Jon Zeeff wrote:

...

And the global routing table grows.

We asked Sprint for an exception to their routing policy in a case that would clearly reduce routing table size. They said no. Everyone is free to draw their own conclusions regarding Sprint's policies and the real motivations behind them.

Cisco's configurations aren't rubber. You can only stretch them so far. Every exception is more stuff in configuration on a dozen of routers. This also increases CPU load. If you think Sprint's goal is to reduce table size you're wrong. The goal is to avoid routers going belly up from overload. So the approach is to have a blanket policy which is not too expensive to compute but does contain growth _on average_. --vadim PS. Here's line counts for you to appreciate better why Sprint engineering does not like exceptions: 1291 icm-dc-1-confg 191 icm-dc-2-confg 542 icm-dc-2b-confg 1155 icm-dc-3-confg 792 icm-fix-e-confg 842 icm-fix-w-confg 314 icm-lac-1-confg 1194 icm-mae-e-confg 164 icm-moscow-1-confg 398 icm-pen-1-confg 447 icm-pen-2-confg 418 icm-stockholm-2-confg 190 icm-uk-1-confg 399 sl-ana-1-confg 386 sl-ana-2-confg 737 sl-ana-3-confg 559 sl-ana-4-confg 435 sl-ana-5-confg 451 sl-ana-6-confg 242 sl-ana-7-confg 356 sl-atl-1-confg 361 sl-atl-2-confg 496 sl-atl-3-confg 420 sl-atl-4-confg 353 sl-atl-5-confg 401 sl-che-1-confg 403 sl-che-2-confg 417 sl-che-3-confg 301 sl-chi-1-confg 521 sl-chi-10-confg 587 sl-chi-11-confg 187 sl-chi-12-confg 513 sl-chi-13-confg 480 sl-chi-14-confg 393 sl-chi-15-confg 354 sl-chi-2-confg 440 sl-chi-3-confg 713 sl-chi-4-confg 608 sl-chi-5-confg 453 sl-chi-6-confg 610 sl-chi-7-confg 453 sl-chi-8-confg 507 sl-chi-9-confg 572 sl-chi-nap-confg 496 sl-dc-1-confg 734 sl-dc-10-confg 677 sl-dc-11-confg 642 sl-dc-12-confg 575 sl-dc-13-confg 543 sl-dc-14-confg 459 sl-dc-15-confg 503 sl-dc-16-confg 791 sl-dc-17-confg 382 sl-dc-18-confg 391 sl-dc-2-confg 495 sl-dc-3-confg 731 sl-dc-4-confg 551 sl-dc-5-confg 847 sl-dc-6-confg 406 sl-dc-7-confg 662 sl-dc-8-confg 677 sl-dc-9-confg 181 sl-dc-s-1-confg 495 sl-fw-1-confg 502 sl-fw-10-confg 532 sl-fw-11-confg 518 sl-fw-12-confg 512 sl-fw-13-confg 472 sl-fw-14-confg 359 sl-fw-15-confg 484 sl-fw-2-confg 831 sl-fw-3-confg 480 sl-fw-4-confg 479 sl-fw-5-confg 413 sl-fw-6-confg 460 sl-fw-7-confg 507 sl-fw-8-confg 449 sl-fw-9-confg 391 sl-hrn-1-confg 369 sl-kc-1-confg 368 sl-kc-2-confg 1076 sl-mae-e-confg 739 sl-mae-w-confg 673 sl-pen-1-confg 447 sl-pen-10-confg 390 sl-pen-12-confg 512 sl-pen-13-confg 316 sl-pen-14-confg 352 sl-pen-15-confg 948 sl-pen-2-confg 613 sl-pen-3-confg 451 sl-pen-4-confg 524 sl-pen-5-confg 606 sl-pen-6-confg 546 sl-pen-7-confg 542 sl-pen-8-confg 505 sl-pen-9-confg 389 sl-sea-1-confg 392 sl-sea-2-confg 442 sl-sea-3-confg 438 sl-sea-4-confg 375 sl-sea-5-confg 459 sl-stk-1-confg 600 sl-stk-10-confg 590 sl-stk-11-confg 492 sl-stk-12-confg 504 sl-stk-13-confg 358 sl-stk-14-confg 380 sl-stk-15-confg 544 sl-stk-2-confg 531 sl-stk-3-confg 904 sl-stk-4-confg 618 sl-stk-5-confg 638 sl-stk-6-confg 555 sl-stk-7-confg 592 sl-stk-8-confg 541 sl-stk-9-confg 461 sl-stk-nap-confg 61453 total