[NCLUG] ATT and servers.

[Michael Dwyer]

Matt Pujol wrote:
> Since I've been using @home/attbi, they have never allowed any sort of
> server to run on the customer side - including a Quake or Descent server.

Allow me to qualify that a little... The documents when I first started
with @Home said in paraphrase, "Sure!  Run a server!  We don't care! 
Just don't come crying to us when you get hacked.  And if you hog the
bandwidth and annoy your neighbors, we're gonna slap you good."

They then changed to, "No.  No, no, no.  No servers of any kind."  This,
of course, opened up the debate about "just what /is/ a 'server',
anyway'.  This debate continues...  

It would appear that the rules still say "No, no no!"

However, IANAL, but I suspect that the rules are simply there to give
them a reason to cut you off if you annoy them.  If you are a good
network citizen, they don't seem to bother you if you break their
rules.  I even hear that people are getting netscanned regularly from
@Home administrative hosts.  I'm sure they found my web server a number
of times, but they never caused me problems.

Really, the No Servers rule is better enforced with their upstream
bandwidth cap and dynamic addresses.

BTW, the DHCP protocol generally gives you your old address back when
you renew.  If I recall, when you renew your dynamic address lease, the
protocol is something like:
 o I've used to have this IP!
 o Yeah, I guess you do.  Well, it hasn't gotten stale enough for me to
give it to someone else, so here's your lease back.
 o Great, thanks!

Also, for what it is worth, when I scan my cable modem, it shows these
ports:
  Port       State       Service
  137/tcp    filtered    netbios-ns
  138/tcp    filtered    netbios-dgm
  139/tcp    filtered    netbios-ssn
  1080/tcp   filtered   
socks                                                    

The first three prevent windows file sharing, the last one prevents
misconfigured proxies from becoming hosts to IRC wars.  The other
standard ports aren't touched.  There is nothing technically stopping
one from starting an FTP or HTTP server.  This block list shows that it
is technically possible for AT&T to stop you, but right now they
apparenly choose not to.