Multihoming (was YA Class B)

Thu Oct 8 13:33:28 UTC 1998

The class B discussion contains a lot of discussion about what
"multihoming," and especially "legitimate multihoming," mean.  I don't
pretend that I have the definitive answer on the meaning of legitimacy --
since I live in the same metropolitan area as Bill Clinton, I may not be
sure of the meaning of anything -- but I do have a strawman to offer in
coming up with a consensus definition of multihoming.

Many of you attended my multihoming presentatation at the Albuquerque
NANOG.  That derived from an informational I-D,
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-berkowitz-multirqmt-01.txt.
Officially, it expired in August, but it's still there and I am working on
a new draft
Slides for this were on the NANOG web page when last I looked; I'd be happy
to send a PowerPoint version to anyone who doesn't want to scan through
those GIF's.

This document was written as a guide to analyzing customer multihoming
requirements and then selecting the appropriate technology(ies) to
implement the customer requirement.   In the current version, I didn't
include issues such as the number or speed of exchange point connections,
but that certainly could be worked into the taxonomy.

Anyway, suggestions are welcome on how I could extend the taxonomy in the
draft to include some of the requirements for "legitimate" multihoming.
Probably more likely than coming up with a definition of legitimacy, I'd be
happy if we could come up with standard terms and criteria so we could talk
consistently about multihoming.

Howard