[ NNSquad ] Re: Working Groups

[Robert Oliver <rlo-nnsquad@nnsquad.org>]

Lauren Weinstein wrote:
> Clearly there's no foolproof way to handle this.  My gut feeling is
> that asking people to open up their SNMP interfaces to the outside
> world and moving non-encrypted data around would be asking for trouble.
> It seems like one of those situations where things would probably 
> be OK 95% of the time, but that remaining 5% could be a real hassle
> and a half when something goes wrong. ...
>   
I think that a large percentage of end users would have trouble even 
with the simple task of "opening up SNMP." Like many people on this 
list, I play "tech support" for various friends and relatives, and this 
would be beyond them.

That said, I think SNMP is probably not the best route for another 
reason: I don't think enough consumer home routers have SNMP support to 
begin with.

But how's this idea: At some point, NNSquad could offer free code that 
could be integrated into home routers by the vendor to assist the 
consumer in checking -- and tracking -- the "quality" of their ISP, 
including both "NN" and speed information. Heck, equipment sold to small 
businesses might even advertise this as a feature to help their 
customers monitor that their ISPs are meeting SLA requirements. And the 
same code could be part of the open source router firmware that NNSquad 
might offer.

I recently installed a lesser-known-brand WiFi router and was surprised 
to find that it has a speed check that it performs during boot-up (not 
sure how often it rechecks, if ever). And I don't know exactly how it 
performs the test against what server / site, but it was an interesting 
thing to see.

   [ I agree that obviously everyone doesn't have SNMP capabilities.
     However, I suspect that those persons who do have SNMP-capable routers
     are more likely than the general population to have the necessary
     preexisting technical skills (and/or willingness) to configure
     those routers for the project.  This group should be large enough
     to get at least a skeletal network going for development.

     As for offering code enhancements to router vendors "at some point" ...
     Sure.  Why not?  But I suspect that some key vendors may take a "what's
     in it for me?" attitude, and given some of the tight distribution
     relationships between many of these WAN router vendors and the large
     ISPs, I wonder if vendors are really going to be enthusiastic about
     helping to "monitor" ISP behaviors?

                   -- Lauren Weinstein
                      NNSquad Moderator ]