Central servers add the risk of centralized attack bringing everything down, and routers are not just to solve the IP address allocation problem; but of course all plans have their pros and cons.
I think as of this moment, Skype is beginning to behave itself again though. On Wed, Dec 22, 2010 at 10:40:52PM -0600, Brent Harding wrote: Isn't this type of thing what will bring most peer to peer stuff down eventually? Without a centralized server to relay for people behind routers, it would've seemed like this problem was waiting to happen. skype must've had nodes where the public phone system comes in that also help, but I suppose this is part of the reason why routers aren't the best solution to the problem of running low on IP addresses, or they may have been before people used the net to talk directly instead of by email or other things that go through servers. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Doug Lee" <[email protected]> To: "screen access software with skype" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2010 8:54 PM Subject: Re: [Skypeenglish] No more skype >A somewhat bizarre, but hopefully useful, reply to the assertion that >some governmental body or other had a hand in bringing Skype down >today... > >I do not want this to turn into a long thread if I can help it, but >suffice it to say, the explanation Skype gave for the problems of >today make perfect sense to me, and I absolutely do not believe there >is any element of government involved in what happened. I thought the >Skype blog explanation was pretty good, but in case it helps, here's >my own version: > >Imagine for a moment that every computer running Skype is a person. >Some live in large apartment buildings, and some just in houses. >These large apartment buildings, and of course the houses too, have >addresses. For a house, that's all you need in order to send a mail >to the occupant. For an apartment though, the address is not enough. >Imagine, though, that there is no way to get more information about >exactly where in the apartment building a particular person lives. > >So I'm a Skype instance, sitting somewhere in a large apartment >complex, and I want to call you, and you're also sitting in one of >those big buildings. We have a problem: I can't find you, I can only >find your building. You can't find me, but only my building too. So >we have to contact somebody in a house, who has one nice simple >address, and get that person to relay messages between us. And this, >ladies and gentlemen, is a Supernode. Supernodes are just Skype >instances that help other Skypes connect to each other. > >So who are the supernodes? Well, translating from my little >house/apartment idea back to what's really afoot: The people, or >Skypes, that are in the large apartment buildings are the Skypes that >are running on machines that are behind routers, which give the >machines local IP addresses instead of addresses that are actually on >the Internet directly. The people in the houses are the Skypes that >are running on machines with "real" Internet IP addresses, i.e., >plugged straight into DSL modems and cable boxes without a router >inbetween. Those directly-connected Skypes may, for some of the time >they are running, become Supernodes. The process is automatic, and >there are many many many Supernodes out there at any given time. > >Or, almost any given time. :-) Today, something happened that caused >a lot of the Supernodes to stop doing their Supernode jobs. It may be >a bug in the Skype code, or something that can be fixed in data >streams - I don't know exactly. The point, though, is that whatever >happened caused, again using my example, all the people in the houses >to slam their doors and stop hearing cries from the apartment dwellers >like, "Helloooo, um, could you please tell me if you know how to reach >this guy Bob, and if you do, could you please send this voice packet >his way?" The net result, pardon the pun, is that all of us apartment >folk suddenly can't find anybody, because nobody we can reach directly >is able to listen. > >So Skype's temporary solution, while trying to rescue all the troubled >Supernodes, is to erect Supernodes of their own, nodes that can handle >a huge number of requests very quickly. Then Skype, the company, can >send out something that says, to all of us occasionally impatient >apartment folk, "Ahem, ANYBODY LOOKING FOR HELP CONNECTING TO PEOPLE, >HERE'S A LIST OF PEOPLE IN HOUSES THAT HAVE OPEN DOORS NOW: ..." > >But of course, getting massive servers online and getting the millions >of Skypes out there to turn their heads in the right direction can >take time to pull off. But they have people working on that, and of >course, more people working on the more permanent solution, getting >the Supernodes that are usually in great supply, back in great supply. > >Disclaimer: I wrote all of this based on my understanding of Internet >communication protocols, Skype