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INTRODUCTION

Issues with Internet Protocol (IP) address space are critical, yet often overlooked, factors in building and maintaining Internet-accessible data centers and web server farms, such as those hosted by companies like Intel Online Services. A shortage of address space can limit the growth and expansion of data centers. Moreover, dealing with the scarcity of IP address space and with situations where the data center and customers have to communicate while sharing the same private address space drives technology decisions and complicates the debugging of server and network problems. This paper describes how IP address space concerns can impact the design, implementation, and operation of Internet data centers. First, we present an overview of how IP addressing and routing works on the Internet. We then discuss key address space design considerations. The next section describes the effects of addressing choices on data center design and implementation, and it is followed by a section in which we show examples of address space design decisions at Intel Online Services. We end with a discussion of future technology development trends regarding IP address space.