
Hello all, I would appreciate any help with the following. First, what problems arise in a network that routes without information about the sender? In other words, imagine that the IP header did not contain the source address - what problems would this raise? Are optimal routing, security, billing, traceability, network management, etc., suddenly intractable? Second, to what degree do you believe Internet traffic exhibits self-similarity, and how does this change with varying levels of traffic aggregation? I have read papers from Bellcore and others suggesting that no matter the level of aggregation (be it a single Internet user or a major NAP), Internet traffic exhibits high degrees of self-similarity - but more recent research does not seem to agree with this. I am sorry if this is an inappropriate forum for the topics I have raised, however after reading through this list for some time it is apparent that we have assembled here a good deal of real-world experience, something I believe is requisite for a meaningful discussion of real-world network issues. Very interested to hear what you have to say, Nate Boyd MIT Laboratory for Computer Science