Will all domain be worth at least something?

[Rubber Duck]

Internet may run out of addresses by 2011, warns OECD - Telegraph

As IPv4 dries up, will there be an opportunity for some domainers to cash in?

[jacksonm]

Originally Posted by Rubber Duck

As IPv4 dries up, will there be an opportunity for some domainers to cash in?

Cash in on what? Routers route numbers, not words.

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[Rubber Duck]

Originally Posted by jacksonm

Cash in on what? Routers route numbers, not words.

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I got that bit, but each time a domain is registered an IP number is allocated.

If you have mymonkeyballsstink.com then that number is probably going to be worth more than the domain. I was wondering if there is any way the domainer could get the number to market?

[jacksonm]

Originally Posted by Rubber Duck

I got that bit, but each time a domain is registered an IP number is allocated.

No, it's not. I don't know where you got that from.

Assume I buy fiddle.com. I set the nameservers to be ns1.netauth.com and ns2.netauth.com. The domain still does not have an ip address, it's unreachable.

I have two ip addresses allocated to me by my server provider, one I use for developed domains, and one I use for network maintenance. I enter a record for fiddle.net into my dns servers and assign it the ip address I use for all of my developed domains or the ip address for sedo/namedrive parking webserver, depending on whether I want to develop it or park it.

My webserver has hosted thousands of domains, and all of them shared a single ip address. It's called "Name Based Virtual Hosting" in the Apache webserver. Quite common. Parking companies do it exactly the same way.

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[Giant]

Originally Posted by jacksonm

No, it's not. I don't know where you got that from.

Assume I buy fiddle.com. I set the nameservers to be ns1.netauth.com and ns2.netauth.com. The domain still does not have an ip address, it's unreachable.

I have two ip addresses allocated to me by my server provider, one I use for developed domains, and one I use for network maintenance. I enter a record for fiddle.net into my dns servers and assign it the ip address I use for all of my developed domains or the ip address for sedo/namedrive parking webserver, depending on whether I want to develop it or park it.

My webserver has hosted thousands of domains, and all of them shared a single ip address. It's called "Name Based Virtual Hosting" in the Apache webserver. Quite common. Parking companies do it exactly the same way.

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Dave is still right, every site (or domain) needs an IP address to be reached.

Let's put it a different way:

Everybody needs a home to live. Although many people can share a home together, the statement "everybody needs a home to live" is till correct and valid. It all depends how you can afford or which way is more convenient. And therefore houses (or real estate) are valuable.

If you are rich enough, you want to have your own home. For serious sites, a separate IP is always preferable.

[Rubber Duck]

I think we are talking to cross purposes here.

Yes, if you host a domain you are point at a server which has an IP address. I know about this because I pay for a separate IP for this site even though we share a server.

That is not what I am talking about. I am talking about what happens at Name Resolution. When the query is sent to the registry, as I understood it, a unique IP address is returned. It must be, otherwise, how the hell can you resolve a name? The Nameservers at Verisign cannot just say it is in that heap over there.

[jacksonm]

Originally Posted by Rubber Duck

That is not what I am talking about. I am talking about what happens at Name Resolution. When the query is sent to the registry, as I understood it, a unique IP address is returned. It must be, otherwise, how the hell can you resolve a name? The Nameservers at Verisign cannot just say it is in that heap over there.

Go back and read through my DNS for Domainers article again. It explains this in detail.

The registries do not hold IP addresses for domains. They hold IP addresses of a domain's nameservers - the nameservers that you set for a domain through your registrar control panel. You simply tell the registry that you want the nameservers for fiddle.com to be ns1.fastpark.net and ns2.fastpark.net, or ns1.netauth.com and ns3.netauth.com.

Domains are not allocated an IP address by the registry. Domains are allocated IP addresses by the person who is managing the DNS servers which you entered above. There is no built-in and inseparable IP address belong to a domain. A domain is nothing more than a name with it's list of nameservers entered into the registry.

In fact most people who manage DNS services can't even be arsed to enter an IP record for anything other than the www.

Example:

www.domain.com -> 1.2.3.4
domain.com -> no ip

I hate it when people do this, because I don't really like to type the "www" part just to go to a website. The "www" hostname is nothing more than a relic of familiarity and isn't necessary at all.


I see it's time for DNS for Domainers Part 2. It will come out after about 1 week from now as I am pretty busy.


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[Rubber Duck]

Appears I got the wrong end of the stick here, but Wikipedia is on the case:

Domain Name System - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nevertheless, the question has some merit. Are IP addresses going to become the latest market for speculation?

Have you ever lived in a town where you have to wait for somebody to die before you can get a phone number? I did once. A very frustrating scenario if you are trying to run a commercial enterprise.

[mulligan]

Originally Posted by Rubber Duck

Have you ever lived in a town where you have to wait for somebody to die before you can get a phone number? I did once. A very frustrating scenario if you are trying to run a commercial enterprise.

Did anyone ever call you looking for the dead person? ..

[jacksonm]

Originally Posted by Rubber Duck

Nevertheless, the question has some merit. Are IP addresses going to become the latest market for speculation?

Have you ever lived in a town where you have to wait for somebody to die before you can get a phone number? I did once. A very frustrating scenario if you are trying to run a commercial enterprise.

I don't think it's possible for IP addresses to become speculated, as you are not able to "purchase" them or transfer rights to them. Additionally, there are mechanisms such as NAT in place that alleviate the need for most end-users to have a public IP address. But basically, if can you demonstrate a real need for allocation of a block of IP addresses, e.g. you are starting an ISP, then you just apply to RIPE or the other regional equivalent and you will get them for free. If you can't demonstrate a need, then you won't get them at all. On top of that, according to RIPE rules, organizations with allocated IP blocks are not allowed to charge end-users for IP addresses (although many of them do it anyway and call the charge something else).

However, an organization that has a large IP block (class A or B) allocated to it could potentially use this as a selling point for the entire business...

Here is some more interesting reading on the subject of address exhaustion:

IPv4 address exhaustion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Migration to IPv6 has been slow because most North American companies don't give a rat's arse - they already have far more allocated to them than they could ever possibly use and they won't return any of them. Screw the rest of the world. Countries like China and India will eventually be forced into putting IPv4 <-> IPv6 translating gateways at all of their borders and just use IPv6 internally. Which won't really be a problem - if handset manufacturers don't deliver phones with IPv6 stacks, then those countries will just stop importing them and begin making their own (more than they already do, anyway).

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