September 2021 - Test - lists.nanog.org

Telecommunications network drafting software
by Etienne-Victor Depasquale 02 Sep '21

02 Sep '21

Hello folks, Would you care to share some pointers to drafting software which you use to draw up architectural drafts (for telecoms networks, including cable operators' networks) ? I've found Visio to be a bit weak in this respect, even after adding third party stencils. One product I'm exploring is ConceptDraw's "diagram" product, but I'd like to hear about anything you can share with me. Cheers, Etienne -- Ing. Etienne-Victor Depasquale Assistant Lecturer Department of Communications & Computer Engineering Faculty of Information & Communication Technology University of Malta Web. https://www.um.edu.mt/profile/etiennedepasquale

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Reminder: Never connect a generator to home wiring without transfer switch
by Sean Donelan 02 Sep '21

02 Sep '21

Currently a problem in the north-east USA, but applicable after every storm. People in the south have more experience with hurricanes, and are used to this advice. But apparently, some folks up north aren't in practice. Never connect an electric generator to home electrical wiring without installing a transfer switch to disconnect power from the electric grid. Back feeding electric power into the utility lines is dangerous for the repair crews working on utility lines. Also, never run a generator indoors or in the garage. Only outdoors 20-feet away from doors and windows. FCC has activated DIRS reporting for tropical storm Henri. So we should see some communication system disaster reporting this afternoon.

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Re: The great Netflix vpn debacle! (geofeeds)
by Justin Krejci 02 Sep '21

