Peering problem with NSP

Tue Oct 31 02:00:30 UTC 1995

Well, when dealing with this off-line, kindly include
engineer at sprint.net, because quite frankly, *I* have no
idea what you're talking about either.   Perhaps it's
too subtle for me.

That kind of information is worth sharing so that both
parties' shared customer is satisfied.  (And perhaps this
will be useful enough for people planning on multihoming
between you and other providers than SprtintLink that it
should be talked about in a more public forum with a view to
helping people understand all the complicated issues
involved in multihoming among several transit providing backbones.)

Say, I wonder if this'll get me accused of unprofessionalism
or disreputableness too?  It's been a quiet week; nobody has
ranted about me in far too long.

	Sean.
- --
>From list-admin at merit.edu Mon Oct 30 20:26:13 1995
X-Sender: briand at mail.fonorola.net
Mime-Version: 1.0
To:	nanog at merit.edu
From:	briand at fonorola.net (Brian Dickson)
Subject: Re: Peering problem with NSP
Cc:	Matt Harrop <mharrop at interlog.com>, Nathan Stratton <nathan at netrail.net>, ericc at nds.istar.ca

>  On Mon, 30 Oct 1995, Matt Harrop wrote:
>
>  >         In a few months, the network I operate is going to become
>  > multi-homed.  I've just ordered the T1 from SprintLink and I know that
>  > they'll have no problem with BGP4 peering, or with the fact that I'll be
>  > multi-homed.  My problem is with my existing NSP; fONOROLA.  When I
>  > informed that that I would be going multi-homed, and asked them about
>  > peering this was their answer:
>  >
>  > > Due to our high level of interconnectivity, we carry over 6k routes
>on our
>  > > backbone. Not all will be available to you. We can only assure you
>that direc
>  >  t
>  > > connect routes will be offered, namely AS2493 & AS812. Transit ASes
>cannot be
>  > > provided to you at this time on a guarenteed basis.  If you use us as
>  > > default, this is not a problem, but I suspect you will not. We have
>direct
>  > > connectivity to CA*net, Rogers, UUNET, WorldLinx, MCI, ANS, and
>  > > cannot, at this time, ensure that all routes land on you. This kind of
>  > > routing transit service is not really intended as our usual service
>  > > offering, and it has a strong impact on our backbone design.
>  >
>  > Is this in any way reasonable?  fONOROLA's primary connections to the rest
>  > of the world are MCI and ANS.  If they can't provide transit to MCI and
>  > ANS, they are essentialy useless to me.  Of perticular interest to me is
>  > their last statement.  Would this actualy have a "strong impact" on their
>  > backbone?

Matt,

I do wish you'd feel free to ask us these sorts of questions directly.
We're more
than happy to provide you with an explanation, and an honest answer based
on the facts
will go a lot farther towards providing you with a solution, than open
speculation on a
mailing list. But feel free to solicit opinions.

Language used in networking can be a bit confusing, since some of the aspects of
networking are somewhat subtle. I will send you a more detailed
explanation, but I
wanted to set the record straight in this public forum. The reason we cannot
guarantee transit AS connectivity is a direct result of not being your default
connection. If you select us as default, we can guarantee transit access. The
particulars behind that are technical; I will fill you in off-line, since that
information is proprietary. And yes, it really does have a strong impact on our
backbone *design*.

[ BTW, Matt, we are iSTAR internet, inc. (formerly fONOROLA i*internet).
Please use
  our new name when referring to us, to avoid any confusion. ]

>  Ya, drop them, they just don't want to do it.
>
>  Nathan Stratton                 CEO, NetRail, Inc.    Your Gateway to
>the World!

[ Editorial mode on ]
Frankly, it is this sort of unenlightened, baseless opinion that gives
Usenet its
deserved reputation. It certainly doesn't reflect the level of
professionalism that
a reputable NSP should display, on this list in particular.
[ End of editorial mode ]

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Brian Dickson,                         Email: briand at istar.ca
iSTAR internet, inc.,                  Tel  : (613) 780-2200
Suite 202, 250 Albert Street,          Fax  : (613) 780-6666
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1P 6M1       http://www.istar.ca
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