Re: Fwd: Re: Digital Island sponsors DoS attempt?

[Leo Bicknell <bicknell () ufp org>]

On Thu, Oct 25, 2001 at 01:31:34PM -1000, Jason Forester wrote:
> As the message says, this is not an attack of any kind.  It is a system 
> which collects metrics for our Footprint Content Delivery System.
>
> The system is attempting to determine the closest servers to your network, 
> to provide good service to your customers when they download from Footprint 
> customers such as Microsoft.

Since no one has asked the relivant question, I'll ask.

Does this system probe networks only in response for a request for
content, or are networks monitored even when there are no requests
for content?

While I don't think {ping,dns,other} probes in response to a content
request are the best way to offer better service to the user, they
are at least in response to a user request, and proportional to the
number of user requests.  I would find it hard to call them 'wrong',
or 'bad'.

Probing other networks 'just in case' a request comes from that
network is highly ineffective, introduces useless load to the
network, and is just plain rude.


-- 
       Leo Bicknell - bicknell () ufp org - CCIE 3440
        PGP keys at http://www.ufp.org/~bicknell/
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