Policies for Peering and Internet Exchanges

1
Policies for Peering and Internet Exchanges

• AFIX Technical Workshop
• Session 8

2
Recap of key terms

• Transit One ISP provides (usually sells) access
  to all destinations in its routing table
• Peering ISPs reciprocally provide access to each
  others customers

3
Peering vs Transit
Peering
Transit
Peering
Peering
4
Internet Exchange Points

• Three or more peering partners ? IXP should be
  considered
• Platforms Layer 2 or Layer 3
• Ownership
• Commercial
• Non Profit
• Governmental

5
Policy influences on IXPs

• IXPs are affected by two kinds of policy
• Government policy
• Business and technical policies IXP and member
  ISPs
• Government policy is simple none is best!
• In the real world, two extremes of intervention
• Governments have shut down IXPs
• Government have forced peering
• Both approaches are failures.
• Governments ideal role is to encourage, provide
  information, support, facilitate.

6
IXP business technical policy

• Key areas to be negotiated between members
• Must be agreed BEFORE IXP is set up to ensure
  buy-in
• Business and technical decisions frequently
  overlap technical choices are made for business
  reasons.

7
Key business decisions

• Location
• Ownership
• Operator who runs it?
• Do you provide additional services eg
  co-location?
• Form of business (for profit or not?)
• Funding and pricing Flat fee, traffic fee, some
  other?

8
Commercial Option

• IXP built and operated by a telco or co-location
  provider
• Profit comes from the services that support the
  IXP
• Co-location space
• Telecommunications services, etc.
• MAE, PacBell NAP, Equinix, AboveNet

9
Non-Profit Option

• A collective effort by several ISPs
• Incorporate as a non-profit in order to operate
  the IXP
• Referred as the club IXP model
• LINX, JINX, KIXP, APE (NZ)

10
Government Option

• To enhance the connectivity of government and
  educational institutions
• Federal Internet eXchanges (FIXs) interconnected
  US govt networks
• Internet2s GigaPOPs Universities
• StarTap the RD Networks
• Private sector benefit is incidental, if at all

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Alternative forms

• Network Service Providers
• Backbone carriers mainly selling transit service
• Use the term IX as a marketing tool
• Example SAIX, EIX, ..etc
• National Gateways
• Mainly in regulated markets
• Local and international traffic are separated
  domestically

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Best Practices

• IXP operated by a neutral party who is not an ISP
  (to ensure fairness and neutrality)
• Robust and secure fashion
• Located in areas of high density of Internet
  market space
• Able to scale in size
• Fiscally sound and stable

13
Key technical decisions

• Multilateral (all peer with all no choice)
• Bilateral (any peer with any ISPs can choose)
• Hybrid?
• Interconnect policy

14
Typical agreements

• IXP
• Advertise no transit routes
• Peering
• Respond to queries in 24hrs
• Collaborate on tracking and dealing with abuse
  originating from own network
• Advertise all its customer routes to the other
  parties
• Accept all routes as agreed and advertised by the
  other parties
• Exchange traffic between its customers and
  customers of other parties
• Register customers in a whois searchable database
  or establish a routing registry

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Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)

• Ensure that IXP wont be competing with its own
  members (e.g. connecting customers at the IXP)
• Ensure smooth and stable operation
• Preserve the business reputation of the IXP and
  member ISPs
• Provide reasonable privacy protection to members

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AUP non-compete terms

• Entry qualifications
• Who is to connect to the IXP
• Who is NOT to connect to the IXP
• Minimum peering requirements
• Exchanging traffic
• Bi-lateral agreements
• Multi-lateral agreements
• Settlement of peering charges

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Additional AUP issues

• Privacy AUP should cover
• Monitoring of operational data
• Publication of operational data
• Disclosure of information to relevant authorities
• Exceptions
• Content AUP should cover
• Conformance to laws regarding content hosted
• Prevention of spam, etc
• Protecting network stability and integrity
• Cooperation in achieving those objectives

18
Traffic Exchange Strategy

• Transit through a global backbone
• Public Peering at exchange Points whenever
  possible
• Migrate higher-volume connections to private
  peering
• Negotiate peering with global backbones

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Conclusion

• Peering is a complement to transit only
  top-tier ISPs can rely solely on peering for
  coverage.
• Companies will peer when they perceive equal
  benefit.
• Peering agreements are the result of commercial
  negotiations.
• Each ISP decides whether, how, and where to peer
  by weighing the benefits and costs of entering
  into a particular interconnection agreement.

20
Policy Negotiation Exercise

• Divide into three groups and read through the
  following IXP policies
• Group A JINX (South Africa)
• Group B Moz-IX (Mozambique)
• Group C KIXP (Kenya)
• How has each of these IXPs resolved the issues
  covered during this presentation?
• Would this policy, or some elements of it, be
  appropriate for your local conditions?
• What would be the most appropriate policy or set
  of policies for your local conditions?

21
Summary of policy issues

• Location
• Ownership and form
• Governance
• Additional services
• Pricing
• Interconnection policy
• Acceptable use