Xref: utzoo comp.mail.uucp:847 comp.mail.misc:688
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!hao!boulder!fesk!sverre
From: sverre@fesk.UUCP (Sverre Froyen)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp,comp.mail.misc
Subject: How not to list a network gateway in the maps
Message-ID: <165@fesk.UUCP>
Date: 11 Dec 87 23:12:59 GMT
Organization: SERI, Golden, CO
Lines: 28
Keywords: bitnet uucp gateway maps

After posting the message about the broken bitnet gateway at
super, I got a number of replies asking why I did not simply
use the gateway at psuvax1.  Why indeed.  The reason was, of
course,  that pathalias generated the path from the recently
posted uucp maps.  Still it seemed strange  that  it  should
prefer           a          long          path          like
"boulder!hao!husc6!harvard!gymble!super!%s" rather than  the
shorter  path,  "boulder!hao!rutgers!psuvax1!%s".   A little
studying of the map files revealed the reason:  Super  gives
the  cost  of  the bitnet link as DIRECT whereas psuvax does
not give a cost.  No cost  is  equivalent  to  4000,  rather
higher  than the DIRECT cost of 200, and certainly more than
enough to offset the  (slightly)  higher  cost  of  reaching
super  compared  to  psuvax1.   When I then learned that all
super does, is forward the mail  to  psuvax1,  it  made  the
automatic routing somewhat meaningless.

In conclusion:  (1) Don't list a gateway unless  you  run  a
true,  honest  to god gateway.  And (2), if you list a gate-
way, don't associate a  cost  with  the  gateway.   (Perhaps
pathalias should be modified to ignore gateway costs).

				Sverre
-- 
Sverre Froyen
UUCP:   boulder!fesk!sverre, sunpeaks!seri!fesk!sverre
ARPA:   froyen@nmfecc.arpa
BITNET: froyen@csugold.bitnet