Speaking on Deep Background, the Press Secretary whispered:
(Anybody here *NOT* seen cases where the 2 fibers leave the building on opposite sides, go down different streets - and rejoin 2 miles down the way because there's only one convenient bridge/tunnel/etc over the river, or similar?)
A friend works for Uncle Sam, and he is required to audit the routes used on certain high-availability systems, to insure the diversity we pay for. (It's in the contracts with the carriers..) He describes it as a long drawn-out exercise in futility. A non-trivial employee has to spend eons on the task. It's a recursive onion peeling, or a data version of Tom Lehrer's "I Got It From Agnes"... And once done... the errors found, the diversity restored, and the report signed off; it's soon worthless...because the carriers soon shuffle things around Yet Again. And I agree re: the building entrance issue and later choke points. Anyone recall the time several years ago that most of the Valley was isolated? One route was across the ?Bay? Bridge; it was down for planned maintenance when backhoe fade struck around San Jose. How many paths is enough? -- A host is a host from coast to coast.................wb8foz@nrk.com & no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433 is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433