CV-IXP operates the only completely neutral, and community-run Internet Exchange Point in Cabo Verde.

Basic principles

         CV-IXP is responsible for the administration of the IXP and determines policies relating to the IXP.Each IXP participant is responsible for obtaining one or more circuits to the relevant IXP facilities, and for all costs associated with those circuits. IXP participants are also responsible for supplying any equipment, such as routers, they require to connect their networks to the IXP switches.There is no restriction on circuits a participant may terminate at the IXP and participants may use an IXP as a key node on their backbone network, provided that they comply with all of the IXP policies.Peering at the IXP in open to any organisation that has their own uniquely identifiable ASN, and Internet address space. 

Traffic Exchange Policy

         A connection to an IXP is not the same as an interconnection with other organisations using that Internet Exchange. CV-IXP does not require IXP participants to interconnect with all other IXP participants. Each organisation connecting to an IXP is free to establish its own policy for interconnection. It is up to each participant at an IXP to negotiate interconnection agreements with the other IXP participants. CV-IXP Ops does provide an optional to use, BGP Route Server service to facilitate this.Peers are required to peer with the BGP Route-Collector service that is operated by CV-IXP Ops to facilitate debugging.Traffic shall not be routinely exchanged between two member interfaces connected to the same peering fabric, operated by the same member.

Fees

         There are no joining fees for the IXP. There are, currently, no monthly port charges that apply to connections to the IXP. The port charges will be reviewed by the community elected IXP management committee.Future port fees may be waived for ports used by Critical Infrastructure (such as DNS Root Servers), and other not-for-profit associations deemed to be good for the Internet. The IXP management committee remains responsible for determining which services are appropriate to have hosted at the IXP, and when port fees should be waived.

Rack Space

         The IXP user has the right to use a maximum amount of rack space depending on the primary port used, as indicated below. CV-IXP reserves the right to impose additional charges for ISPs using more than this, with appropriate fees to be determined by the IXP committee. The above rack space allocation includes any telco infrastructure associated with an IXP user.All equipment hosted at the IXP must be rack mounted. CV-IXP reserves the right to disconnect any equipment which is not rack-mounted. The IXP management committee may grant exceptions to this rule on case-by-case basis.The above policies on rack space are intended to ensure that each IXP remains an Internet exchange, and not an equipment hosting facility. Additional rack space will not be made available to IXP participants.Rack space allocations are not transferable. IXP participants may not resell, sublet or give away rack space without permission from CV-IXP.

Hosting of servers

         No servers or other non-standard equipment may be hosted at an IXP without the explicit permission of the IXP management committee. Any requests to host third party equipment (e.g. monitoring devices) will be dealt with by the IXP management committee on a case-by-case basis.

Insurance

         Members are responsible for the insurance of their own equipment.

Liability for outages

         IXP Participants using the IXP cannot hold CV-IXP, or other IXP participants liable for outages of any kind.

Non-compliance

         CV-IXP reserves the right to terminate any IXP user’s access to an IXP for non-compliance with IXP policies.

 Changes to this policy

         The CV-IXP management committee reserves the right to make changes to its IXP policies, following due consultation with the peering participants. This policy should be read alongside the IXP Technical policy which covers specific technical rules for the IXP.

1. BGP-4 or successor is used for peering and peers must set NEXT_HOP_SELF if advertising routes from other IXP participants.

2. Broadcast traffic may not delivered to the exchange, except as needed for normal operation and debugging.

3. We operate a unicast fabric; multicast except for regular IPv6 operations is not permitted.

4. Participants should ensure that only a single MAC address is visible via their ports, unless they are a reseller, and have made prior arrangements with the Ops team

5. Participants may not point default or otherwise use another participant’s resources without permission.

6. Peering is bilateral with the exception of the BGP Route Servers service. Peers are encouraged to setup their own bilateral sessions where appropriate.

7. Participants may not sniff traffic between other participants.

8. No participant may have access to the SNMP community strings for the CV-IXP switches unless cleared to do so by the IXP management committee.