 1680s? The 17th century would probably be sufficient otherwise.

OED has the source if you have access to it, which I don't or I would provide it here.

Re: Why Google Went Offline Today and a Bit about How the Internet Works

#122
post #11

> When I figured out the problem, I contacted a colleague at Moratel to let him know what was going on. He was able to fix the problem... I wonder how he contacted his colleague. In this case, I presume that routing to other networks were unaffected. But in the general case, with a future of everything over IP, what will network engineers use to communicate about faults?

Many networks engage in a practice know as peering. If the author was the peering co-ordinator for his AS, he may have likely been previously in touch with the peering co-ordinator on Moratel's side when establishing a peering relationship, and would thus have had direct contact information to a pretty direct channel (peering co-ordinators are generally also network engineers). The direct contact information being e-mail, phone, IM, or even IRC (yes, some network engineers still use it). Although, the phone (non-VOIP) would be the only option not tied in to IP.

Re: Why Google Went Offline Today and a Bit about How the Internet Works

#123
post #66

"I'm a network engineer at CloudFlare and I played a small part in helping ensure Google came back online." Uhh, no. Without the "ensure", then maybe.

Even without the "ensure" ... what did this network engineer at CloudFlare do anyway? it was a hardware failure.

Re: Why Google Went Offline Today and a Bit about How the Internet Works

#125
post #90

Does this mean that in the future we should ignore all routes comming from PCCW (since they rebroadcast all rules without filtering)?

That's a good way to effectively disconnect yourself from the Internet. A lot of ISPs are not properly filtering.

Re: Why Google Went Offline Today and a Bit about How the Internet Works

#126
post #16

Best explanation ever. Wow, seriously, this person can use the right words to help even the non-technical people understand such a complex situation. Thanks for posting this.

I used to manage networks and wondered, while reading the article, why it gets so many points on HN, when it only states obvious things and doesn't really go into detail. And then I realized most people these days have no idea about how packets get from here to there, or even that there are packets at all. Now I understand the appeal, but I guess this means that good introductory material is badly needed.

Re: Why Google Went Offline Today and a Bit about How the Internet Works

#127
post #11

> When I figured out the problem, I contacted a colleague at Moratel to let him know what was going on. He was able to fix the problem... I wonder how he contacted his colleague. In this case, I presume that routing to other networks were unaffected. But in the general case, with a future of everything over IP, what will network engineers use to communicate about faults?

If you run a network with BGP, you always have good contact information for your peers. "Good" meaning direct telephone contact with tech people running the show on the other side of the link.

Re: Why Google Went Offline Today and a Bit about How the Internet Works

#129
post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's fine, as long as you have an alternative ready that takes the meaning that the old "literally" had when I do want the statement to be taken, er, literally. If you don't, then it makes a lot of sense to defend literal from non-literal usage. What's the alternative that I can use and be understood?

Context.

"Hello, 911? Yeah, I've got an unconscious person here. His face is literally purple."

Did I mean literally literally, or figuratively? And how can the previous question have meaning?

Re: Why Google Went Offline Today and a Bit about How the Internet Works

#130
post #127
post #11

> When I figured out the problem, I contacted a colleague at Moratel to let him know what was going on. He was able to fix the problem... I wonder how he contacted his colleague. In this case, I presume that routing to other networks were unaffected. But in the general case, with a future of everything over IP, what will network engineers use to communicate about faults?

If you run a network with BGP, you always have good contact information for your peers. "Good" meaning direct telephone contact with tech people running the show on the other side of the link.

Telephony might be routed over IP too.
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