Thus spake Steven J. Sobol

On Thu, Jan 14, 1999 at 01:30:01PM +0300, Alex P. Rudnev wrote:

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There is RFC recommendation for the router.

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Why there is not RFC describing the policy (mandatory!) for the ISP?

An RFC is a recommendation. A typical RFC usually ends up being a de-facto standard, however it does not have the force of law.

Backbone operators have to start putting pressure on their downstreams to fix their router configs. The downstreams have to put pressure on THEIR downstreams, etc. The only way to get everyone to fix their routers is to write clauses into contracts saying "if your network ends up being a smurf amplifier, and we find that your routers are misconfigured, you will be disconnected from the Net without any kind of refund or credit for your downtime, and you will remain down until you fix things."

That, and education, will do the trick.

True, but publishing an RFC to add some weight to that might help in that education effort and help the upstreams convince their downstreams that it needs to be done. A well written RFC might also be a document that the upstreams could send to the downstreams to help them understand actually what's going on with the situation and help them understand why it needs to be fixed (why in the greater overall good scheme of things, though why in the "do this or we're axing your connection" will help as well). If the issues are outlined in a nice format that people can read, I suspect you'll get less opposition from downstreams that don't want to muck with their already fine (as far as their performance can tell) router configs. While I agree...education, and threatening to ax connections *should* do the trick, the sad truth here is that before you can deal with router configs, you're dealing with humans in these organizations that you have to convince this is a good thing to do. I believe that an RFC would *help* to do that. No, it shouldn't be necessary, but if there's very little downside to it (and I don't see much downside to publishing an RFC...maybe a Best Current Practices or something), and there's some upside to it in that it might help convince some recalcitrant or ignorant network operators out there to change their router configs...well then, I say, let's do it. -- Jeff McAdams Email: jeffm@iglou.com Head Network Administrator Voice: (502) 966-3848 IgLou Internet Services (800) 436-4456