Technically, I believe that this is doable. Using FDDI in NYC would cause
the fewest technical issues. Note that if the DS3 is to be filled, it may
require more than a 4700.Please note that this does not constitute an endorsement of the strategy or
of the 'taste' of such an operation.Tony
> Here is a question.. a strange one, no less.
>
> Is it feasible to do this:
>
>
> WASHINGTON DC NEW YORK CITY
>
>
> > B R I D G E |
> MAE -- 100 Mb/s -- | Cisco | -DS3- | Cisco | -- FDDI or -- (multiple
> East FDDI | 4700M | | 4700M | 100Base T peers)
> giga Switch
>
>
> Why? here's why.
>
> Several folks in the same building in NYC want to connect to MAE-East.
> But, we all don't want T1's or 10 Meg HLI to MAE-East, but DS3. So, this
> allows us all to connect to the MAE, peer directly with others without an
> intermediary ASN, and we can split the cost of the routers and the DS3.
>
> I know (at least, I can't think of any reason it can't be done) that is
> can be done. The unanswered questions are:
>
> 1) Will MFS allow us to connect multiple Peers on the same FDDI port (from
> thier webpage, it looks like it, but I am not sure).
>
> 2) Is there any technical reason that the above is bad?
>
> 3) Because we do it the way shown above, does that make us look less
> attractive (politically) ?
>
> Thanks for any input on this. If there is anything I am missing, please
> slap me. Thanks.
>
Ick!
1. Talk to WCOM for answers.
2. L2 media segmentation is a "fun" troubleshooting problem
Geographic seperation of various media that compose an exchange
have led to most of the extended outages. Its even more fun
when the various sites are managed by diverse parties.
3. Depends on your politics and those in whose sandbox you wish
to play. Are you willing to subscribe to the same operational
policies as the other sites that comprise MAE-EAST?
I'll note in passing that several exchanges, in and out of the US, have
a geographically distributed model. Generally the designs are not based
on clusters of clients wanting to interconnect.
--bill