<!-- mobian-agent-page publisher="dailydev" canonical="https://daily.dev/posts/repost-lisp-is-a-false-economy-ipspace-net-blog-uee8gmpdl" -->

---
title: Repost: LISP Is a False Economy « ipSpace.net blog
description: A reposted comment arguing that LISP (Locator/ID Separation Protocol) is fundamentally flawed as a routing architecture for large-scale networks. The core...
canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/repost-lisp-is-a-false-economy-ipspace-net-blog-uee8gmpdl
twitter:card: summary_large_image
twitter:site: @dailydotdev
og:type: website
og:site_name: daily.dev
og:title: Repost: LISP Is a False Economy « ipSpace.net blog | daily.dev
og:description: A reposted comment arguing that LISP (Locator/ID Separation Protocol) is fundamentally flawed as a routing architecture for large-scale networks. The core...
og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/repost-lisp-is-a-false-economy-ipspace-net-blog-uee8gmpdl
og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/Uee8gmpdL.png
og:image:alt: Repost: LISP Is a False Economy « ipSpace.net blog
og:image:width: 1200
og:image:height: 630
og:locale: en
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Repost: LISP Is a False Economy « ipSpace.net blog

**[ipSpace.net Blog](https://daily.dev/sources/ipspace)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments

## Summary

A reposted comment arguing that LISP (Locator/ID Separation Protocol) is fundamentally flawed as a routing architecture for large-scale networks. The core argument is that naming and locating are inseparable in networking, making LISP's locator/identifier separation a false distinction. This leads to unbounded xTR RIB sizes, path liveness issues, and state synchronization problems — causing LISP to circle back to the same BGP scaling problems it aimed to solve. The author contends that routing explosion is fundamentally an addressing problem requiring topological, provider-independent addressing rather than an overlay separation scheme. LISP may have limited utility for private overlays or small networks, but cannot enforce the hierarchical boundary conditions needed for Internet-scale routing.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://blog.ipspace.net/2022/03/lisp-false-economy>

## Questions this post answers

### Why is LISP considered unscalable for large networks?

LISP is considered unscalable because it misidentifies routing explosion as a locator/ID separation problem rather than an addressing problem. This leads to unbounded xTR RIB sizes, path liveness check failures, and state synchronization issues. For large networks, LISP cannot enforce the hierarchical boundary conditions necessary for scaling, effectively reproducing the same BGP scaling problems it was designed to solve.

_Network architects evaluating overlay routing designs track debates like this on daily.dev._

## Similar posts on daily.dev

- [The Never-Ending IPv6 Loopback Prefix Saga « ipSpace.net blog](https://daily.dev/posts/the-never-ending-ipv6-loopback-prefix-saga-ipspace-net-blog-4nlhgh10l) · ipSpace.net Blog · 0 upvotes · 0 comments

---

Tags: [#lisp](https://daily.dev/tags/lisp), [#bgp](https://daily.dev/tags/bgp)

[View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/repost-lisp-is-a-false-economy-ipspace-net-blog-uee8gmpdl)

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]}
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Repost: LISP Is a False Economy « ipSpace.net blog","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/repost-lisp-is-a-false-economy-ipspace-net-blog-uee8gmpdl","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/repost-lisp-is-a-false-economy-ipspace-net-blog-uee8gmpdl"},"datePublished":"2026-08-11T08:53:28.426Z","dateModified":"2026-08-11T09:01:43.132Z","description":"A reposted comment arguing that LISP (Locator/ID Separation Protocol) is fundamentally flawed as a routing architecture for large-scale networks. The core...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--CxzD6vbw--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2005","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--CxzD6vbw--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2005","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"ipSpace.net Blog","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"ipSpace.net Blog","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--xS7E82MT--/f_auto,q_auto/v1786438303/logos/ipspace?_a=BAMAMicg0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/ipspace"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/repost-lisp-is-a-false-economy-ipspace-net-blog-uee8gmpdl","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"lisp,bgp","timeRequired":"PT3M"}
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ipSpace.net Blog","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/ipspace"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Repost: LISP Is a False Economy « ipSpace.net blog"}]}
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/repost-lisp-is-a-false-economy-ipspace-net-blog-uee8gmpdl#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Why is LISP considered unscalable for large networks?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"LISP is considered unscalable because it misidentifies routing explosion as a locator/ID separation problem rather than an addressing problem. This leads to unbounded xTR RIB sizes, path liveness check failures, and state synchronization issues. For large networks, LISP cannot enforce the hierarchical boundary conditions necessary for scaling, effectively reproducing the same BGP scaling problems it was designed to solve. Network architects evaluating overlay routing designs track debates like this on daily.dev."}}]}
```

