[44net] tunnel alternates

Brian K.: *"This is precisely the situation that our longstanding method of tunnel gateways is designed to overcome. You do this by setting up a Linux host that is assigned a single PSU address, probably something that isn't too hard to do. You shouldn't need to have them open any holes in the firewall or ask for special treatment as long as the existing firewall allows IPIP (internet protocol #4) through, which most do because the firewall managers never thought to block it, and also because some VPN schemes used to use it. The PSU folks don't have to do anything about network 44 routing or BGP or whatever. You then get a subnet allocation from your regional AMPRNet IP address coordinator and register a gateway for that subnet (via the PSU address) on the portal. Voila', you now have a subnet of AMPRNet routed to your Linux host via IP-IP encapsulation, and through the technique of tunnel gatewaying that Linux host is now connected to the AMPRNet, albeit at a somewhat limited bandwidth."* * * I am not opposed to this, especially since I have not tried it yet. However, PSU has resources, that if they can be tapped, might enable PSARC do something equivalant to what USC is doing, but for the state of Pennsylvania. For one, to further experiment, and also to improve the bandwidth limitations down the road. The 'Backbone" connection I expect to get through PSU will be 1 gigabit/sec. If co-located w/ PennREN, we would be sitting on a statewide 10Gb/s middle mile network. And, that is IPv6 now. It would be a heck of a way to learn! 73, Jim A.