02 Sep '21

Well apparently there are VPN applications that rely on fellow VPN users in a P2P fashion to share network connectivity. I guess it is like a commercialized version of Tor to some extent. Excluding any potential legal risks for illegal behavior tunneled through an unsuspecting fellow user, this has great potential to cause a contaminating spread of VPN flagged IP addresses, even with just normal usage. One such VPN application is Hola VPN which also has a premium version using their VPN server gateways instead of or perhaps in addition to the community method. Dynamic IP address assignments by an ISP could easily allow for one such user to get many IP addresses flagged as a VPN gateway. I have communicated with some IP reputation companies and they track VPN users and can even supply the specific VPN brand associated with certain IP addresses, with timestamps, they have observed and added to their reputation databases as VPN users. How they obtain their data I do not know for sure but I can think of a few ways. So we seem to have a battle between * users * streaming content providers * streaming content owners / copyright holders * ISPs * VPN providers * restrictive/invasive governments or network operators * ?? There is definitely collateral damage from their use that should be considered, especially if very prominent streaming content providers take a more restrictive posture towards users of these kinds of VPN services. ________________________________ From: NANOG <nanog-bounces+jkrejci=usinternet.com(a)nanog.org> on behalf of Haudy Kazemi via NANOG <nanog(a)nanog.org> Sent: Wednesday, September 1, 2021 4:44 PM To: Owen DeLong; nanog list Cc: bzs(a)theworld.com Subject: Re: The great Netflix vpn debacle! (geofeeds) Some TVs may also try to rescale the inputs, or enhance/process the image in ways that can improve perceived video quality. Things like increasing frame rates of sources that are lower frame rates (thus the 120 Hz and 240 Hz TVs that attempt to make 24, 30, and 60 FPS sources look better), or deinterlacing 1080i ATSC sources. Some of this image processing may not work well in specific monitor use cases. I have had generally good results with using a TV as an HTPC monitor. Only issues I've run into over the years are 1.) a 1080p Sony TV with a VGA input that could not handle 1920x1080 (using HDMI worked) and 2.) a 720p Toshiba that could not show the BIOS screen of the attached computer (I think this was either an unsupported resolution issue, or a timing issue where the TV couldn't wake up fast enough from the 'signal lost' message to display a brand new signal input). YMMV. VPNs: there is a race going on between streaming services who want to block VPNs, and VPN services who have customers who want to be able to watch streams (whether in or out of their regions). Some VPN customers buy VPN services because they do not trust their ISP to not do stuff like selling browsing histories. I think ISPs are getting caught in the middle, maybe when they have IP ranges near or in the middle of ranges that are suspected by IP reputation companies as being used by VPN services. I'd guess the problem is more likely to affect smaller ISPs, and not the Comcast/Cox/Charter/Spectrum/CenturyLinks of the world. There are also 'distributed VPN' services that let people share their connections with others. We are also seeing fragmentation in the cable/streaming service space, similar to what happened in the cable/Dish Network/DirecTV wars. Add it all up, some customers may throw up their hands in annoyance at the various platforms and then revert to other means of obtaining the content they seek. On Wed, Sep 1, 2021, 15:13 Owen DeLong via NANOG < nanog(a)nanog.org<mailto:nanog@nanog.org>> wrote: > On Sep 1, 2021, at 11:25 , bzs(a)theworld.com<mailto:bzs@theworld.com> wrote: > > > Every time I've read a thread about using TVs for monitors several > people who'd tried would say don't do it. I think the gist was that > the image processors in the TVs would fuzz text or something like > that. That it was usable but they were unhappy with their attempts, it > was tiring on the eyes. That was definitely true of 480 TVs and older 1080p units, but modern sets are almost designed to be monitors first and everything else second. > Maybe that's changed or maybe people happy with this don't do a lot of > text? Or maybe there are settings involved they weren't aware of, or > some TVs (other than superficial specs like 4K vs 720p) are better for > this than others so some will say they're happy and others not so > much? There are some tradeoffs… For example, sitting normal computer monitor distance from a 44” 4K screen, you can damn near see the individual pixels and that can make text look fuzzy, especially if your GPU or OS are stupid enough to use a technique called anti-aliasing on text (which is the most probable source of the fuzziness in your originally quoted complaint). Older TVs would try to smooth some aspects of the analog signal they were using through anti-aliasing pixels that occurred on the edge of a change in the color signal to “smooth” the image. (The extent of this action was what was controlled by the “Sharpness” knob back in the analog days). Turning off this capability (Sharpness to the left most or lowest setting) would often improve things greatly. > Or maybe the unhappy ones were all trolls/sockpuppets from companies > manufacturing/selling $500+ 24" **GAMING** monitors. Possible, but unlikely. Owen > > On September 1, 2021 at 09:48 nanog(a)nanog.org<mailto:nanog@nanog.org> (Owen DeLong via NANOG) wrote: >> >> >>> On Aug 31, 2021, at 18:01 , Michael Thomas < mike(a)mtcc.com<mailto:mike@mtcc.com>> wrote: >>> >>> >>> On 8/31/21 4:40 PM, Owen DeLong via NANOG wrote: >>>> On the other hand, the last time I went looking for a 27” monitor, I ended up buying a 44” smart television because it was a cheaper HDMI 4K monitor than the 27” alternatives that weren’t televisions. (It also ended up being cheaper than the 27” televisions which didn’t do 4K only 1080p, but I digress). >>> >>> Back when 4k just came out and they were really expensive, I found a "TV" by an obscure brand called Seiki which was super cheap. It was a 39" model. It's just a monitor to me, but I have gotten really used to its size and not needing two different monitors (and the gfx card to support it). What's distressing is that I was looking at what would happen if I needed to replace it and there is this gigantic gap where there are 30" monitors (= expensive) and 50" TV's which are relatively cheap. The problem is that 40" is sort of Goldielocks with 4k where 50" is way too big and 30" is too small. Thankfully it's going on 10 years old and still working fine. >> >> Costco stocks several 44” 4K TV models (like the one I got) that are relatively cheap. It’s a little larger than your 40” goldilocks, but I think still within range. >> >> Owen >> > > -- > -Barry Shein > > Software Tool & Die | bzs(a)TheWorld.com | http://www.TheWorld.com<https://url-shield.securence.com/?p=1.0&r=jkrejci@usinternet.com&sid=163053…> > Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: +1 617-STD-WRLD | 800-THE-WRLD > The World: Since 1989 | A Public Information Utility | *oo*

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Carbon Monoxide warnings - keep generators outside 20ft away from doors and windows
by Sean Donelan 02 Sep '21

