On Thursday, 26-May-2005 12:11, you wrote:

There's a lot of 'it depends' here. - what are the loads of the links in a steady-state?

Peer A typically runs at 80 Mbps. Peer B typically runs at 15 Mbps. Peer C (Internet2) typically runs at 15 Mbps, but frequently spikes to 60 Mbps for extended periods of time.

- how do you rate limit the 2nd link?

The upstream currently has a rate limit (and so do we, just in case the provider fat-fingers something in a config), but we want to move away from that, since that would entail manual intervention.

- how are you balancing load among the three links?

We aren't. I created the current route maps based on what they wanted (from a financial viewpoint). Based on those financial considerations, we will not load balance, at least not with the three providers we are currently using (and there are no plans to change providers in the near future).

I expect your answer will be in removing any rate limiting configuration, and setting up some local-prefs on AS's to balance traffic. Then your expensive 2nd link will take load (and incur cost) upon failure of link 1.

We currently have local prefs in place. They work fine, but we still have the data-rate problem: as long as we make the call to Peer B (or I can get to a computer fast enough to ssh into a router and drop the rate limits), no one complains Management is terrified of getting a huge bill from Peer B, so the rate limits (on both sides) will stay in place until we can find an "automated" solution. I gave up fighting that battle long ago.... Thanks.