(keitai-l) Re: Apache authentication on handsets

From: cfb <cfb_at_nirai.ne.jp>
Date: 12/12/01
Message-ID: <3C17B3DC.74A9E86D@nirai.ne.jp>
Nick May wrote:
> keitai-l@appelsiini.net writes:
> >
> > [potential gateway induced auth problems, dns problem, etc.]
>

You probably need to add smtp to that list...  I've seen problems 
occasionally crop up with e-mail sent to/from DoCoMo, though inbound
e-mail probably doesn't involve the gateways used for outbound 
messages:

  Received: from mx7.docomo.ne.jp (fwisp-ext7.docomo.ne.jp 
  [210.153.84.11]) by [...]

...which looks very similar to a web hit:

   [...] "qfe0" [...] "log" "accept" "http" "fwisp-ext9.docomo.ne.jp" 
   "202.[...]"  "tcp"  ""  [...]

Is any wonder that DoCoMo has a spam problem when they don't even
policy route outbound e-mail? 

Also, I really wish DoCoMo would add DNS LOC records for their
fwisp-extN.docomo.ne.jp gateways... which probably aren't 
geographically dispersed to begin with, but it would be nice to get 
something less course than "Japan" when using visualtraceroute.

>
> It always amuses me when people on the list asking how well this or that
> emulator emulates a particular phone - the issues BETWEEN phones are so
> pervasive that anything that works "just so" on one phone type is rarely
> going to work the same way on another. The point being, I suppose, not to
> try and code too close to the margin and never assume that jus 'cuz
> something works on your phone it will work on all others.
> 
> [...]
> 
> Me neither. I never pinned it down to DEFINITELY existing as a problem,
> but it was - wierd... Repeatedly Wierd.
> 

Sometimes it can really be helpful to have a good choke point between 
the gatways and whatever site you're attempting to admin/develop/view.
It is particularly handy to have a set of tools that will let you 
view/inspect traffic at the TCP session and http level.  Development 
shouldn't be so complicated, but it is remarkable how often "standards 
based systems" end up exhibiting non-standard behavior (and to be fair,
this is a problem with the internet at large and not just DoCoMo's 
little interpretation of it).  Given all the consultancies that have
poped-up that help developers migrate the twisty little thin browses
that all look alike but end up looking very different in reality, I 
would have thought specialized choke point tool sets were part of their
development methodology.

As for the gateways... everyone here knows my feelings about those, 
given my comments about imode phones not really being internet 
connected due to the lack of an globally reachable IP address (again, 
to be fair, I don't know of anyone who had a commercially viable 
Mobile IP implementation that would have fit DoCoMo's needs at the 
time).  I guess it is hopelessly optimistic to expect a telco to open 
up their wireless network to such an extent.  Fortunately the PHS 
compact flash cards present the possibility for an innovative handset 
maker to provide a port on a cell phone, using bluetooth to bridge 
between PDA and PHS card (increasing battery life on the PDA and 
freeing the one (usually) compact flash port that most PDAs sport).
Received on Wed Dec 12 15:52:29 2001