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UK sells off unused net addresses

bbc.co.uk

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Re: UK sells off unused net addresses

#21

Post by eli »

pascalmemories wrote: post #6
longwave wrote: post #5

For anyone interested the block that has been sold is 51.174.0.0/15. The remainder of 51.0.0.0/8 still belongs to the Department of Work and Pensions though none of it is publically routable.

Department of Work & Pensions. Ho Ho Ho ! No-one seriously believes the DWP uses a /8. The whole UK Gov can use the block for internal purposes as it was allocated at a time before RFC1918 was a thing and everyone worked on the basis you needed to get an IPv4 allocation for your IP network. Several other public bodies in the UK got smaller blocks too (you can find them without too much digging on Google) but most of…

I think it's a mistake to assume anything malicious or untoward took place. A /8 is quite a lot of addresses, but at one point it was assumed a) the total pool of addresses would last a very very long time and b) that every network connected device would have a publicly routable IP.

Re: UK sells off unused net addresses

#22

Post by arethuza »

zokier wrote: post #17
pascalmemories wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Department of Work & Pensions. Ho Ho Ho ! No-one seriously believes the DWP uses a /8. The whole UK Gov can use the block for internal purposes as it was allocated at a time before RFC1918 was a thing and everyone worked on the basis you needed to get an IPv4 allocation for your IP network. Several other public bodies in the UK got smaller blocks too (you can find them without too much digging on Google) but most of…

> Parliament got it's own TLD when it was a case of sending an email to be allocated a TLD Which TLD would that be?

parliament.uk - not really a TLD though

http://www.parliament.uk/

All MP email addresses appear to be @parliament.uk

Re: UK sells off unused net addresses

#23

Post by eli »

jgalt212 wrote: post #4

This is interesting in that if IP addresses are allowed to trade freely (currently 4 quid per IP), I'd argue that we'll never run out of them. And this whole transition to IPv6 may never be necessary.

The economies of scale works backwards here: the more you break up a block of addresses, the more inconvenient it is to route to them and the less they're worth. I'm not sure how easy it is to transfer anything smaller than a /24

Re: UK sells off unused net addresses

#24

Post by zokier »

arethuza wrote: post #22
zokier wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Parliament got it's own TLD when it was a case of sending an email to be allocated a TLD Which TLD would that be?

parliament.uk - not really a TLD though http://www.parliament.uk/ All MP email addresses appear to be @parliament.uk

That's squarely a second level domain, not top-level one.

Re: UK sells off unused net addresses

#25

Post by scurvy »

dinosammy wrote: post #19

Is there any way to purchase IPv4 addresses as an investor? It seems like they will be an appreciating asset over the next few years, if you are willing to make the gamble that IPv6 adoption will be on a longer timeframe, rather than a shorter timeframe

IP networks acquired via purchase are still subject to local IRR use regulations. You can't just gobble up IP space without using them nor without using what you've currently got (80% utilization).

Even if you managed to acquire them, the IRR's could claw them back (in theory).

Re: UK sells off unused net addresses

#26

Post by scurvy »

longwave wrote: post #5

For anyone interested the block that has been sold is 51.174.0.0/15. The remainder of 51.0.0.0/8 still belongs to the Department of Work and Pensions though none of it is publically routable.

It is publicly routable. They choose not to announce it. It's not publicly routed, but it most definitely is routable.

Re: UK sells off unused net addresses

#27

Post by scurvy »

Nexxxeh wrote: post #12
michaelt wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, presumably if blocks of IP addresses get radically smaller, routing tables will get large enough that not every system can handle them. Given how sluggish people are about upgrading to IPv6 people obviously aren't upgrading often, so there must be a lot of legacy equipment out there. So it's not like I can just buy an one or two IP addresses, like I could in a liquid marketplace.

Weren't there already problems last year because the BGP tables got too big for some ISP equipment to handle? http://www.zdnet.com/article/internet-hiccups-today-youre-no...

Heaven forbid you use a router that was actually designed to be a router, rather than a switch with a henky supervisor card thrown into it.

Also help us if the routing manufacturers actually put more than 2GB of memory on the routing engine.

Re: UK sells off unused net addresses

#28

Post by pyvpx »

scurvy wrote: post #25
dinosammy wrote: post #19

Is there any way to purchase IPv4 addresses as an investor? It seems like they will be an appreciating asset over the next few years, if you are willing to make the gamble that IPv6 adoption will be on a longer timeframe, rather than a shorter timeframe

IP networks acquired via purchase are still subject to local IRR use regulations. You can't just gobble up IP space without using them nor without using what you've currently got (80% utilization). Even if you managed to acquire them, the IRR's could claw them back (in theory).

not if they are legacy and not subject to the LIRs usage agreement.

you might have to buy some really big military contractors to pull that off, though :)

Re: UK sells off unused net addresses

#29

Post by pascalmemories »

eli wrote: post #21
pascalmemories wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Department of Work & Pensions. Ho Ho Ho ! No-one seriously believes the DWP uses a /8. The whole UK Gov can use the block for internal purposes as it was allocated at a time before RFC1918 was a thing and everyone worked on the basis you needed to get an IPv4 allocation for your IP network. Several other public bodies in the UK got smaller blocks too (you can find them without too much digging on Google) but most of…

I think it's a mistake to assume anything malicious or untoward took place. A /8 is quite a lot of addresses, but at one point it was assumed a) the total pool of addresses would last a very very long time and b) that every network connected device would have a publicly routable IP.

I wasn't suggesting anything malicious. [edit: OK, perhaps I should have suggested someone's name had to go on the allocation record and DWP would look most benign. My recollection is the allocation was once listed as being NHS but that may be due to one too many whiskies and/or conflating another allocation.]

I was suggesting it was a throwback to the very early days of the internet expansion when people had a much simpler understanding of how it would all work and were excited to get involved. I think there are some enlightening stories to be told from various UK governmental departments which are not normally the source of such forward thinking.

Re: UK sells off unused net addresses

#30

Post by mattmanser »

zokier wrote: post #24
arethuza wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

parliament.uk - not really a TLD though http://www.parliament.uk/ All MP email addresses appear to be @parliament.uk

That's squarely a second level domain, not top-level one.

Until last year all uk addresses were in the format of domainname.x.uk, where x mimicked the US tlds, .org.uk, .gov.uk, .co.uk (instead of .com.uk), etc.
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