Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!ubc-cs!alberta!atha!lyndon@cs.AthabascaU.CA
From: lyndon@cs.AthabascaU.CA (Lyndon Nerenberg)
Newsgroups: can.uucp
Subject: Re: .CA root servers
Message-ID: <524@aurora.AthabascaU.CA>
Date: 14 Apr 89 17:25:23 GMT
References: <89Apr13.220817edt.38140@neat.ai.toronto.edu>
Sender: news@cs.AthabascaU.CA
Reply-To: lyndon@nexus.ca (Lyndon Nerenberg)
Distribution: can
Organization: Athabasca University
Lines: 41
In-reply-to: rayan@AI.TORONTO.EDU (Rayan Zachariassen)

In article <89Apr13.220817edt.38140@neat.ai.toronto.edu>, rayan@AI (Rayan Zachariassen) writes:
>In article <520@aurora.AthabascaU.CA> lyndon@aurora.AthabascaU.CA (Lyndon Nerenberg) writes:
># I was also a bit surprised to discover there is no "meta gateway" for
># .CA listed in the maps. These do exist for .edu, .com, etc., why not
># one for .CA ?
>
>Actually, there were a few listed, namely the U.S. UUCP->Internet gateways.
>I (re-)discovered this a few days ago and asked for them to be removed.
>They serve no purpose because *all* .CA domains are listed with explicit
>routes in the pathalias data, so if it isn't in the map it doesn't exist.
>Hence there is no point sending it to a gateway like (e.g.) uunet, because
>they won't know any better than you do.

The problem is, there will always be times where the .CA root servers
(not really the right name for them, but ...) hold information that
doesn't match the published routing tables (in comp.mail.maps). In
order for the above scheme to work reliably, you have to

	a) Ensure the new routing tables are distributed reliably
	   in minimum time, and

	b) Ensure the site admin's update their mailers with
	   the new tables in minimum time.

If someone misses a map posting due to a transport problem, and if
that posting contains gateway information for a new subdomain, that
site (at the least) will not be able to find a route to the new
subdomain until the next map posting comes along (at least a month).

I also doubt that the majority of sites run pathalias on a daily
basis to stay up to date on current routing. A lot of people I've
talked to/worked with collect updates for two to four weeks before
running pathalias. At the extreme end of the spectrum, when I
started work at Athabasca University I found that the last pathalias
run had taken place over a year before my arrival :-)  I condone none
of the practices mentioned in this paragraph, however they do tend to
reflect reality.

What is so evil about listing the root server in the maps as an
absolute worst case gateway to .CA ?  If the subdomain information
is as up to date as you claim, the path will hardly be used anyway :-)