[53257] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: Fw: Where is the edge of the Internet?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Paul Vixie)
Wed Nov 6 12:08:08 2002
From: Paul Vixie <paul@vix.com>
To: nanog@merit.edu
In-Reply-To: Message from Tim Griffin <griffin@research.att.com>
of "Wed, 06 Nov 2002 11:01:06 EST."
<3DC93CC1.38A53741@research.att.com>
Date: Wed, 06 Nov 2002 17:07:36 +0000
Errors-To: owner-nanog-outgoing@merit.edu
> > 1 - Connection Taxonomy
> > 1.1. The Internet is a "network of networks", where the component
> > networks are called Autonomous Systems (AS), each having a unique AS
> > Number (ASN).
>
> Even if this reflects the original intent of ASNs, it certainly does not fit
> current reality.
it is (a) accurate to the original definition, and (b) relevant to finding
the "edge". everything else you added:
> Let's call any set of networks under a unified administrative control
> an Autonomous Routing Domain (ARD). ARDs should not be confused with
> ASes (an implementation detail). They are distinct for these reasons:
>
> 1) Most ARDs do not have an ASN -- they are statically routed "at the edge".
> 2) Many networks "at the edge" use private ASNs.
> 3) Many ARDs share a provider provided ASN -- RFC 2270.
> 4) Many ARDs are implemented with multiple ASNs. Internap is probably
> an extreme example. But even UUNet's global ARD (AS701, 702, 705 ...)
> reflects an implementation choice (one that Sprint does not seem to
> follow with 1239, for example).
...is also completely true, and points to a possible need to upgrade the
terminology in general use. however, for the purpose of finding the edge,
the original (and still officially current) definition of "ASN" will serve.
