The update I just got on the MAE-E /"Sprint" problem seems rather timely to the discussion.
" We have hit the point where BGP processing on SprintLink routers can no longer survive moderate fall-overs. There is no fix for this, except: a/ people MUST withdraw as many prefixes as possible b/ the background route-flap MUST be reduced
This is a global problem, and is not, and will not be confined to SprintLink.
In short, as has been said on countless mailing-lists for more than a year: CIDRize or die. " says sean.
Note that the problems that hit SprintLink today also effected AlterNet - we are not 100% sure yet (still comparing timestamps in logs), but it looks like routing problems hit SprintLink, SprintLink route flaps then got to AlterNet, and parts of AlterNet also tipped over (we had several routers near MAE-East hit 100% cpu trying to deal with route flaps). CIDRize or die. I intend to spend quite some time this evening/night trying to see what additional routes AlterNet can squeeze out of the routing tables; I strongly suggest that oter service providers do the same. --asp@uunet.uu.net (Andrew Partan)