Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS)

2.1 Introduction

The deployment of a flexible, efficient Internet Protocol/Multiprotocol Label Switching

(IP/MPLS) packet infrastructure has become the key driver for service providers in

building next-generation networks (NGNs). There are compelling financial, technological

and competitive advantages in deploying a converged network. Capital expenditures

(CAPEX) are focused on efficient and extensible packet infrastructures. Convergence

allows service providers flexibility and economies of scale that are not possible with

multiple single-purpose networks.

When moving from circuit-switched to packet-switched technology operators have to

implement packet-based connectivity for both voice and data services in the IP core

network. This means that local area connectivity is needed between core network elements

on the sites and wide area connectivity is needed between the core network sites. MPLS is

an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) specified framework which provides for

efficient routing, forwarding and switching of traffic packets through the network. MPLS

depends independent to layer 2 and 3 protocols. This technology maps IP addresses to

fixed length labels used by different packet-forwarding and packet-switching

technologies. MPLS data transmission occurs on label switch paths (LSPs). LSPs are

sequence of labels at each and every node along the path from source to destination and

are established prior to data transmission or upon detection of certain flow of traffic.

For cost efficiency and in order to ensure compatibility with the emerging new services

IP/MPLS and Ethernet Local Area Network (LAN) are the baseline technologies for the IP
NGN network connectivity. In addition to being future proof these technologies offer the

best price performance ratio and best service availability on the market. Additionally the

IP/MPLS backbone can be used for consolidating dedicated networks such as charging

network management and Intranet traffic to one unified infrastructure.

2.2 Brief History of MPLS Communications

MPLS enables enterprises and service providers to build next-generation intelligent

net\vorks that can deliver a wide variety of advanced, value-added services over a single

infrastructure.

MPLS was originally presented as a way of improving the forwarding speed of routers but

is now emerging as a significant standard technology that offers new capabilities for large

scale IP enterprise networks. Traffic engineering, the ability of network operators to /

specify the path that traffic takes through their network, and Virtual Private Network

(VPN) support are examples of two key applications where MPLS is superior to any

currently available IP technology.

MPLS was originally proposed by a group of engineers from Ipsilon Networks but their

"IP Switching" technology, which was defined only to work over asynchronous transfer

mode (ATM), did not achieve market dominance. Cisco Systems, Inc. introduced a related

proposal, not restricted to A TM transmission, called "Tag Switching". It was a Cisco

proprietary proposal, and was renamed "Label Switching". It was handed over to the IETF

for open standardization. The IETF work involved proposals from other vendors, and

development of a consensus protocol that combined features from several vendors' work.

The label switching timelines are shown in figure 2.1 and RFC specifications in figure 2.2.

One original motivation was to allow the creation of simple high-speed switches; however

for a significant length of time it was not possible to switch IP packets entirely in

hardware. However, advances in very large scale integration (VLSI) have made such

devices possible. Therefore the advantages of MPLS primarily revolve around the ability

to support multiple service models and perform traffic management.

MPLS has become a leading vehicle for connecting an organization's decentralized

locations. It offers advantages to both service providers and enterprises. For the service

provider, MPLS reduces cost, simplifies provisioning, provides wider service coverage,
and enables differentiated services. In addition to the promise of multiple levels of QoS,

2.4 Architecture of MPLS Protocol Stack

Figure 2.4 shows MPLS protocol stack. The two main sections are control plane and data

plane. First one could be an embedded processor for fast efficient operation and data plane

could be implemented in programmable logic. The "IP Fwd" is the usual forwarding

module at layer 3 to do routing based on next hop information in fact MPLS "Fwd"

forwarding module matches a label to an outgoing port for a given packet.

From the diagram LOP module uses TCP for reliable transmission of control data from

one LSR to another during a session. Label distribution protocol (LOP) is a new protocol

that defines a set of procedures and messages by which one LSR infom1s another of the

label bindings it has made. The LOP maintains the Label information base (LIB) and uses

user datagram protocol (UDP) during discovery phase. During this phase LSR tries to

identify neighboring elements and signals itself to inform about its presence in the
network using hello messages.

LOP protocol structure is illustrated in figure 2.4 and protocol stack fields are described

below. More on LOP messages are explained in section 2.7.4 and LOP header is shown in

figure 2.5 with header fields described below.

10

MPLS Concepts

Overview

This module explains the features of Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS)

compared to traditional ATM and hop-by-hop IP routing. MPLS concepts and

terminology as well as MPLS label format and Label Switch Router (LSR)

architecture and operations are explained.

