LET'S JUST GO AROUND

Matt Magri matt at netmeg.net
Fri Feb 7 12:01:00 EST 1997


Tim Russell (russell at PROBE.NET) wrote:
>Jon Lewis (jlewis at inorganic5.fdt.net) wrote:
>>Michael Dillon (michael at MEMRA.COM) wrote:
>>> You don't need to multihome to get redundancy. You can achieve the same
>>> reliability by using multiple links to an upstream provider that does
>>> multihoming. There are several providers already that supply this service
>>> to ISP's like TLG, IXA, Netaxs and so on.
>> 
>> Multiple connections to a single provider is "less redundant" than
>> multiple connections to different providers.  If your one provider has
>> major problems, you can still end up dead to the net whether you connect
>> to one of their POP's or two. 
>
>    No kidding.  IMHO, anyone who said that connecting at multiple point
>to the same provider backbone is "redundant" wouldn't know "redundant"
>if it came up and bit him in the ass.
> 
>    I have an MCI connection that's been great, but  [ ... ]

While I don't necessarily agree with Michael's claim that you get "the
same reliability" (I'm not too sure what it means in this context), I
think it's pretty plain from the text you snipped (I returned it up at
the top), that he's not talking about multiple connections to a net
like MCI. he's talking about a regional provider which already has
multiple connections to various providers (one of which could be MCI,
etc.).

I think if you have a quality multihomed regional provider operating
in your area then that's an excellent choice for a first connection.
A second connection to that provider (if you could touch their net in
a different, sensible location, perhaps) would be nice for redundancy
on what is likely to be your most reliable link to the net. OTOH, I,
_personally_, wouldn't budget the money towards that until I had
already established connections of my own to multiple providers. Of
course, if your goal wasn't to become a regional provider yourself then
you might make a different choice. If so, keep an eye on the regional
you're connected to for signs that the quality is waning, etc. since
your fortunes are strongly linked to how they run their net.

Matt Magri
Netmeg Internet



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