nanog mailing list archives
Re: Peering VLANs and MAC addresses
From: Richard A Steenbergen <ras () e-gerbil net>
Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2005 19:16:05 -0500
On Wed, Nov 09, 2005 at 11:59:38PM -0000, Chris Roberts wrote:
I think the 'connect only routers' adage is probably a good conservative motto to stick to. There are situations where connecting switches and hybrids to IXPs is certainly more efficient and better suited, but only if you know what you're doing or have a good reason for it. As I understand it, most IXPs are pretty well protected against guff coming from switches these days anyway, but it still doesn't make sense in my mind to have a free for all on what people can connect. At least this adage might make someone who might not be experienced in what they're doing think twice and ask someone who knows better before doing it (as indeed it seems to have done in this case).
There is no technical reason why you can't hook up as many switches as you need, is there any real difference between a L3 switch and a L3 router (except for its internal architecture and maybe a couple of 0's at the end of the price :P). There are only good products, and bad products, smart people, and stupid people. Stupid people running bad products will find a way to leak stupid stuff to the IX and screw things up royally, regardless of the type of product connected. Smart people running good products USUALLY won't, no matter how many layer 2 and 3 switches stand between a router and an IX port. Of course I think part of the qualification for being considered a smart person involves being able to connect switches to IX's without blowing anything up, so those results might be a little biased. "Only connecting routers" is really just attempting to mitigate the effects of stupid people by forcing them to run configurations so simple "even a monkey could pull it off". -- Richard A Steenbergen <ras () e-gerbil net> http://www.e-gerbil.net/ras GPG Key ID: 0xF8B12CBC (7535 7F59 8204 ED1F CC1C 53AF 4C41 5ECA F8B1 2CBC)
Current thread:
- Peering VLANs and MAC addresses Simon Brilus (Nov 09)
- Re: Peering VLANs and MAC addresses Steven Bakker (Nov 09)
- Re: Peering VLANs and MAC addresses Stephen J. Wilcox (Nov 09)
- Re: Peering VLANs and MAC addresses Randy Bush (Nov 09)
- Re: Peering VLANs and MAC addresses Joe Abley (Nov 09)
- Re: Peering VLANs and MAC addresses Randy Bush (Nov 09)
- Re: Peering VLANs and MAC addresses Robert Kiessling (Nov 09)
- RE: Peering VLANs and MAC addresses Chris Roberts (Nov 09)
- Re: Peering VLANs and MAC addresses Richard A Steenbergen (Nov 09)
- Re: Peering VLANs and MAC addresses Randy Bush (Nov 11)
- Re: Peering VLANs and MAC addresses Will Hargrave (Nov 11)
- Re: Peering VLANs and MAC addresses Patrick W. Gilmore (Nov 11)
- Re: Peering VLANs and MAC addresses Randy Bush (Nov 11)
- Re: Peering VLANs and MAC addresses Patrick W. Gilmore (Nov 11)
- Re: Peering VLANs and MAC addresses Randy Bush (Nov 11)
- Re: Peering VLANs and MAC addresses Randy Bush (Nov 09)
- Re: Peering VLANs and MAC addresses Mike Hughes (Nov 09)
- Re: Peering VLANs and MAC addresses Steven Bakker (Nov 09)
- Re: Peering VLANs and MAC addresses Lincoln Dale (Nov 09)
- Re: Peering VLANs and MAC addresses sthaug (Nov 09)