02 Sep '21

One person has died and at least 27 people are being treated for carbon monoxide poisoning from portable generators. Officials are reminding people to operate portable generators only outside, 20 feet away from homes, doors and windows. Not in carports, garages, basements. To restore power, Entergy has "islanded" (disconnected) the City of New Orleans from the regional grid and started a local power plant. The transmission lines were toppled during the storm, but the cables were still connected to the terminals. Islanding the city makes sense, but I don't remember a power company islanding large parts of the grid before. Public officials are now saying it may be 30+ days to fully restore power. Entergy has implemented restoration priority, which means hospitals, public safety and critical infrastructure will be restored first. Along with some incidental customers on the same circuits. Customers out of service Louisiana - 987,588 Mississippi - 31,516 Florida - 21,867 California - 21,339 Pennsylvania - 10,415 Reminder, Puerto Rico still has not fully recovered from hurricanes in 2017. Puerto Rico still has rolling blackouts. And yes, Puerto Rico is an island, so its electric grid is naturally an island. The major wireless providers have activated their open roaming agreements, allowing customers to roam on any working infrastructure from other service providers. They are also waiving overages and many other feeds in the affected region. Check your service provider's website for details. AT&T says 82 percent of its network in service in Louisiana. First responders say the AT&T FIRSTNET failed (again) during the hurricane. T-Mobile says 70 percent of its network in service in Louisiana. Verizon says it has "gaps in coverage" but its network remains resilient. I don't know what that means. I haven't found reports from cable companies in the region.

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NANOG Embraces Hybrid FAQs + Upcoming Webinar
by Nanog News 01 Sep '21

01 Sep '21

Upcoming Webinar - Fireside Chat with CENIC Network Interconnection Engineer *The fireside chat will include several topics including:* - The path taken to a tech career - What is CENIC - Opportunities for volunteer or educational work *Speaker:* Nick Plunkett, Network Interconnection Engineer - Internet Services at CENIC Nick is a Network Interconnection Engineer - Internet Services at CENIC, where he has been working with both internal and external colleagues to expand the interconnection network of the California Research and Education Network (CalREN). *REGISTER NOW <https://www.nanog.org/events/webinar-fireside-cenic/>* NANOG Embraces Hybrid Meetings *Meetings will now be offered in-person + virtually — *NANOG has made a permanent shift to becoming an hybrid event platform, offering equally robust programming from the comfort of your laptop and/or in-person venues! We are excited to announce NANOG 83 <https://www.nanog.org/events/nanog-83/>as our first hybrid event. NANOG 83 will take place virtually + in-person in Minneapolis, MN from Nov. 1 - 3. Register now. <https://www.nanog.org/events/nanog-83/> *Have questions? *We have answers! Check out our FAQ sheet. *READ FAQs* <https://www.nanog.org/stories/hybrid-event-faqs/>

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An update on the AfriNIC situation
by Bill Woodcock 01 Sep '21

01 Sep '21

As many of you are aware, AfriNIC is under legal attack by Heng Lu / “Cloud Innovation.” John Curran just posted an excellent summary of the current state of affairs here: https://teamarin.net/2021/08/27/afrinic-and-the-stability-of-the-internet-n… If, like me, you feel like chipping in a little bit of money to help AfriNIC make payroll despite Heng having gotten their bank accounts frozen, some of the African ISP associations have put together a fund, which you can donate to here: https://www.tespok.co.ke/?page_id=14001 It’s an unfortunate situation, but the African Internet community has really pulled together to defend themselves, and they’ve got a lot less resources than most of us do. -Bill

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Happy 40th anniversary RFC 791!
by Michael Thomas 01 Sep '21

01 Sep '21

aka IPv4. The RFC doesn't have the exact date it was published, but the internet as we know it was being born. What a journey it's been. https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc791 Mike

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Re: The great Netflix vpn debacle! (geofeeds)
by Lyden, John C 01 Sep '21

01 Sep '21

> But I also agree there are limits to what needs IoTing. I don't live in a > house large enough that I can't go see if the box needs cleaning within > about 20s. I also sure as hell don't need a notification on my phone that > one of them just made a deposit. *ding!* 1 New Notification: "clean my filth, human servant." My wife has been campaigning for one for about 2 months now. I'm unsure how it'll do with 4 of varying age from 1 to 16 though. Still tempting. John C. Lyden Manager of Network Infrastructure Infrastructure Services, Division of Information Resources & Technology Rowan University

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