AMPR.ORG and the INTERNET

[brian@ucsd.Edu (Brian Kantor)]

bill gunshannon <702WFG%SCRVMSYS.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu> writes:
>Is there any way that AMPR.ORG could be connected to the INTERNET, given
>it's disconnected nature and the fact that I highly doubt that there will
>ever be a time when we have all of NET 44 connected together.
>Is it totally impossible given the state of TCPIP?

Not impossible, but most gateways would have to be one-way or of limited
visibility, since most current routing models specify only one gateway
between two networks.  Barring legal hassles, you can certainly gateway
your metro piece of the AMPRNET, but people outside of your area can't
really see it, since there's no practical way to specify just piecewise
routing or redirection.

>Is it possible (legal?) to break-up NET 44 so that it would appear
>to be a bunch of Class B (Class C?) networks, with multiple connections
>to the INTERNET?

Not the way things work now.  You could get a bunch of class-C networks
instead, but then you have a bunch of little networks, not one big one.

>If there is no suitable answer to the questions above, should we be
>continuing down the path we currently are travelling, or should we perhaps
>be looking at turning in th Class A address space in favor of either a
>bunch of Class B's or a whole lot of Class C address spaces??

Depends on whether you think we should and whether we can use the
internet as a way to hook our bunch of little networks together.  That
is, after all, what your asking for.  In any case, you are free to
request a class-C network for your area if you want, and if you can get
permission to interconnect it to the internet in your area, it might do
what you want.  I don't see "turning in" the class-A, since we'll need
it to build the big network that I envision as our goal.

>And, of course, the final question which makes all the above questions
>moot, Am I the only one who sees AMPR.ORG ever connecting to the INTERNET?
>Does everyone else see this potential (future) connection as a bad thing
>and therefore something we should not be working towards?

I'd like to connect it, but I think it should be a separate network
that has interconnection with the internet, not a bunch of little toy
networks that depend on the internet to hold the pieces together.
        - Brian