Thomas Bushnell BSG [u] wrote on 24/09/2004 18:31:

> Adam McKenna <adam@flounder.net> writes: 
>
> Geez, you keep saying this.  Surely if there are many ways you could
> give me just one?  I really do know, I really have done the research;
> I've been using and programming IP for twenty years.  So this is, from
> an expect, a put-up-or-shut-up demand.  If you know a single reliable
> method, say it now.

In case anybody else would wonder:

Adam did _not_ mean anything like actual remote detection of wether an
IP address was assigned by DHCP, but rather those DUL-(black)lists
and/or certain name parts in the address's PTR record.

Really, very smart (not) of him not to rectify this misunderstanding
here on the list.

There doesn't seem to be any _reliable_ method of finding out wether an
IP address is assigned dynamically (or even detect wether it is assigned
by DHCP) short of asking the ISP (either through his reports to certain
DUL IP-lists, analyzing the PTR record or asking directly).

Problem is: Except for asking the ISP directly about a certain IP, these
methods aren't really reliable. For one, the DUL lists contain many
address spaces besides those (hosted and) reported by ISPs. Secondly,
quite a few ISPs assign IP addresses from a "dynamic" subnet statically
for a variety of reasons (though a similar variety of reasons make this
a bad idea, mostly because of those stupid DUL blacklists). And finally,
there are many IPs assigned dynamically (or used for NAT, which is
somewhat equivalent) but not listed in DUL blacklist. That last problem
is no problem to me, but it still exists.

Anyhow, I think we all have made our points clear, and this discussion
wandered pretty much OT, so this is my last post on the subject unless
there is a very good reason to post more (I don't see that coming
though), so if anyone would like to discuss all this in more detail, I
am happy to set up a seperate mailinglist for it or discuss off-list.

cu,
sven


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