communication mechanisms as described >in public forums, and, well, a little bit of my crazy imagination. :-) >There is no new information here that has not been published by Skype >directly, just a new and admittedly wordy way of saying it all. I >hope this is helpful to someone, or at least if not, amusing to a few. > >On Thu, Dec 23, 2010 at 07:19:08AM +0500, inamuddin wrote: >Dear friends acording to skype developers since 16 15 gmt skype is >down. further more it says due to many computers shut down it is >facing problem and they are working as fast as they can. Friends in >my openion, it is highly unlikely that a large number of smart >computers shut down at the same time. It is quite posible that c ia >or any other security agency in the united states or some where in >european country has a hand in it. What ever the reason, I just >would like to start a healthy and informative debates on this issue. >before you talk on this issue you should read skype developers >version carefully. for that purpose go to: http://bit.ly/edtjxB with >regards. From Inamuddin/charlsdarwin1. > > >You can contact me via gmail: [email protected] >yahoo: [email protected] >hotmail: [email protected] >aol: [email protected] >facebook: www.facebook.com/inamuddin >twitter: www.twitter.com/charlsdarwin1 >skype: charlsdarwin1 >klango id: charlsdarwin >mobile: +92-300-2227598 >Thanks for posting to the skype english list. > >to contact skype support wiht any questions regarding your account >email [email protected] > >To access scripts for the latest version of skype go to >http://www.dlee.org/skype > >To access tutorials and other goodies go to >http://www.marrie.org/skype/skype.html > >To contact the list owner send a message to >mailto:[email protected] > >to download a tool to automate the installation of skypewatch go to >this link. >http://www.hrvojekatic.tk/ > >and for a searchable archives page go here. >http://bit.ly/64Y48 > >thanks and have a wonderful day. > > >_______________________________________________ >Skypeenglish mailing list >[email protected] >http://emissives.com/mailman/listinfo/skypeenglish_emissives.com > >-- >Doug Lee [email protected] http://www.dlee.org >SSB BART Group [email protected] >http://www.ssbbartgroup.com >"I before E, except after C, or when sounded like A, as in neighbor >and weigh, except for when weird foreign concierges seize neither >leisure nor science from the height of society." > >Thanks for posting to the skype english list. > >to contact skype support wiht any questions regarding your account >email [email protected] > >To access scripts for the latest version of skype go to >http://www.dlee.org/skype > >To access tutorials and other goodies go to >http://www.marrie.org/skype/skype.html > >To contact the list owner send a message to >mailto:[email protected] > >to download a tool to automate the installation of skypewatch go to >this link. >http://www.hrvojekatic.tk/ > >and for a searchable archives page go here. >http://bit.ly/64Y48 > >thanks and have a wonderful day. > > >_______________________________________________ >Skypeenglish mailing list >[email protected] >http://emissives.com/mailman/listinfo/skypeenglish_emissives.com > > Thanks for posting to the skype english list. to contact skype support wiht any questions regarding your account email [email protected] To access scripts for the latest version of skype go to http://www.dlee.org/skype To access tutorials and other goodies go to http://www.marrie.org/skype/skype.html To contact the list owner send a message to mailto:[email protected] to download a tool to automate the installation of skypewatch go to this link. http://www.hrvojekatic.tk/ and for a searchable archives page go here. http://bit.ly/64Y48 thanks and have a wonderful day. _______________________________________________ Skypeenglish mailing list [email protected] http://emissives.com/mailman/listinfo/skypeenglish_emissives.com -- Doug Lee [email protected] http://www.dlee.org SSB BART Group [email protected] http://www.ssbbartgroup.com "Believe, when you are most unhappy, that there is something for you to do in the world. So long as you can sweeten another's pain, life is not in vain." --Helen Keller Thanks for posting to the skype english list. to contact skype support wiht any questions regarding your account email [email protected] To access scripts for the latest version of skype go to http://www.dlee.org/skype To access tutorials and other goodies go to http://www.marrie.org/skype/skype.html To contact the list owner send a message to mailto:[email protected] to download a tool to automate the installation of skypewatch go to this link. http://www.hrvojekatic.tk/ and for a searchable archives page go here. http://bit.ly/64Y48 thanks and have a wonderful day. _______________________________________________ Skypeenglish mailing list [email protected] http://emissives.com/mailman/listinfo/skypeenglish_emissives.com
