A New Internet-Draft is available from the on-line Internet-Drafts directories.
Title : Embedding Globally Routable Internet Addresses
Considered Harmful
Author(s) : D. Plonka
Filename : draft-plonka-embed-addr-00.txt
Pages : 11
Date : 2003-10-21
Vendors of consumer electronics and network gear have produced and
sold hundreds of thousands of Internet hosts with globally routable
Internet Protocol addresses embedded within their products' firmware.
These products are now in operation world-wide and primarily include,
but are not necessarily limited to, low-cost routers and middleboxes
for personal or residential use.
This 'hard-coding' of globally routable IP addresses within the
host's firmware presents significant problems to the operation of the
Internet and to the management of its address space.
This document means to clarify best current practices in the Internet
community. It denouces the practice of embedding references to
unique, globally routable IP addresses in Internet hosts, describes
some of the resulting problems, and considers selected alternatives.
It is also intended to remind the Internet community of the ephemeral
nature of unique, globally routable IP addresses and that the
assignment and use of such addresses is temporary and therefore
should not be used in fixed configurations.
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