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