Re: Private networks and home.{net|com}

[andy () TECHNOCOM NET (Andy Smith)]

----- Original Message -----
From: Etaoin Shrdlu <shrdlu () PACBELL NET>

> So we're looking for a little odd something, and we do a simple
traceroute,
> and what do we see? What the heck are those IP addresses at hops 15, 20,
and
> 21? I thought that those weren't supposed to be passed, and there are
three
> of them in one traceroute. This kind of destroys the meaning of the
concept
> of a "private network," especially if insane numbers like these are going
to
> show up in routing tables. Am I just not understanding something here?

An organization is free to route any IP network as it sees fit.  "Private
networks" are there so that organizations can pick ranges that will
definitely not be in use by other people, you may well still see them in use
internally.

As others have mentioned, they're often used as the two ends of point to
point links.  This has the advantage of not using any of the "real" IP
address allocation, but still being reachable for diagnostic purposes
(unlike IP unnumbered interfaces).

--
Andy Smith
Systems Engineer, Technocom plc