Transaction Based Settlements Encourage Waste (was Re: BBN/GTEI)

Wed Aug 26 07:32:08 UTC 1998

At 03:48 PM 8/25/98 -0700, Sean M. Doran wrote:
>> What about netflow ?
>
>[to Vadim Antonov who said that _metering_ traffic is intractable]
>
>Dear ISP - you have made an accounting error that I am able to demonstrate
>in my copious traffic logs.  Please credit $x to my account.
>
>or
>
>Dear Customer - our copious traffic logs indicate that you generated x traffic
>last month.  Please pay $x net 30 days.  Thank you.
>
>Dispute resolution -- it's fun!

You don't say.  Back in 2/95 I hit the following:
CSCdi27509:  Frame relay counters not updated when fast switching
(it was fixed for 10.0. 10.2 and 10.3 fixes were being tested at the time).

The MIB stats (inOctets, outOctets) were all wrong for FR subinterface
customers.  Cisco listed it as a sev=3 bug even though I argued that if ISPs
are billing based on this info they may open themselves to a class action
suit.  Everyone inherently trusts the numbers coming out of your Cisco box.
As we have seen bugs in all aspects of IOS code, some dormant for 10 years
(see the recent remote crash telnet bug), one would have to independently
verify that the numbers Cisco MIBs, netflow of whatever produce are correct,
and this procedure would have to be done every time you upgrade to a new IOS
version.  Ever try doing that?  And every time you add a new function you
would have to go back and recheck (ever turn on FR traffic shaping and see
what happens? :-))

Can of worms.

-Hank

>
>	Sean.
>
>