From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.0 required=5.0 tests=MAILING_LIST_MULTI, T_SCC_BODY_TEXT_LINE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 26142 invoked from network); 26 Jun 2022 20:36:35 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (50.116.15.146) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 26 Jun 2022 20:36:35 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D95EE40C3C; Mon, 27 Jun 2022 06:35:56 +1000 (AEST) Received: from cesium.clock.org (cesium.clock.org [157.22.10.65]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 135D740BB6 for ; Mon, 27 Jun 2022 06:35:47 +1000 (AEST) Received: from smtpclient.apple (chronos.clock.org [10.0.1.120]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) (Authenticated sender: eef-nbsd) by cesium.clock.org (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id EC538CBC48; Sun, 26 Jun 2022 13:35:42 -0700 (PDT) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Mime-Version: 1.0 (Mac OS X Mail 16.0 \(3696.100.31\)) From: Erik Fair In-Reply-To: <1C6AFC69-F616-421A-B7BA-376ACDC295BA@canb.auug.org.au> Date: Sun, 26 Jun 2022 13:35:41 -0700 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Message-Id: References: <20220626021956.0140918C0A2@mercury.lcs.mit.edu> <1C6AFC69-F616-421A-B7BA-376ACDC295BA@canb.auug.org.au> To: steve jenkin X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.3696.100.31) Message-ID-Hash: XFMOBJ4VPISZJQFSLKVJ374HN3WISPIZ X-Message-ID-Hash: XFMOBJ4VPISZJQFSLKVJ374HN3WISPIZ X-MailFrom: fair@netbsd.org X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: dmarc-mitigation; no-senders; approved; emergency; loop; banned-address; member-moderation; header-match-tuhs.tuhs.org-0; nonmember-moderation; administrivia; implicit-dest; max-recipients; max-size; news-moderation; no-subject; digests; suspicious-header CC: TUHS , Noel Chiappa X-Mailman-Version: 3.3.6b1 Precedence: list Subject: [TUHS] Re: Research Datakit notes List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list Archived-At: List-Archive: List-Help: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: > On Jun 26, 2022, at 02:46, steve jenkin = wrote: >=20 > One of the modern challenges for Enterprise Customers is =E2=80=9Cchange= network provider=E2=80=9D. > One major Aussie firm just took two years to move Service Provider and = it was =E2=80=99news=E2=80=99. >=20 > 25yrs ago, and probably now as well, interconnecting / splitting = corporate networks following merges / de-merges was a huge task. > IP networks require re-numbering and basic IP services, like DNS, = email, web, need re-provisioning / re-platforming. I take issue with this, and have experience to backup my view: it is not = hard to change Internet Service Providers (ISP) for large corporations - = I did it several times during my tenure as the =E2=80=9CInternet guy=E2=80= =9D for Apple Computer, Inc., an ~$8bn revenue multinational = corporation. You just have to plan for it properly, handle transitions = gracefully (ideally, with overlap), and keep control of (do not = outsource) key assets like domain names, public IP network address = assignments, and services like e-mail (SMTP). Apple's primary =E2=80=9Cface=E2=80=9D to the world in July 1988 when I = arrived was a DEC VAX-11/780 running 4.3 BSD Unix. I renumbered it once, = when we changed from CSNET=E2=80=99s X25NET (9.6Kb/s IP-over-X.25 via = TELENET/SPRINTlink) to a 56Kb/s (DS0) leased line - we started using an = assigned class B network: 130.43/16 - the VAX became 130.43.2.2. It = retained its name as =E2=80=9Capple.com=E2=80=9D until it was = decommissioned in the late 1990s. Apple was on CSNET primarily (where the VAX was connected), and had a = separated BARRNET T1 that belonged to the A/UX group (A/UX was Apple=E2=80= =99s version of Unix). I connected our two external =E2=80=9Cperimeter=E2=80= =9D networks , set up fail-over IP routing (initially with RIP (ugh), = later deployed BGP), upgraded CSNET in California, added a second site = in Cambridge, MA to CSNET, later moved Cambridge to NEARNET, replaced = CSNET in California with CERFNET, helped our European offices in Zeist, = NL connect to SURFnet, and our customer service division in Austin, TX = to SPRINTNET (they had to forcibly (disruptively) renumber, but they = screwed up by not listening to me during their network planning). We did have to clean up an internal IP address mess when I got there: = lots of =E2=80=9Cpicked out of the air=E2=80=9D net numbers in use: = 90/8, 92/8, 95/8, etc.; those were all renumbered into properly assigned = net 17/8, which Apple still uses today. Before the WWW, =E2=80=9Cftp.apple.com=E2=80=9D offered up MacOS = software distribution via anonymous FTP from a Mac IIcx running A/UX = under my desk, and to prevent our connectivity from being overwhelmed = when MacOS releases were published, I wrote an ftp-listener to restrict = the number of FTP connections per peer classful network number for that = server. I later installed that code at the Smithsonian Institution on a = Unix machine they set up for public anonymous FTP of their = digitally-scanned historical photography archive, because they had the = same problem: limited connectivity, popular content. As for mergers, acquisitions, and spinoffs, I was involved in networking = for Coral Software (acquired; purveyors of Macintosh Common Lisp) which = became Apple Cambridge; Taligent which was an Apple/IBM joint venture = (an Apple OS & software group spin-out; they were set up with a separate = public class B network number and domain name from the get-go to provide = for maximum future flexibility, even though they were initially in a = building on the Apple Campus in Cupertino, CA and thus on the dark fiber = plant, and Apple (me) was their ISP) and ultimately IBM bought out = Apple; The Apple Engineering secured connection to the =E2=80=9CSomerset = Design Center=E2=80=9D in Austin, TX (a joint venture between Apple, = IBM, and Motorola (the AIM alliance) from whence the PowerPC processor = came), which was tricky. I=E2=80=99ll grant that when I was doing this work, Internet = connectivity downtime didn=E2=80=99t mean immediate revenues losses = (e.g., from not being able to accept orders in the Apple Online store, = which did not (yet) exist), but e-mail was critical to Apple=E2=80=99s = world-wide operations, and making e-mail robust & reliable was the first = job I was hired to do: fix sendmail(8), take control of DNS (CSNET = controlled the apple.com zone file when I arrived), and naturally, that = extended to making Internet connectivity & routing robust as well. The main problem that =E2=80=9Cmodern=E2=80=9D mergers & acquisitions = face in coordinating networking is a direct result of something else I = fought against in the IETF: private IP address space (RFC 1918), and = Network Address Translation (NAT) - see RFC 1627. Unfortunately, I and = my colleagues lost that debate, which is why one now sees double/triple = NAT setups to try and make overlapping private IPv4 addressed networks = talk to each other. You=E2=80=99ll notice that I eschewed use of private = address space while at Apple, and having unique public IP address space = made most things simpler - funny how following the architecture works = better than fighting it. Unix is tied into all of this because it has been the platform where = (most often) the first implementation of many of these protocols or = hacks is written. It takes a flexible operating system to make such a = wide range of applications possible. However, properly setting up the = rest of the communications infrastructure (in which Unix must = communicate) is important too. Erik Fair =20=