[c-nsp] flow spec

[Roland Dobbins]

On Dec 3, 2006, at 2:06 PM, Richard A Steenbergen wrote:

> My understanding is that for some unknown reason Cisco flatly  
> refuses to
> add this to BGP, and wants to implement a new protocol.

To clarify, flow-spec is a useful generic control-plane signaling  
mechanism to perform basic filtering and redirection across  
heterogeneous networks.  There are additional real-world SP and large  
enterprise requirements above and beyond what flow-spec currently  
offers, but flow-spec in and of itself is a Good Thing.

Please note that the original discussions in 2003 which led to the  
creation of the flow-spec draft were in part instigated by Cisco, and  
that two of the flow-spec draft authors work for Cisco; also note  
that feature velocity is heavily influenced by customer demand.  If  
flow-spec support in Cisco equipment is important to you, -please-  
let your account team know, and put a requirement for it in RFPs, as  
well.  This will help prioritize feature development (this is true of  
all features/functionality, not just flow-spec; it is also true of  
most vendors, not just Cisco).

It's also important to understand that various features/functionality  
which at a surface level appear to fall within the same functional  
area are often coded by different groups, and that those groups have  
independent coding priorities, development schedules, and resource  
pools.  Making flow-spec support a requirement in RFPs and ensuring  
that account-teams understand your view of its relative priority in  
your evaluation criteria will help in getting this feature  
prioritized, if it is important to you.

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Roland Dobbins <rdobbins at cisco.com> // 408.527.6376 voice

		All battles are perpetual.

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