Hey!

I have a dedicated server on the NAC/DCJN network, and I've read in other WHT forums that the "providers" for this network include Mingspring, AOL, and PSINet. In this context, does "providers" mean network peers?

NAC/DCJN also "peers" at MAE-East and NYIIX. If I traceroute to Verio, I see the route go via MAE-East - so I'm guessing that NAC and Verio peer there (either by arrangement or via whatever default peering MAE-East policy dictates...).

Not too difficult so far. But along with AOL and Mindspring, Verio is another of the NAC/DCJN "providers". So does this mean that in this case every "peer" at MAE-East is a "provider", or is a "provider" some sort of "special" peer?

Thanks!

Jason

A provider is someone from whom you purchase bandwidth. When you peer with another provider, neither company is providiing the other with bandwidth, instead you are exchanging traffic. Some peering arrangements are at no cost, such as those between AT&T and UUNET. On the other hand if one provider has a significantly greater need to peer than another (ie Cogent and Cable and Wireless) the dominant provider generally charges a fee to peer (in this case Cogent needs to get traffic to the Cable and Wireless backbone more than Cable and Wireless needs to get traffic to Cogent).

The MAEs are an exception. All major backbone providers have peering points at the MAEs. Many minor providers also have peering points there. All traffic at the MAEs is exchanged equally, but you have to provide your own pipe.

The downside to this egalitarian setup is that the MAEs tend to be slow, because there is so much traffic there. It is generally considered better to have private peering arrangements, even though they will cost you more money.

Hey!

Thanks very much for the info...

Jason

no problem