[Planetlab-devel] IPv6 support for MyPLC

[Aaron Harwood]

On 08/11/2006, at 12:50 PM, McGeer, Patrick C wrote:
> As to why people want their own IP addresses, it's because they  
> want to
> attach services to well-known ports.  For example, there are at least
> three collaborative DNS services I know about, and all three would  
> love
> to use port 53.  Similarly, lots of people want 80,

Hi  all,
Just wondering, while this is what developers want, whether it would be
desirable in the long term. Well known ports exist because they supply
a well known service; which is expected to work in a certain way.
Perhaps a broader statement is to say that developers
want their services to become well known and widely used; attaching to
a well known port and using a protocol that is associated with that port
is a design choice that facilitates their goal. If the service  
happens to be
a "new and improved" version of an already existing well known service
(like your example above) then
this facilitates integration, as well. To some extent, and just for  
arguments
sake, the use of IPv6 may lead to a situation where the IP address is  
the
main "address" of the service; with port number being used to select
support services for the primary service assigned to that IP address.
If we promote overloading of port numbers then we might see a  
degradation
of interoperability which might not be a desirable outcome.
--aaron