[ixpmanager] Remote members

[Michel Lanners]

Dear IXP manager specialists,

As we mentioned here and there, LU-CIX is working on a migration project to take our in-house MemberDB to IXP Manager.

A first “issue” we have and where I’m asking for your guidance, is how to cover remote members. I assumed this would be something very common among IXPs, but thinking about it, maybe not. Let me explain.

Since many, many years LU-CIX operates remote connections to neighbouring IXPs. In the simplest form, this is just a very long L2 link taking our own peering VLAN to the remote IX’s infrastructure. Remote members get assigned our own peering VLAN on their port on the remote IX, and thus become “remote members” of our own IX. The same is done in the other direction for local members contracting the remote IX service.

On both exchanges, the remote connection takes the form of an L2 port, typically a LAG, behind which we find multiple members and thus multiple MACs.

In a more advanced setup, there would be one physical port (single or LAG), on which arrive n number of VLANs from the remote IX, one per local member that is connected to the remote IX. This VLAN then gets assigned to the member contracting the remote IX service. If we provide our own peering service to members on that remote IX, we need to connect a dedicated remote member VLAN arriving on the same physical port, into our peering VLAN.

In no case do we have dedicated physical switch ports for such remote members.

What’s the best approach to enter this setup in the IXP manager data model?

I have looked at reseller functionality, which might help, but I’m not quite sure it will cut it. Notably, we don’t have a fanout switch in our setup.

Ideas?

Thanks and enjoy the weekend

Michel

Michel LANNERS
CIO at LU-CIX Management G.I.E.
--
 <https://my.weezevent.com/luxembourg-internet-days-2022>
Mail: michel.lanners at lu-cix.lu <mailto:michel.lanners at lu-cix.lu>
Phone: (+352) 28 99 29 92-81
 
LU-CIX Management G.I.E.
202, Z.A.E. Wolser F
L-3290 Bettembourg
lu-cix.lu <https://www.lu-cix.lu/>
luxembourg-internet-days.com <https://luxembourg-internet-days.com/>
lunog.lu <https://www.lunog.lu/>
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