On 12/8/2010 5:07 PM, Owen DeLong wrote:
This assumes a 1:1 ratio between prefixes and routing policies. This is unrealistic in all but the most trivial of networks.
Yet we can achieve much closer to this with IPv6 due to looser allocation policies.
Yes... It should. However, even with the reduced IPv6 routing table, there will be circumstances where multiple prefixes can efficiently be coalesced into common routing policies. Unfortunately, the current designs of IPv4 and IPv6 do not allow us to actually do so. What I am proposing would.
I agree it would be good, and every new person to BGP always asks why we don't route packets by the AS (seems like common sense). However, I think we'll have to wait and see on how well v6 manages with the new allocation policies and if the routing table for it drops to a reasonable level. This would be more acceptable than trying to shim on the v6 protocol. The problem is, once a protocol is standardized and implemented by the masses, changing is very difficult. It's going to be a bumpy road as we complete v6 transition, and I doubt anyone is looking forward to another change of that magnitude. Jack