On Wed, Oct 03, 2012 at 06:17:16PM +1300, Mark Frater said:
Two separate IP APE addresses with two separate BGP peering sessions over one APE interface is what we were contemplating, but this of course would need to come with a (how did you put it) "random metro-switch-along-the-path" in between.
Consensus seems to be two ports, two routers, two IPs, two BGP peering sessions - nothing else.
I think that every exchange operator the world over would prefer there to be an absolute minimum of cleverness between the port on their exchange fabric and your BGP talker - in an ideal world, there wouldn't even be media converters, just copper and fibre ties terminating directly on kit. Happily, the world doesn't revolve around exchange operators, much as they might wish it did. Back in the real world, they've learnt to cope with people mashing random chunks of layer two infrastructure on the side of their exchange. Ultimately, exchanges exist to save money for the ISP's/carriers involved, and exchange operators are aware that if the costs associated with complying with exchange T&C's get too onerous then they may lose participants (or at least the alert IX operators are aware). Assuming you can guarantee that you won't leak frames from intermediate devices, and that under normal circumstances you will have two and only two devices sending frames, then off the top of my head I can't think of a technical reason why that would present more of a risk to the exchange fabric. OTOH, I haven't been involved with IX management for a couple of years, so my views may be old hat now. So if you've got your heart set on two MAC's on a single port, ring up Citylink and try it on. You'll be asking them to forgo the revenue associated with an exchange port, so be prepared for some pushback unless you offer something up in return. Alternatively, if you've got some glass from L48 back to some location and you want to put two routers on it, then consider asking Citylink if they'll put an IX switch on that glass at your location, and give you two ports on it. Cheers Simon -- Simon Blake simon(a)katipo.co.nz Geek for hire +64 22 402 0044