$author = "alok" ;
do most SPs/IXs actually have the entire BGP routing table with them?
how longs that piece of string? there are many ways to design a network. you can have no BGP feeds (defaults + static), you can have no full BGP feeds (maybe "customer only" feed across a peering circuit + defaults), a full house of BGP feeds (different views from multiple providers / peers) or some other variation on these themes (for large quantities of variations). you don't need every router carrying the entire table either, you can structure the network so that a subset of routers carry whatever counts as your "full table".
so that every network in the world which is registered is availble to them in some form or another?
you either run with a default (which fills in any gaps in the routing table) or defaultless (where you need a full table). you can run both (default free core, defaults at the edges). just depends on what BGP views you have and how you structure your network. marty -- So stay tonight. Quietly. Half awake. But half asleep. There's no one home. No one's here. So quietly. Stay with me. Stay tonight. Quietly. Stay with me. Quietly. Stay tonight. Stay tonight. "Something New" - Art of Fighting