Re: Domain names for ISP infrastructure links

[Jerry Scharf <scharf () vix com>]

pjnesser () martigny ai mit edu said:
> > the traceroute?

> True, but as was pointed out at the last NANOG, sometimes routes 
> change in the middle of traceroute, and seeing where the next hop 
> should be and where it actually goes is more apparent if its encoded 
> on the DNS name.  I certainly can live without it if people don't 
> like it, but for me it seems like the right thing to do. 

I would vote against this. It is too easy for a mistake to lie to you. I've 
had it abused into my head that things that can lie are the worst thing when 
debugging a problem.


pjnesser () martigny ai mit edu said:
> Could we agree on a fixed width interface designation?  fe instead of 
> fastether?  tk instead of token?  etc..

I think we agree fully on this. There are a small enough set of these to 
reasonably write them down.


pjnesser () martigny ai mit edu said:
> > > to set up a formal registration process with the IANA for 2(or 3) 
> letter > pop codes to be consistant?  If you wanted that, why not 
> take the airport codes as many have already done? 

> Agreed, which is why I wanted to increase to 3 letter codes, but we 
> need to make allowances for special places like the NAPS and the 
> MAE's, which deserve their own pop codes.

Been there, done that, won't make that mistake again. It scales badly to a 
worldwide level. We had multiple sites in malaysia that we couldn't 
dintinguish because they don't have enough airports.

I think what makes more sense (at least to me) is to use any codes that make 
sense for your ISP, then you put text records in that describe the meaning of 
that pop abbreviation. It's all in the DNS, but it's not all crammed in the 
naming scheme. I think this could be done with the iftype abbreviations as 
well. For the price of a few more DNS queries, you can get dynamic mapping for 
each ISP in a common form.

One other minor suggestion. I would recommend that there be a shelf as well as 
slot. The time is coming rapidly where routers will be as big as any other 
type of telco gear, and unit/shelf/slot/if is common throughtot the telco 
world.

Jerry


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