On Aug 14, 2013, at 3:27 PM, Patrick W. Gilmore <[email protected]> wrote:
> Once you define what you mean by "how bit is the Internet", I'll be happy to
> spout off about how big it is. :)
Arbitrary definition time: A Internet host is one that can send and receive
packets directly with at least one far end device addressed out of RIR managed
IPv4 or IPv6 space.
That means behind a NAT counts, behind a firewall counts, but a true private
network (two PC's into an L2 switch with no other connections) does not, even
if they use IP protocols. Note that devices behind a pure L3 proxy do not
count, but the L3 proxy itself counts.
Now, take those Internet hosts and create a graph where each node has a binary
state, forwards packets or does not forward packets the result is a set of edge
nodes that do not forward packets. The simple case is an end user PC, the
complex case may be something like a server in a data center that while
connected to multiple networks does not forward any packets, and is an edge
node on all of the networks to which it is attached.
To me, "all Internet" traffic is the sum of all "in" traffic on all edge nodes.
Note if I did my definition carefully out = in - (packet loss +
undeliverable), which means on the scale of the global Internet I suspect out
== in, when rounded off.
So please, carry on and spout off as to how big that is, I think an estimate
would be very interesting.
--
Leo Bicknell - [email protected] - CCIE 3440
PGP keys at http://www.ufp.org/~bicknell/
