Finanical compensation for bgp dampening policies.
Deep pockets = very little flap penalty Shallow pockets = very heavy flap penalty
The main risk (IMHO) when accepting a new peer is how stable the peer is. Without confidence in the design of the peer's network or trust in its engineers to prevent/solve problems, connecting to a new peer with a significant number of routes can be scary. A peer's having deep pockets usually implies that there's more to lose if they mess up and that they _might_ want to hire good engineers and pre-plan their network, but whether they actually do is another story. :^( Perhaps ISPs/NSPs could build "trial periods" into their peering policies where a peer's learned routes are dampened with a high flap penalty. If a provider meets the pre-determined "quality of service level", the dampening is reduced or even removed at the end of the trial period. If they don't, the agreement is broken and you route the peer's traffic through their transit provider instead (which hopefully have some dampening in place). If a good peer starts having service-affecting problems, put them back on "trial period" (aka probation) and notify them. If you don't live up to your own standards, the idea of having a trial period is moot. -- Eric Ziegast Looking in from the edge