RE: IGPs and services?

["Roeland M.J. Meyer" <rmeyer () mhsc com>]

> ww () shadowfax styx org: Tuesday, May 16, 2000 10:34 PM

> What  is  the  general  feeling  about running  routing  protocols  on
> web/dns/mail servers?

Technically, not a problem. However, there is a school of thought that
thinks that to be a bad policy. That routing functions should be on
appliance-level systems, like routers. There is also some merit in that
appliances are more reliable, mainly because nothing *else* can cause an
operational interrupt. Unix systems are *real* good about process
control. but, there are still some things that makes it advisable to
reboot a system, at times. If that system is ALSO a critical router then
the entire net is down until the reboot is complete. It is generally not
considered a stable state of affairs. Having been in exactly that
situation, I can tell you that it isn't fun. Eventually, the pain
aversion therapy works and your behavior is modified accordingly.