[oclug] Realm Specific IP, an alternative to NAT

[Jon Earle]

On Wed, 27 Mar 2002, farrellj wrote:

> On Wed, 27 Mar 2002, Derek Cunningham wrote:
>
> > On Wed, Mar27,02 15:37, farrellj wrote:
> > > Greetings:
> > >
> > > 	I have just been reading up on Realm Specific IP, which is poised to
> > > be a replacement for NAT. Unlike NAT, it does not packet mangling...from a
> > > quick reading, it seems that the simplest way to describe it is that it
> > > allows a host to "multitask" an IP address on the outside network, thus
> > > sharing it with the systems on the inside network. Since there is not packet
> > > mangling, it may be harder to detect by those companies who want to stop you
> > > from using a host system to allow you to connect multiple computers to the
> > > internet. There is a beta server/client for Linux, which can be found at:
> > >
> > > http://openresources.info.ucl.ac.be/rsip/index.php
> > >
> > > 	This looks really interesting!
> > >
> >
> > Disclaimer: I haven't looked at the URL yet.
> >
> > But if it requires a client, it won't catch on, IMO.
>
> 	But, you have problems with some protocols going through NAT, Since
> this seems to really "share" the IP address of the internet link, virtually
> all protocols will work. As for the client, it is written in python, and
> thus will run on virtually any Unix system, and probably wouldn't be hard to
> port to Windoze either.
>

I also haven't read the URL, so I am only speaking to the need for a
client piece to this puzzle.

Using clients to do this type of job is an administrative PITA.  Makes me
remember the Entrust client or the KyberPass client you had to install to
use those services... yuck.  I look for transparent solutions for my and
my client's networks, not "something else to install and configure".

Jon