Re: Napster and others...

["Scott McGrath" <s_mcgrath () bexair com>]

Well said Erik

However this is what leads many organizations to restrict/remove
internet access from whole regions of the company to solve the bandwith
utilization issue. So we are back to needing effective ToS/QoS methods
to balance the quality of life issues with the bottom line requirements
of organizations

Keeping it TCP with a well known port is a good first step because then
with a custom queue you can route it with a low priority, IF the link
is not busy it goes out fast this is how we handle web traffic.   Sure
it slows down from time to time but it ALWAYS works rather than
the 'ACL the Napster servers' approach which is currently in effect.
and right now Napster NEVER works.

"Erik E. Fair" wrote:

> Any operator trying to control which applications are used on their
> networks has either never learned, or already forgotten, the lesson
> of "fsp, NASA, and OZ."
>
> Precis: they (developers, users) can modify the application to use
> spread-spectrum style port numbers that constantly change throughout
> the life of a session, which makes it effectively impossible to
> filter using existing technology.
>
> Sean Doran has it right: be glad this is bulk TCP (fsp was UDP
> based), and turn on RED.
>
>         Erik <fair () clock org>