One shouldn't necessarily believe any third-party web pages, documents, articles, or verbal statements about which networks any given network is peered with. Though I have seen many articles, web pages, and other tables that detail which networks are 'peering,' I have never seen an accurate representation of this type of data from a third party. It is difficult for a shared-medium (or direct) exchange point operator to keep this type of information up-to-date and accurate. ...and, more importantly, many of their customers consider this type of information confidential. To further complicate matters, many networks out there are mis-representing themselves as [cost-free-] peering with other networks when they are actually customers, or in some type of 'settlement' arrangement. As for your second question about the locations that networks interconnect, many networks consider this information sensitive as well-- though during your conversations with them, they will typically exchange that data with you-- though probably under a mutual NDA. Some choose to peer in locations where it is the most cost-effective between the two networks, while others peer in a smaller set of locations that make sense from a network hierarchy/topology perspective. The decision about whether to peer with a given network privately/directly versus at a public exchange point is often based on the amount of traffic to be exchanged, the network coverage area, and other such criteria. With a bit of knowledge, tools, routing table vantage points, and time, you should be able to find out most of what you want to know on your own. You might start by asking the operators of the exchange points (where you intend to connect) who their current customers are-- then you can contact those networks individually. Some exchange points will give you an "I want to peer with you" form and a list of e-mail addresses, so that you can mass-request. Don't get cook'ed by the wealth of misinformation out there. - jsb -- Jeff Barrows Director, Internetwork Engineering UUNET, an MCI-Worldcom Company
Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 09:20:03 -0500 From: Jeff Lentz <jeff@sbtek.net> To: nanog@nanog.org Subject: Peering Table Question
I apologize if this question is not relevant to your discussions, but Susan Harris, e-mail address srh@merit.edu, suggested that I ask it here...
The peering table that appears on the London Internet Exchange web site www.linx.net/peering.html...... is this something that can be generated for different peering locations? Also with this information would it be possible to create a table that lists companies and the cities that they are peering in? Any insight would be of great help to me thank you.
Once again any advice on how or where to obtain this info would be of great benefit to me. Thanks
Jeff Lentz