[Misc][Rant] Internet router (straying slightly OT)

Fri Sep 30 14:01:34 UTC 2005

On 30-Sep-2005, at 09:32, Randy Bush wrote:

>>> To get an understanding of routing-protocols, begin with RIP[3] and
>>> perhaps run your own RIP-lab
>>
>> necromancy will be severely punished.
>
> many hand-on routing workshops start with rip, though with the
> warning "you will now learn why not to use rip."  it makes it
> easy to teach poison reverse, ... in a relatively small setting.

RIP also has the advantage that a worked, non-trivial example of the  
protocol can fit on a whiteboard, which makes it a reasonable way to  
teach the concept of a routing protocol to a classroom full of people  
who have never heard of such at thing.

Absolutely agreed, however, that such teaching also necessarily  
involves emphatic shouting of "YOU WILL NOT TURN THIS ON IN YOUR  
PRODUCTION NETWORK".

[ObAnecdote: I once heard of an airline reservations desk in Hong  
Kong which had a backup connection to the airline's main centre of  
operations far distant from Hong Kong, using dial-on-demand ISDN,  
circa 1995. The monthly invoice for international ISDN charges that  
followed a contractor's decision to "fix the router by turning on  
RIP" was apparently an impressive thing to behold, especially given  
the agressive ISDN idle tear-down configured on the router and  
minimum 1-minute billing per call.]

Joe