[Gllug] Public IPs - When are they appropriate

[itsbruce at uklinux.net]

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Original Message <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

On 11/12/01, 12:19:57 PM, tet at accucard.com wrote regarding Re: [Gllug] 
Public IPs - When are they appropriate :


> >Yeah, there is no reason for most of the workstations in this office to 
have
> >a public IP and it is soooooo much easier when you can just plug a 
machine
> >into the network and let DHCP handle the rest.

> Of course, there's no reason why you couldn't just have your DHCP server
> allocate public IP addresses (although unless you've got dynamic DNS, the
> advantages of a public IP address would be lost).

I know people keep making that argument for the sake of purity but it 
offends my sense of economy.  Why waste a public ip address on something 
that doesn't need it (or rarely does, in which case the compromises of 
NAT are usually adequate).  Dissing the extra security of NAT doesn't 
impress either - each extra layer is a definite bonus as no individual 
layer is going to be completely and eternally reliable.

There are a lot of arguments for IPv6 but the ability to give a public  
IP address to your toaster definitely isn't one of the smart ones.  The 
spiel is that there will be no more ip shortages when IPv6 is here but 
Parkinson's Law tells me that is wrong - especially if a profligate 
attitude to assigning IP addresses is positively encouraged.

-- 

Bruce

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