% > all those services on one LAN infrastructure, then that LAN
% > MUST BE UP all the time. What is the cost to keep up all
% > the infrastructure pieces 7x24 and never let them go down?
% > Remember, you can't even call the Help Desk if the LAN is
% > down (assuming phone service depends on it)!
%
% Most of my clients have been building networks with zero or near zero
% permissible downtime for years. International banks have this funny
% problem that there is virtually no time of day or night when something
% doesn't need the network to be up.
%
% This is hardly a new problem. The infrastructure costs to do this are
% quite manageable, although certainly non-negligible.
%
% This is even ignoring the fact that other related industries (such as
% our friends in the telco industry) have been providing even more
% reliable service for many, many years.
%
% Perry
Ah, but the point here is that we may be on the cusp of a fundamental
change in how the Internet operates. A basic assumption that I
grew up with is that IP based networks presume that the endnodes
have all the information they need, impressed on them at build time.
there is no -requirement- that they communicate with intermediaries
before talking w/ other nodes on the network.
We are building networks that have required infrastructure support
before the end nodes can be usefully deployed, e.g. CA/Key servers,
DHCP/DynamicDNS, policy servers, etc.
Its not that we can't build them, its that it is a change in
a fundamental IP precept. Just a thought.
--bill
