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The Nintendo Switch Switch

blog.cynthia.re

51–60 of 80 posts

Re: The Nintendo Switch Switch

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why rfc6598 space instead of one of the other 1918 ranges? I would expect pretending to be a cgn on an internal network to blow up in spectacular fashion.

I think he means doing NAT on his PC itself (such as is the default network configuration on virtualbox), where it doesn't ordinarily matter what private IP range the VMs are located in. VMs get DHCP leases and a default gateway from the host. The host presents only one IP address and MAC to what it's physically plugged into.

I know what NAT is, and even if I didn't it was obvious from the post, my question was about the range chosen for the clients. Given that the RFC covering 100.64../10 is specifically for carrier-grade NAT (that's what cgn in my post refers to) I was surprised at the choice to use it instead of one of the other private IP ranges specified in rfc1918, such as 192.168../16.

One place where cgn addressing can trip people up is with DNS; lots of DNS servers (especially the flimsy ones used in lab-in-a-box setups) end up filtering host records for those ranges which can screw up SSH by making the reverse lookup fail, for instance.

Edit: from the text of the RFC -

"""Because CGN service requires non-overlapping address space on each side of the home NAT and CGN, entities using Shared Address Space for purposes other than for CGN service, as described in this document, are likely to experience problems implementing or connecting to CGN service at such time as they exhaust their supply of public IPv4 addresses."""

Re: The Nintendo Switch Switch

#52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think he means doing NAT on his PC itself (such as is the default network configuration on virtualbox), where it doesn't ordinarily matter what private IP range the VMs are located in. VMs get DHCP leases and a default gateway from the host. The host presents only one IP address and MAC to what it's physically plugged into.

I know what NAT is, and even if I didn't it was obvious from the post, my question was about the range chosen for the clients. Given that the RFC covering 100.64../10 is specifically for carrier-grade NAT (that's what cgn in my post refers to) I was surprised at the choice to use it instead of one of the other private IP ranges specified in rfc1918, such as 192.168../16. One place where cgn addressing can trip people…

I agree that it would be rather unusual to intentionally choose the 100.64 cgnat ranges for guest VMs running on a workstation.

Re: The Nintendo Switch Switch

#53

I'm [vaguely] interested in unconventional Android devices. People often talk about "plenty of android devices with X" where x is e.g. a keyboard. But a search of Google, Ali Express, etc don't yield much except for conventional phones. Is there a list or other source where I can discover these mythical interesting devices?

This is probably not quite what you're talking about, but:

I'm convinced there's a bunch of interesting single-purpose Android devices that simply aren't available to the general public. The manufacturers are large companies that you've probably heard of that don't do business on places like AliExpress. Unfortunately, the devices in question are "enterprise" products, and sold accordingly.

For example, the self-service kiosks at Taco Bell seem to be Android-based, though I can't confirm this. Good luck finding a supplier who will sell you those in lots of less than a thousand.

Swinging around to your original question, I occasionally hear about MIPS-based Android tablets made for Indian or Chinese markets. I'm sure they're on AliExpress, but I doubt they're clearly labeled as MIPS.

Re: The Nintendo Switch Switch

#54

The author's main motivation is probably the cool name "Nintendo Switch Switch" but a bridge is not a switch, so it should be called a "Nintendo Switch Bridge".

Being a little pedandic here aren't we? For all intents and purposes a bridge is basically a switch with two ports. At the end of the day this is running on a Linux kernel so it can basically be any networking device you want it to be, even a router.

Re: The Nintendo Switch Switch

#55

I'm [vaguely] interested in unconventional Android devices. People often talk about "plenty of android devices with X" where x is e.g. a keyboard. But a search of Google, Ali Express, etc don't yield much except for conventional phones. Is there a list or other source where I can discover these mythical interesting devices?

Could those people be referring to Chromebooks and other ChromeOS netbooks? They apparently run any android app, although they aren't really running android as the OS.

Re: The Nintendo Switch Switch

#56
post #2

At my college, we have an airgapped network for security classes, and when assignments are due, we often run out of ethernet cables. I had just mentioned I would bring a switch with me the next day and people were confused why I'd be goofing off with a Switch so close to the deadline. Now we can avoid that kind of confusion! :)

> when assignments are due, we often run out of ethernet cables. I had just mentioned I would bring a switch with me the next day As I understand it, a switch will solve a shortage of ethernet ports, but will make the cable problem worse by requiring one extra cable. What's the purpose of the switch here?

I think they mean out of ethernet-cables-that-are-usable-to-get-network-access. So there's loose cables aplenty, but a shortage of cables that work in the sense of the far end being plugged in, due to a shortage of ports.

From the perspective of a student walking into the room with their laptop, that's a shortage of cable-ends that they can plug into their laptop to gain network access.

Re: The Nintendo Switch Switch

#57
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would 1 mac per port be proper security? Seems needlessly restrictive and ineffective to me.

NAT for IPs may be everywhere, but NAT for MAC addresses is inconceivable.

if you use a cheap router instead of a switch the far end will only see one MAC address which is the one of the router. doing NAT then is as easy as it could be. You could literally use just about any router out of the box without even configuring anything. you can also add an ethernet switch behind this device easily. only limiting a port to a single MAC is therefore somewhat pointless. you would prohibit valid use cases (adding a switch) without hindering any nefarious user (guy with a cheap router). Also, NAT for MAC addresses is a thing although not necessarily the most useful approach in this case...

Re: The Nintendo Switch Switch

#58
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your college has any proper security on access ports, they'll be limited to one MAC address per physical port, and hopefully a decent 802.1x setup

Why would 1 mac per port be proper security? Seems needlessly restrictive and ineffective to me.

A lot of people think trusted L3 is a valid security solution.

Re: The Nintendo Switch Switch

#59
post #2

At my college, we have an airgapped network for security classes, and when assignments are due, we often run out of ethernet cables. I had just mentioned I would bring a switch with me the next day and people were confused why I'd be goofing off with a Switch so close to the deadline. Now we can avoid that kind of confusion! :)

> when assignments are due, we often run out of ethernet cables. I had just mentioned I would bring a switch with me the next day As I understand it, a switch will solve a shortage of ethernet ports, but will make the cable problem worse by requiring one extra cable. What's the purpose of the switch here?

They might have people in a couple of different rooms, and plenty of short Ethernet cables but not enough long ones. So a switch allows them to run one cable between rooms and use a bunch of shorter cables within the room.

Re: The Nintendo Switch Switch

#60
post #53

I'm [vaguely] interested in unconventional Android devices. People often talk about "plenty of android devices with X" where x is e.g. a keyboard. But a search of Google, Ali Express, etc don't yield much except for conventional phones. Is there a list or other source where I can discover these mythical interesting devices?

This is probably not quite what you're talking about, but: I'm convinced there's a bunch of interesting single-purpose Android devices that simply aren't available to the general public. The manufacturers are large companies that you've probably heard of that don't do business on places like AliExpress. Unfortunately, the devices in question are "enterprise" products, and sold accordingly. For example, the self-servi…

Norwegian Air's in-flight entertainment systems (screen on the back of the seat in front of you) are modified/custom Android tablets. When you open the flight tracker you can see the regular Android buttons at the bottom and pull down to see the notification area (which has been modified to contain no content). Didn't find a way out of their sandbox, maybe next time I'll bring a male-male usb cable and see if I can get in with adb..
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