On Aug 14, 2013, at 3:27 PM, Patrick W. Gilmore <patr...@ianai.net> wrote:

> Once you define what you mean by "how bit is the Internet", I'll be happy to 
> spout off about how big it is. :)

Arbitrary definition time: A Internet host is one that can send and receive 
packets directly with at least one far end device addressed out of RIR managed 
IPv4 or IPv6 space.

That means behind a NAT counts, behind a firewall counts, but a true private 
network (two PC's into an L2 switch with no other connections) does not, even 
if they use IP protocols.  Note that devices behind a pure L3 proxy do not 
count, but the L3 proxy itself counts.

Now, take those Internet hosts and create a graph where each node has a binary 
state, forwards packets or does not forward packets the result is a set of edge 
nodes that do not forward packets.  The simple case is an end user PC, the 
complex case may be something like a server in a data center that while 
connected to multiple networks does not forward any packets, and is an edge 
node on all of the networks to which it is attached.

To me, "all Internet" traffic is the sum of all "in" traffic on all edge nodes. 
 Note if I did my definition carefully out = in - (packet loss + 
undeliverable), which means on the scale of the global Internet I suspect out 
== in, when rounded off.

So please, carry on and spout off as to how big that is, I think an estimate 
would be very interesting.

-- 
       Leo Bicknell - bickn...@ufp.org - CCIE 3440
        PGP keys at http://www.ufp.org/~bicknell/






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