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Why do they need 17.0.0.0/8 (16,777,216 addresses) if they only have 25000 webservers? #eattheIPrich edit: fixed the number of addresses

by yread 6y ago

mrweasel 6y ago
You can use those IPs for something other than webservers. But yeah, that a bit much for one company. I'll give hosting providers a pass on owning a million IPs, because they're for the lending out to customers.
gruturo 6y ago
a /8 is actually 16M addresses, not 1M.
ta8347 6y ago
They probably don't, but there are weirder cases. Ford was allocated 17.0.0.0/8, Prudential 48.0.0.0/8, USPS 56.0.0.0/8
iruoy 6y ago
This [0] is a really interesting page. Companies that have an entire /8 block are AT&T, Apple, Ford, Cogent, Prudential Financial, USP and Comcast. For some reason the US Department of Defense has 13 /8 blocks. All others belong to regional internet registries (AFRINIC, ARIN, APNIC, LACNIC, RIPE NNC). I really don't know why anyone other than the registries needs/deserves/got /8 blocks. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assigned_/8_IPv4_address_blocks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assigned_/8_IPv4_addre...
- khalilravanna 6y ago
  Wow Prudential and Ford (if USP is supposed to be UPS, that too) are the odd ducks. At least the others have the internet as a core competency. My guess as to the answer of “why” is power and leverage. It’s the same as nations claiming physical land. “Maybe we’ll need it, maybe we won’t. But either way, now it’s ours to decide.” Writing that out, do they own those? Can someone take those back?
  - hundchenkatze 6y ago
    USP is supposed to be USPS i.e. the U.S. Postal Service. It's still an odd one for sure.
- blueblisters 6y ago
  > For some reason the US Department of Defense has 13 /8 blocks. I did a bit of digging and looks like they're looking to sell: https://datacentrereview.com/content-library/opinion/1522-the-us-department-of-defense-s-plan-to-sell-200-million-ipv4-addresses-will-not-solve-issues-surrounding-shortage-says-heficed-ceo https://datacentrereview.com/content-library/opinion/1522-th...
saagarjha 6y ago
They don’t, they just got in early.
xenadu02 6y ago
Because back in the early days you could get one just by asking and they did? The internet was just a research project to connect some universities, government sites, and a handful of companies. No one realized where it was going. By the time it was clear the IPv4 address space would be exhausted it was also clear reclaiming those IP blocks (for which there is no legal basis) would merely temporarily delay the exhaustion - likely by a year or two at best.
teddyh 6y ago
#letthemeatipv6

Why do they need 17.0.0.0/8 (16,777,216 addresses) if they only have 25000 webservers? #eattheIPrich edit: fixed the number of addresses

by yread 6y ago

Why do they need 17.0.0.0/8 (16,777,216 addresses) if they only have 25000 webservers? #eattheIPrich edit: fixed the number of addresses

mrweasel 6y ago

You can use those IPs for something other than webservers. But yeah, that a bit much for one company. I'll give hosting providers a pass on owning a million IPs, because they're for the lending out to customers.

gruturo 6y ago

a /8 is actually 16M addresses, not 1M.

ta8347 6y ago

They probably don't, but there are weirder cases. Ford was allocated 17.0.0.0/8, Prudential 48.0.0.0/8, USPS 56.0.0.0/8

iruoy 6y ago

This [0] is a really interesting page. Companies that have an entire /8 block are AT&T, Apple, Ford, Cogent, Prudential Financial, USP and Comcast. For some reason the US Department of Defense has 13 /8 blocks. All others belong to regional internet registries (AFRINIC, ARIN, APNIC, LACNIC, RIPE NNC). I really don't know why anyone other than the registries needs/deserves/got /8 blocks. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assigned_/8_IPv4_address_blocks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assigned_/8_IPv4_addre...

khalilravanna 6y ago
Wow Prudential and Ford (if USP is supposed to be UPS, that too) are the odd ducks. At least the others have the internet as a core competency. My guess as to the answer of “why” is power and leverage. It’s the same as nations claiming physical land. “Maybe we’ll need it, maybe we won’t. But either way, now it’s ours to decide.” Writing that out, do they own those? Can someone take those back?
- hundchenkatze 6y ago
  USP is supposed to be USPS i.e. the U.S. Postal Service. It's still an odd one for sure.
blueblisters 6y ago
> For some reason the US Department of Defense has 13 /8 blocks. I did a bit of digging and looks like they're looking to sell: https://datacentrereview.com/content-library/opinion/1522-the-us-department-of-defense-s-plan-to-sell-200-million-ipv4-addresses-will-not-solve-issues-surrounding-shortage-says-heficed-ceo https://datacentrereview.com/content-library/opinion/1522-th...

saagarjha 6y ago

They don’t, they just got in early.

xenadu02 6y ago

Because back in the early days you could get one just by asking and they did? The internet was just a research project to connect some universities, government sites, and a handful of companies. No one realized where it was going. By the time it was clear the IPv4 address space would be exhausted it was also clear reclaiming those IP blocks (for which there is no legal basis) would merely temporarily delay the exhaustion - likely by a year or two at best.

teddyh 6y ago

#letthemeatipv6