Last week, a number of ISPs and large sites had issues with connectivity. This was caused by these ISPs having a core part of their connectivity infrastructure (their routers) getting full. This issue did not effect catalyst2 as we have spent a significant amount of money and time investing and ensuring that our infrastructure is fully up-to-date and future proofed.
So what happened?
Every router that exists with every ISP has to have a table that tells it on which network every IP in the world is located. This is so that it knows the best way to send traffic to and from its network. Last week that number of IP groups went over 512,000. On older routers this caused them to run out of space as 512,000 was the maximum number they could handle. This caused connectivity issues.
Will this issue happen again?
Now that the limit it is passed, it will be a while before any such limit is hit again, having said that, the internet is a constantly evolving place and the next significant move is around moving from what is called IPv4 (the current internet addressing system) to IPv6 (the new addressing this system). This will start over the next few years and will likely be the next source of issues for ISPs that are not fully prepared.
Here at catalyst2 we are fully prepared and ready for IPv6 and we are constantly working to ensure that we make changes and updates to our network long before there is any potential issue.
If you have any questions or queries, please feel free to email us – support@catalyst2.com
