On Wed, 2004-08-04 at 05:02, Paul wrote: > Hi, > > > I am from India and use Ethernet based connectivity (which breaks > > frequently) from a cable ISP who provides a private ip address > > 172.16.x.x and masqed outbound connectivity. > > That is really wierd! We have a vpn for a section of Salford Uni with an > IP address of 172.16.x.x and it's completely useless (IMO) > > According to whois though, it's owned by ICANN for private purposes so > shouldn't be allocated to anyone! > > TTFN > > Paul Not at all weird. Private IPs can be used within any totally contained LAN/WAN but are not routeable on the internet. Thus when using those addresses internally they work fine. Networks that are outside the local segment using private addresses can only contact the public IP presented at the gateway/nat device. Any network using private IPs (172.16.x.x, 192.168.x.x, etc) must use nat for any devices within the network to access the internet.
