[MLB-WIRELESS] DNS and Locfinder

[Craig Sanders]

On Fri, Nov 29, 2002 at 10:16:06AM +1100, Matt Pearce wrote:
> I think I would would have to agree with Brendan in saying WTF are we
> talking about ??  I am totally lost :-), just when I think I am
> starting to do ok with this whole networking thing, you lot come along
> and start saying all this stuff, now its back to square one for me :-(

DNS is a consideration for the long term, that has to be addressed if we
want to end up with a functioning *network* rather than a random bunch
of nodes.  same as we need to figure out IP address allocations and,
eventually, evolve a routing framework that copes with ad-hoc links
coming on-line and going off-line at random (if we don't do that,
there's going to be no way for a node out in, say, Ringwood to
communicate over the wireless network with another node in South
Melbourne or Coburg or wherever).

these things are important in the long term, but if you're not
interested in DNS or routing or whatever, you can safely ignore it all.
you can just concentrate on getting your own node up and running and
linked to others if you want.  there are quite a few people here who
work with these issues every day, and who are interested and keen to
produce something that works.



personally, i think real domain names are essential (there's no reason
that we need to stick to just one domain for the whole network, all that
matters is that any given hostname is resolvable).  wireless networks
aren't going to be disconnected from the internet forever, and we do
*not* want to have to rename everything when legislation and ISP billing
models change.

whatever anyone else does, i'll be using my own domain.  i've made an
offer of a wireless.vic.asn.au hostname or subdomain to anyone in MW who
wants one.  other people have made similar offers.  my advice is to take
advantage of one of the offers (it really doesn't matter which one, any
domain name works as well as any other) when you get to the point of
needing a resolvable domain name for your node.  it'll be a very useful
thing to have if you want others to be able to connect to whatever
services (e.g. web, ftp, irc, voip, whatever) you plan to run on your
node without requiring them to remember your IP address.

craig

-- 
craig sanders <cas at taz.net.au>

Fabricati Diem, PVNC.
 -- motto of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch

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