Damian Brasher wrote:
> Stephen D wrote:
>
>> IMHO that some sort of solution to use a truly randomly generated MAC
>> address including part of a time sync when the VM was started after a
>> copy (Some versions of VMWare actually recognize that you have copied
>> the VM Image) and lets you (default) to a new MAC address or if
>> configured asks if you want to change it.
>>
>
> I still disagree. Put it another way...
>
> The proliferation of small wireless devices, including bluetooth, wlan in
> all it's forms - they all need MAC addresses, VM's that are not configured
> to use NAT, the ability these days to relatively easily change MAC's on
> hardware via the operating system (accidents) or BIOS.
>
> Just suppose that £270 pounds had been spent on an IAB and perhaps over
> five years this saved an organisation, with a thousand or more
> workstations and other network devices, 5 hours in network engineer
> diagnosis troubleshooting time, what's that £350-£1000 roughly, then it
> has to be worth it. Let alone the time individuals must spend if they
> choose the wrong kind of address and I think I'm being conservative.
>
After some more thought, I didn't want to leave this one although I think
the idea is not unfounded. The organisation in question would have to use
a *lot* of virtualization and have a *very* large user base who were in
charge of their own laptop / workstation admin - I don't know anywhere
like that. So I wouldn't advise anyone to buy their own IAB from IEEE just
yet, not that you were about too - hey the world might run out of mac's :)
Probably one of those research questions that needs a mathematician behind
it looking forward 20 years.
Damian
--
Damian Brasher
www.interlinux.co.uk
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