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Re: Thinking differently about names and addresses

2003-04-01 14:33:35
    > From: Keith Moore <moore(_at_)cs(_dot_)utk(_dot_)edu>

    > HIP only solves part of the problem ... it doesn't provide any way of
    > mapping between that identity and an address where you can reach the
    > host.

A system doesn't have to provide mechanisms to look up mappings from
<any-name> to <any-other-name> to be useful; just because I can't (in general)
look up the mapping from an Ethernet address to an IP address doesn't mean
there's a fatal flaw in IPv4.

A directorized mapping need only exist *when you need to look up that mapping
for some good reason*. If you construct the protocol interactions such that
you don't *need* to be able to look up the "identity->address" mapping (which
is what HIP does - in general, by providing the identity->address mapping
used in any given transaction as part of the initiation thereof), there's no
problem.

Now, maybe what you meant to say is "there are cases A, B and C in the use of
HIP that I have identified where you need to be able to look up that mapping,
having only the identity in hand", that would be something to examine.

But to merely say "the system doesn't provide all possible mappings" is, as
we can see from my inital example above, not really a useful critique.

        Noel