Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!lll-lcc!mordor!styx!ames!amdahl!nsc!tron From: tron@nsc.NSC.COM (Ronald S. Karr) Newsgroups: comp.mail.headers Subject: Re: I hate smail Message-ID: <4070@nsc.NSC.COM> Date: Wed, 7-Jan-87 15:12:29 EST Article-I.D.: nsc.4070 Posted: Wed Jan 7 15:12:29 1987 Date-Received: Wed, 7-Jan-87 23:37:30 EST References: <14227@amdcad.UUCP> <32@auspyr.UUCP> Reply-To: tron@nsc.UUCP (Ronald S. Karr) Organization: Rational Swamiconductor, Sanivale Lines: 38 In article <32@auspyr.UUCP> joe@auspyr.UUCP (Joe Angelo) writes: >it doesn't even come near considering geographic area ... Eg: location!! >This, ofcourse, could be mostly the fault of pathaliases ... but I won't >point any fingers ( ^^ ) >... >Even though I specify a direct path (quick and fast), all it takes is >one smail site to reroute the message BACK across the country ... and two >weeks later my 99K mail gets to me. The greatest problem here is not that pathalias doesn't take into account geographic areas, or that geographic domains do not exist. The problem is a lack of standardization on what costs should be used for map entries, and is also a function of the number of system administrators who just put DEMAND and DIRECT costs on lines that probably shouldn't be used for high amounts of traffic. I believe that a somewhat standard system of cost figuring that took into account poll rate, line cost, line capacity, system reliability and size, and (possibly) distance, would, if adopted by enough system administrators, yield a much more reliable path database. For example, a small widget box in the midwest which happens to poll on demand to a system on the west coast and a system on the east coast should take into account that it doesn't have leased lines or the necessary system size and performance to handle all traffic between coasts and state costs other than DEMAND, and probably much higher. Another parallel possibility here is to give a cost to a host that indicates a _through_ cost, which would raise the cost for routing _through_ a site as opposed to routing _to_ a site. Pathalias would need to be modified for this to work, but perhaps the best way to reach this midwestern machine from either cost is through those demand lines, while sites wouldn't generally want to route through this site. In this case, a low cost could be given for the lines, while a high cost is given for routing through the site. -- tron |-<=>-| ARPAnet: nsc!tron@sun.COM tron@sc.nsc.com UUCPnet: {amdahl,decwrl,hplabs,pyramid,sun}!nsc!tron