Recent events have proved that our IP numbering scheme/overlap between production and Labs is confusing or non-obvious especially during casual changes that fly under the radar.
I think at the next major networking work in Labs (Neutron?), we should perhaps consider a new numbering plan for Labs, to make things easier for everyone.
For example, we could consider using:
- The 172.16.0.0/12 space (still RFC 1918) for private addresses, instead of 10/8.
- An entirely separate IPv4 subnet for floating IPs outside of our regular 208.80.152.0/22 space (e.g. one from either our RIPE or ulsfo space, or perhaps even get/pay for more space specifically for this use case). I think something like this was originally attempted with 208.80.155.0/24, but we ended up placing a lot more there (production, frack etc.) which defeated the point in the end.
- Assuming that we'll also do IPv6 along with this change, a piece of IP space outside of our regular 2620:0:860::/46 — perhaps also something from our RIPE /32, or an expansion of our /46 from ARIN.