Bruce,
 
If you're using a major ISP, then yes, the ISP can probably assign an =
address space.  We did, however, get a block of our own before we even =
started, because we knew we'd be on it someday...because we had that =
block, (which could be justified), we were ready to go.
 
As for the domain name - I'm glad yours got turned around in a week - I =
guess now that they charge $50 or $100 (I forget which) - they have to =
be responsive.  We got ours when they were still free...and it took 8 =
weeks!
 
I guess it depends on who you go with.  All of the major ISPs will even =
do the paperwork for you.  As for DNS zone transfers throughout the =
world...we've not had any problems in this area either.  When we started =
our DNS server, it updated our ISP (who provides secondary DNS for us), =
and the roots were updated within 3 hours...
 
Oh well...guess it depends on the ISP
 
Best,
Joe Geiser
 
----------
From:   Bruce Toback[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Thursday, May 16, 1996 5:56 PM
To:     Multiple recipients of list HP3000-L
Subject:        Re: NMMGR and configuring an IP address
 
Joe Geiser writes:
>If you are going to connect to the net (you WILL someday - you can bank =
on
>it), you
>should obtain a Registered IP Address space from InterNIC.
 
This is actually not the best idea, unless you're going to need more =
than
a few hundred addresses. The reason this is so is that your address has
to be "routed:" every router in the world has to know how to get to your
particular network address. Since there are about 4 million total
possible network addresses, and in theory, every address has to be
programmed into every router, some simplification is required.
 
One way that things get simplified is by assigning addresses in large
blocks, and then assigning the blocks to providers who dole them out to
people on their internal networks. So, for example, Netcom might have =
the
address block 192.76.0.0 - 192.79.255.255. This gives them 1,024 Class C
network addresses that they can give out to people like Telamon, who =
need
exactly one Class C (192.77.224.---) address and who're connected =
through
Netcom's network.
 
The advantage to this is that now, people who have to program routers =
can
say "send packets for any IP address that begins with binary
11100000010011 to Netcom's network." That's an easy thing to tell a
router (routers like to match strings of bits), and it routes 1,024
Class-C networks -- up to 260,096 computers -- all at once.
 
The problem, if you go and get your own private address, is that you =
have
to get all kinds of ISPs to put entries in their routing tables for your
one address. Some of them just won't bother. Sprintnet recently =
announced
that it would no longer route any block of addressess smaller than =
4,096,
and in fact, it took them a long time to route our stand-alone Class C
(and required much tenacious nagging on the part of our ISP). If a major
ISP won't route your address, you can't "see" any of the machines that
use their network. For nearly a month after we got our Internet hookup, =
I
couldn't send mail (or anything else) to anyone on Sprintnet -- like
Adager and the eastern half of Robelle. In fact, the major ISPs won't
even let you use a network address that's not in one of their blocks.
 
In addition, NIC is now aggressively conserving address space. If you
want a Class C, you have to justify the use of 255 IP addresses over the
next year.
 
>The forms, which can be
>e-mailed or
>snail-mailed to InterNIC, who, within your lifetime <g><just kidding>,
>turn around an address space.
 
They've been VERY responsive when we've needed things in the last six
months. Even our domain name registration came back in less than a week.
ISI, which adminsters the -.us domain, took only a couple of days when =
we
needed a -.us domain name. (These are free, by the way.)
 
-- Bruce
 
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
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Bruce Toback    Tel: (602) 996-8601| My candle burns at both ends;
OPT, Inc.            (800) 858-4507| It will not last the night;
11801 N. Tatum Blvd. Ste. 142      | But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends =
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Phoenix AZ 85028                   | It gives a lovely light.
[log in to unmask]                   |     -- Edna St. Vincent Millay