[ITNOG] RFP checklist - ask your suppliers for this

[Job Snijders]

Dear ITNOG,

As follow-up to my talk earlier today: Feedback from operators (like you
and me) to the vendors (like cisco, juniper, nokia, huawei, etc) is of
crucial importance when the vendors are developing their technology
road-maps and working to assess the priority of development work.

Please consider asking your account managers to implement support for
the below RFCs. Especially when you are considering to purchase new
equipment or renewing licenses, your voice will be most powerful!

	- RFC 8092: "BGP Large Communities"
	- RFC 8203: "BGP Administrative Shutdown Communication"
	- RFC 8212: "Default EBGP Route Propagation Behavior without Policies"

When you write a Request For Proposals (RFP), make sure the above three
items are on the checklist. Vote with your wallet! :-)

Of couse there is not just action items related to hardware! Many of you
also purchase connectivity (peering, transit, etc). Please ask the
internet exchanges you are a part of, and ask your transit providers &
peers to support the following specifications:

    - "Graceful BGP session shutdown"
    https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-grow-bgp-gshut

    - "Mitigating Negative Impact of Maintenance through BGP Session Culling"
    https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-grow-bgp-session-culling
    (These will be published as official RFC in early 2018)

With hardware that supports RFC 8092, RFC 8203, RFC 8212; carriers that
support 'graceful shutdown', and Internet exchanges that support 'bgp
session culling' - together we will be making a higher quality internet
that is easier to operate.

Kind regards,

Job