[33300] in North American Network Operators' Group
RE: Exchange point networks
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Barry Raveendran Greene)
Mon Jan 8 16:59:45 2001
From: "Barry Raveendran Greene" <bgreene@cisco.com>
To: "Bill Woodcock" <woody@zocalo.net>, <nanog@merit.edu>
Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 13:15:05 -0800
Message-ID: <NCBBLBFHCNNFFCBBHDEHIEBBJPAA.bgreene@cisco.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SOL.3.96.1010108095518.15670k-100000@secure>
Errors-To: owner-nanog-outgoing@merit.edu
> > The third is a route server. The route servers allow
> > exchange participant to outsource the routing task (but not the
> > forwarding of packets) to a specialized host within the exchange.
>
> I've also heard some semantic confusion between route-servers and route
> reflectors. In conversation, I usually assume that distinction to be
> between functionally equivalent boxes operating in the plenum between a
> number of administrative domains (a route-server) or as glue between
> regions or ASes within one administrative domain (a route reflector).
> I don't know how common that understanding would be, though. Anyone have
> any better thoughts on the difference between a route-server and a route
> reflector?
I've attempted to write that up in a whitepaper I'm doing for several IXP
projects in Africa (see http://www.cisco.com/public/cons/isp/ixp/ - just
remember it is a draft and focused for non-US/Europe IXPs).
One key difference between a Router Server and Route Reflector is that a
Router Server allows for bi-lateral agreements. A Router Reflector forces
Multi-lateral on the whole IXP (see the history with HKIX.
Barry
