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Re: Solving the right problems ...

2003-08-27 11:50:26
We now have FQDNs that identify services or hosts, and we have IP 
addresses, that identify hosts or routing+interface. In order to 
decrease the ambiguity to managable levels, we need to move the FQDNs 
and especially IP addresses away from identifying hosts, and introduce
and explicit host or "stack name" identifier. Host identifiers should 
look like IPv6 (maybe optionally IPv4) addresses, in order to be able 
to keep using our current protocols that expect 16/4 bit values. (And 
there isn't much of substance to be gained by giving them a different 
shape.) 

mostly agree, except that I suspect it works better to put the new layer
between IP and transport than to insert a layer underneath IP.  part of
this assumption is that the new layer can still be nil for hosts whose
location is fixed and that do not need unreasonably stable addresses.

Where necessary, FQDNs can be replaced by application specific
namespaces with a system to map those names to host identifiers to go 
along with such a new space. 

I don't see a need to change FQDNs themselves - but the meanings of the
IP addresses that they map to will change slightly.

The hard part is coming up with a way to 
do the host/location mapping in a way that is simple, fast, cheap, 
secure, flexible and reliable.

yup.  that, and making the transition work smoothly.

Keith