[NCLUG] Cable Modem Refugees

[Michael Dwyer]

Chris Wolney wrote:
> 
> > Michael Dwyer wrote:
> > Personally, I'm more annoyed with the complete loss of static IPs.  Its
> > gonna be hellish to track down my MP3s^H^H^H^H important business
> > documents from work, now!  On the other hand, one of my recent projects
> > at work was a little tool to enable one to find a machine out in the
> > dynamic world... Hmmmm.
> >
> 
> FWIW, I've heard talk of www.tzo.com and www.dns2go.com.  They both offer
> Linux clients, but I have not used them.  I was also looking for a link to
> the "new" AUP for aatbi that prohibited the use of these dynamic DNS agents,
> but can't locate it.  Apparently the lease on our IP's will be much shorter
> now.  I had the same IP ever since I'd been hooked up on @home, but from
> people's attbi reports, that's going to change.

The funny thing is, as long as the gateway and netmasks don't change,
there's not much they can do to keep you from sitting on an IP.  Most
well-behaved DHCP servers will ping an address to see if someone is
there before giving that address away to someone else.  So long as your
machine always answers a ping, you can hold an IP address.  DHCP doesn't
support a way of revoking addresses.  They can expire, and a
well-behaved client is supposed to check in again... but clients that
are not well-behaved can do pretty much whatever they want.  The only
way to 'deny' you is to totally block that IP, physically unplug you, or
something equally evil.[0]  
Furthermore, DHCP /usually/ extends leases to clients, instead of
getting new ones.  Once again, as long as you always leave your machine
on, you probably always have your IP.

<sigh> I just wish they would get it through their thick skulls that all
I really want is an internet connection.  I could care less about their
portals, personal web pages, e-mail accounts, and so on.  <sob> I want
DSL soooo bad...

[0] Addresses that return pings are put on a list of contaminated
addresses that are removed from the pool.  Do this too much, and the
DHCP pool dries up, and network techs start investigating, and your
petty AUP transgression becomes actionable...