North American Network Operators Group

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Re: Determining ownership of Internet routing problems

  • From: Mark Radabaugh
  • Date: Sat Dec 06 18:05:57 2003

> Now I'm wondering if that is even a valid assumption.  Maybe the truth is
> more like this:
>
>          [backbone provider A]     [backbone provider B]
>             /             \          /            \
>   [intermediate A]      [intermediate C]      [intermediate B]
>           /                                         \
>       [ISP A]                                     [ISP B]
>
> and if the problems is with intermediate C, I'm probably SOL.  Clearly, I
> would want my ISP to insist that his upstream providers not allow such
> unreliable topologies to be used.
>
>
> Ken Wallewein CDP,CNE,MCSE,CCA,CCNA

This is a close approximation of the actual topography - though there may be
a few more 'C's between A and B.    The reality is that there are a couple
of really large providers and the majority of networks connect either
directly or are no more than a couple of hops off of the largest networks.
See http://www.caida.org/analysis/topology/as_core_network/AS_Network.xml.

End users trying to fix routing loops usually have fairly limited success
due to the difficulty in notifying the affected providers - this is an issue
that has been hashed to death and I don't think anyone is in the mood to
discuss it again.

Your 2 upstream providers are the ones you need to hold responsible - it's
their job to get your packets where they need to go.   It is entirely
possible that various networks on the Internet will not be able to talk to
other networks due to policy and peering decisions made by the various
providers.  Providers that do not provide access to the majority of the
Internet usually find they loose market share quickly - this tends to be
self correcting in fairly short order.

Mark Radabaugh
Amplex
(419) 720-3635