Non-ISP companies multi-homing?

Thu Jul 24 16:34:31 UTC 1997

You wrote:
> >
> > Without the ISP having total control over the customer
> > router, a misconfiguration of filters on the customer
> > side could easily cause the customer to be a valid (and
> > 1 hop) path in the tables from ISP A to ISP B. Doesn't
> > sound like a possibility I would be willing to have
> > hanging over my head.
>
> Well, since my bandwidth is necessary for my business, I
> think I'd be much more concerned about becomming the
> valid route than my upstreams, if they get better routing
> through me, it's not necessarily a bad thing for them
> unless they're concerned about me snarfing traffic.

They've also got to worry about your bandwidth, which  
could become a big issue depending on the size of the two  
providers involved.

>
> Plus, you can filter out what you send to me if you're my
> upstream. That means you'll need a misconfigured router
> on your side *and* one on mine. I don't know your
> competency, but I'm fairly certain of mine ;). I put a
> lot more time, effort and care into choosing a provider
> than you do into choosing a customer.
> Paul

In the particular scenario being discussed, which routes  
would you want from your upstream? You might want full  
routes for the ability to actually choose best path, and  
then the upstream providers loose control over what you  
are sending where.

A and B can both filter what the customer sends to them  
based on network, and then the problem is solved.  
Unfortunately, this does not always give customers the  
flexibility they are looking for.

I'm sure you know exactly what you are doing, but not  
every Joe that a provider takes on does. My point is only  
that this is a situation that I would not want to bring  
upon myself.

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