[187156] in North American Network Operators' Group
The IPv6 Travesty that is Cogent's refusal to peer Hurricane Electric
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Matthew D. Hardeman)
Thu Jan 21 13:11:16 2016
X-Original-To: nanog@nanog.org
From: "Matthew D. Hardeman" <mhardeman@ipifony.com>
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2016 12:07:37 -0600
To: nanog@nanog.org
Errors-To: nanog-bounces@nanog.org
Hi everyone,
I know the long and storied history of Cogent and HE failing to peer for =
IPv6 and failing to provide (from either side) for IPv6 transit between =
their two networks has been mentioned and covered on this list before, =
but I am rather surprised it has not garnered much attention.
Until recently, that is. I notice an increasing number of people =
tweeting at both HE and Cogent about the problem.
=46rom HE=E2=80=99s public statements on the matter, it=E2=80=99s pretty =
clear that they would gladly peer with Cogent for IPv6 but that Cogent =
declines to do this. I simply cannot understand Cogent=E2=80=99s logic =
on this. Cogent is the one loosing out here, to my way of thinking. =
They have far less IPv6 coverage than HE.
I myself, on behalf of my employers, am a direct customer of IP transit =
services from both Cogent and HE.
I don=E2=80=99t know about others similarly positioned, but my Cogent =
rep tries to call me at least twice a month. I=E2=80=99m going to start =
taking (more of) his calls and letting him know his account with us is =
in jeopardy come renewal time if Cogent can=E2=80=99t get a full IPv6 =
route table to happen.
Today, with Cogent & HE as peers, I am world reachable via IPv6. If =
either peer went down however, part of the internet couldn=E2=80=99t =
reach me via IPv6 because either HE wouldn=E2=80=99t have a route or =
Cogent wouldn=E2=80=99t have a route. That=E2=80=99s ridiculous.
Since Cogent is clearly the bad actor here (the burden being Cogent's to =
prove otherwise because HE is publicly on record as saying that they=E2=80=
=99d love to peer with Cogent), I=E2=80=99m giving serious consideration =
to dropping Cogent come renewal time and utilizing NTT or Zayo instead.
While that would not immediately solve the problem that if the NTT or =
Zayo link went down, single-homed Cogent customers would loose access to =
me via IPv6, I=E2=80=99m actually ok with that. It at least lets =
ensures that when there is a problem, the problem affects only =
single-home Cogent clients. Thus, the problem is borne exclusively by =
the people who pay the bad actor who is causing this problem. That =
tends to get uncomfortable for the payee (i.e. Cogent).
I intend to email my Cogent sales guy regarding this matter and make =
this a sticking point in every phone conversation I have with him. I =
call on others similarly situated to consider whether you may like to =
follow suit in this approach. I=E2=80=99ve come to believe that it=E2=80=99=
s best for my interests and I also believe that it=E2=80=99s best for =
the internet community at large, as ubiquitous worldwide routing of IPv6 =
becomes more essential with each passing day.
In closing, I further add that it=E2=80=99s a mystery to me why Cogent =
wouldn=E2=80=99t desire an IPv6 peering with HE. Let=E2=80=99s face it, =
if any of us had to choose a single-home IPv6 internet experience, =
between HE or Cogent, we=E2=80=99d all choose HE. If those were the two =
options, HE is the =E2=80=9Creal=E2=80=9D IPv6 internet and Cogent is a =
tiny sliver of the IPv6 internet. I have actually wondered if HE is =
holding IPv6 peering with Cogent hostage, contingent on peering all =
protocols (IPv4 and IPv6) with Cogent. There, I could see why Cogent =
might hesitate. To my knowledge, however, this is not the case and I =
have heard no public accusation that HE is imposing such a constraint. =
I would love to hear anyone from HE tell as much of the story as they =
are able.
PS - As an aside, has anyone noticed HE=E2=80=99s been growing their =
network by leaps and bounds this past year? Direct peerings with AT&T =
and CenturyLink, more domestic US and Canadian POPs, and I believe the =
number of pathways across the North American continent has been improved =
substantially, too.
Thanks,
Matt Hardeman
IPiFony Systems, Inc.
AS6082
