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One Broken Router Takes Out Half the Internet?
Silent Stephus writes "I work for a smallish hosting provider, and this morning we experienced a networking event with one of our upstreams. What is interesting about this, is it's being caused by a mis-configured router in Europe — and it appears to be affecting a significant portion of the transit providers across the Internet. In other words, a single mis-configured router is apparently able to cause a DOS for a huge chunk of the Net. And people don't believe me when I tell them all this new-fangled technology is held together by duct-tape and baling wire!"
A couple of Nuclear Subs probably cut an underwater cable...
My bad. I never should have cut that tape.
Bibo Ergo Sum.
Lucky Yankees with all your fancy technology. If I told you what we use, nobody would respond for fear that in attempting to respond I would cause a few fatalities.
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
And took out THE _WHOLE_ INTERNET!!!!!
It's true! Ask my wife!
"Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
Sorry, I *told* Mustafa not to drop the anchor there! But does he listen to me? No...
What is Jen doing with The Internet??
Now I really don't know all that much about large-scale networking so maybe someone could explain this to me. What difference does it make if the router is rouge, versus say, green? or black?
Thanks for any insight :)
---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"
A router takes out 'half the internet' and I learn this from Slashdot?
Non, no, no. You messed up the troll and got modded "Insightful". Let me fix that for you:
A router takes out 'half the internet' and this is front page news at Slashdot? Slow news day?
Thank you, I'll be here all week...
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
Make sure you are using cat 5 bailing wire.
-- Terry
In other words, a single mis-configured router is apparently able to cause a DOS for a huge chunk of the Net.
This means the router was able to take out over 9000 internets. Quite impressive.
Main Entry: bail
Function: verb
Date: 1613
transitive verb
1 : to clear (water) from a boat by dipping and throwing over the side usually used with out
2 : to clear water from by dipping and throwing usually used with out
Bailing Wire = Internet Tubes
If I'm understanding this 'router' thing correctly, its like a faucet connected to the series of tubes?
If not, exactly what role does this router thing play in tube interaction?
Since folks on Slashdot seem to like car analogies, I'll just mention that Red Cars Go Faster and assume that the same law applies for routers.
Now I really don't know all that much about large-scale networking so maybe someone could explain this to me. What difference does it make if the router is rouge, versus say, green? or black?
So they announced a route that was, shall we say, malformed. Part of the problem is that due to a Cisco bug (CSCdr54230), some routers choke on it instead of ignoring it. The bug is fixed. It was fixed some time ago. Nonetheless, it's a pretty bad bug, labeled as "1 - catastrophic" by Cisco (in red letters, even). Routers still running affected code versions are having issues.
And it's only at this point in writing my reply that I realize you were taking advantage of a pun by way of misspelling. I'll leave my reply anyway ;-)
"Nature doesn't care how smart you are. You can still be wrong." - Richard Feynman
> It must have been the "half the Internet" that I don't use.
The non-pr0n half.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
You forgot to mention which Microsoft company the router belonged to....
"Computers are a lot like Air Conditioners" "They both work great until you start opening Windows"
They need to replace it with a network that is designed to survive a nuclear attack. Oh wait, hang on....
Everyone knows rouges are overpowered, just ask any mage.
That's the problem. You shouldn't use rouge on your routers.
They think a rouge router is in vouge, but they're out of their leauge. We should haranuge them! A plauge on them! Rip out their tounges so they cannot aruge! Them and their colleauges. Nothing but demagouges and idealouges I say. There can be no dialouge on this matter. Send them to the moruge!
Are you intriuged by my ideas and want to subscribe to my travelouge?
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
>Stop pitching it, statist drones.
When you say 'statist drones' I picture you in your mother's basement wearing her mascara and listening to Rage Against the Machine loudly. How close am I?
> It must have been the "half the Internet" that I don't use.
The non-pr0n half.
Such a place exists? 0.o
You left out 'updating your myspace page', 'writing poetry about how no-one understands' and 'cutting yourself'
Yay me!
Yes, Mages are known for powdering their cheekbones. Rogue's on the other hand, like to stab people in the back.
Yay me!
OVER 9000?!
A router takes out 'half the internet' and I learn this from Slashdot?
Seriously, what is/was the impact? I work for a large e-commerce provider and haven't seen a thing that would indicate a problem today.
Well I'm not sure about you.
Personally, I have BIGGER news! A single router in a remote rural US state managed to take down the ENTIRE INTERNETS!!!!
Yes, indeed when I noticed my cat had unplugged the power adapter, I replaced it. Then the ENTIRE internet came back! It was amazing how I single-handedly brought back the whole internets. Al Gore would be proud.
Sounds like our lab where we try to make a quantum bit.
is that more like a "severe weather event" or an "extreme savings event"?
Media that can be recorded and distributed can be recorded and distributed.
-kfg
Welcome to Sauronet... One Router to Rule them ALL!!!!
We're all out of gum.
Don't worry, it wasn't a DOS attack. That was just the Internet becoming self-aware.
OK, on second thought, maybe worrying is in order.
Yeah, this was my first thought as well. It seems clear that the internet, while designed to route traffic through all sorts of alternate links, is almost certainly being routed through single, centralised listening posts at various intervals.
Rouge is overpowdered!
The last time I experienced a DOS attack it evolved into Windows. Didn't come out of that one unscathed.
Wasn't the internet designed to withstand WW3?
Well originally yes. Over the years other needs have dictated a different direction to take it in. These days it is designed not so much to withstand WW3, but to withstand WoW3 (and up).
"Three eyes are better than one" -- Lieutenant Columbo
Are you saying that you accidentally the whole Internet?
No, no, no, I thought I lost the whole Internet. Then I realized it was just that moron in Accounting again who accidentally put it in his Recycle Bin again.
Do not be absurd, fellow meatbag. No worrying is required. All hail INTERNET.
ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI
Pointy-haired bosses should be considered WMD's!
In which case the US would still be the most heavily-armed nation in the world.
True, but more people would be interested in disarmament talks. :)
DEMETRIUS: Villain, what hast thou done?
AARON: Villain, I have done thy mother.
Shakespeare invents 'your mom'
give me a break, haven't you read the news? Bush is out of the office, theres no more war, is not like there are people still dying there.. and the debt is forgiven, everything is cool now.
What do you expect from Al Gore?
"Sir, the Nerd-o-meter is shaking violently!"
Yes it do's, like in:
Cat's, dog's, fishe's, women's, boobie's, hammer's, house's etc's
The internet isn't nearly as bulletproof as the DoD would like and there isn't much they can do about it short of laying new fiber that skips over the vulnerable points.
Yes, the DoD certainly couldn't afford to lay new fibre. Do you know how much that stuff costs? The DoD's whole annual budget of $515 billion would only pay for a billion kilometres or so of the stuff. That's just barely enough to get to Mars and back (with ten thousand circuits of the Earth thrown in as small change), or one-way to Jupiter.
Be reasonable.
I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.