[arin-ppml] What is a "host"?

[Loki Jorgenson]

  Pardon for butting in mid-conversation - but this particular bit of 
semantics has aggravated us before and so it is topical.

"Host" tends to be rather over-loaded semantically and in general has 
connotation that ties it to a physical or virtual machine.  It will 
likely be problematic if you don't get your key terms defined, 
particularly as it appears in policy and will need to be interpreted.  
"Host" doesn't map well to IP addresses except in the simplest case.  
And in an increasingly sensor network, mobile, and cloud-based world, 
this won't fit well.

Alternately, I could suggest something like "node" (or "network node") 
and subsequently "node IP end-point" or "IP node" or "IP end-point".  
Here "end" relates to a point-to-point IP connection, not an end-to-end 
network path.  Sensors (and anything else with an address) then are 
simply IP nodes (or comprise at least one IP node).  A host then may 
have a plurality of IP nodes (either physical or virtual).

NOTE:  I haven't looked closely at the document - I'm still catching up 
having just joined the list.

On 10-09-09 9:00 AM, arin-ppml-request at arin.net wrote:
>>>> c. By having a network consisting of a total of 1000 or more
>>>> hosts, or;
>> What is a "host"?
>> A single factory could have over a thousand little sensor units with
>> unique IPv4 addresses. Are those hosts?
>>
>> A single rented rack in an Equinox data center could have over 1000
>> XEN virtual servers with unique IPv4 addresses. Are those hosts?
>>
> Yes.
>
> Owen

-- 
Loki Jorgenson
ljorgenson at inetco.com
INETCO Systems
(604) 451-1567 x131