No one behind the wheel at WorldCom

Mon Jul 15 12:28:20 UTC 2002

On Mon, Jul 15, 2002 at 01:58:44AM -0400, Frank Scalzo wrote:
> See now we are back to the catch 22 that is IRR. No one will use it because 
> the data isnt there, and no one will put the data into it because no one 
> uses it.

	[CC: list trimmed]

	Actually, I think you'll find that bad data is only a small part
of the problem; even with good data, there isn't enough support from
various router vendors to make it worthwhile; it's effectively impossible
to prefix filter a large peer due to router software restrictions.  We
need support for very large (256k+ to be safe) prefix filters, and the
routing process performance to actually handle a prefix list this large,
and not just one list, but many.

	IRR support for automagically building these prefix lists would
be a real plus too.  Building and then pushing out filters on another 
machine can be quite time consuming, especially for a large network.

> I think the way to get IRR into the real world production realm, is 
> to really drive home the issue w/IPV6.

	This still doesn't solve the scaling issue.  This is no different
than running your own RR, which many ISPs already do -- and they still 
have to exempt many of their peers.  Typically, RR derived prefix filtering
is something reserved for only their transit customers.

	If it were that easy, everyone (well, some people) would be 
doing it.

	--msa