The module contains the following topics:

■ Drawbacks of Traditional IP Routing

■ Basic MPLS Concepts

■ MPLS Labels and Label Stack

■ MPLS Applications

■ Differences Between Tag Switching and MPLS

Objectives

Upon completion of this module, the learner will be able to perform the following

tasks:

■ Identify the drawbacks of traditional IP routing

■ Describe basic MPLS concepts and LSR types

■ Describe how different MPLS applications coexist on the same platform

using the same underlying technology

■ List the standard bodies that are working on MPLS technology and the

relationship between Tag Switching and MPLS

MPLS Concepts 1-3

Drawbacks of

Traditional IP Routing

Objectives

Upon completion of this lesson, the learner will be able to identify the drawbacks

of traditional IP routing.

Traditional IP Forwarding Traditional IP Forwarding

• Traditional IP forwarding is based on

the following:

• Routing protocols are used to distribute

Layer 3 (L3) routing information

• Forwarding is based on the destination

address only
• Routing lookups are performed on every hop

Before explaining basic MPLS functionality, three drawbacks of traditional IP

forwarding should be highlighted:

■ Routing protocols are used on all devices to distribute the routing

information.

■ Regardless of the routing protocol, routers always forward packets based on

the destination address only. The only exception is policy-based routing

(PBR) that bypasses the destination-based routing lookup.

■ Routing lookups are performed on every router. Each router in the network

makes an independent decision when forwarding packets.

MPLS helps reduce the number of routing lookups, possibly changes the

forwarding criteria, and eliminates the need to run a particular routing protocol on

all the devices.

Traditional IP Forwarding
(Cont.)

Traditional IP Forwarding

(Cont.)

• Destination-based routing lookup is needed on every

hop

• Every router may need full Internet routing

information (more than 100,000 routes)

Update: 10.0.0.0/8

Update: 10.0.0.0/8

10.1.1.1

10.1.1.1

10.1.1.1 10.1.1.1
Routing

lookup

Routing

lookup

Routing

lookup

This figure illustrates how routers in a service provider network forward packets

based on their destination addresses. The figure also shows that all the routers

need to run a routing protocol (BGP) to get all the Internet routing information.

Every router in the path performs a destination-based routing lookup in a large

forwarding table. Forwarding complexity is usually related to the size of the

forwarding table and the switching mechanism.

Basic MPLS Concepts

Objectives

Upon completion of this lesson, the learner will be able to perform the following

tasks:

■ Describe MPLS architecture

■ Describe the MPLS approach to IP routing

■ Describe the difference between data plane and control plane in MPLS

■ Describe the difference between packet-mode and cell-mode MPLS

■ List LSR types

■ Describe LSR architecture

Basic MPLS Concepts Basic MPLS Concepts

• MPLS is a new forwarding mechanism in

which packets are forwarded based on labels

• Labels may correspond to IP destination

networks (equal to traditional IP forwarding)

• Labels can also correspond to other

parameters (QoS, source address, etc.)

• MPLS was designed to support forwarding of

other protocols as well

MPLS is a new switching mechanism that uses labels (numbers) to forward

packets.

Labels usually correspond to L3 destination addresses (equal to destination-based

routing). Labels can also correspond to other parameters (Quality of Service

[QoS], source address, etc.).

MPLS was designed to support other protocol stacks than IP as well. Label

switching is performed regardless of the L3 protocol.

MPLS Example
• Only edge routers must perform a routing lookup

L=5

L=3

10.1.1.1 10.1.1.1

Routing lookup

and

label assignment

10.0.0.0/8 ! L=5

Label

swapping

L=5 ! L=3

Label removal

and
routing lookup

L=3

Core routers switch packets based on simple label

lookups and swap labels

MPLS Example

This figure illustrates a situation where the intermediary router does not have to

perform a time-consuming routing lookup. Instead this router simply swaps a

label with another label (5 is replaced by 3) and forwards the packet based on the

received label (3).

In larger networks the result of MPLS labeling is that only the edge routers

perform a routing lookup. All the core routers forward packets based on the

labels.

• MPLS Architecture

• MPLS has two major components:

• Control plane—exchanges L3 routing information and

labels

• Data plane—forwards packets based on labels

• Control plane contains complex mechanisms to

exchange routing information (OSPF, EIGRP, IS-IS,

BGP, etc.) and labels (Tag Distribution protocol [TDP],

Label Distribution protocol [LDP], BGP, RSVP, etc.)

• Data plane has a simple forwarding engine

• Control plane maintains the contents of the label

switching table (label forwarding information base or

LFIB)

To better understand the inner workings of MPLS its two major components have
to be introduced:

■ Control plane: Takes care of the routing information exchange and the label

exchange between adjacent devices

■ Data plane: Takes care of forwarding either based on destination addresses

or labels

There is a large number of different routing protocols such as OSPF, IGRP,

EIGRP, IS-IS, RIP, BGP, etc. that can be used in the control plane.

The control plane also requires protocols to exchange labels, such as:

■ Tag Distribution Protocol [TDP] (MPLS)

■ Label Distribution Protocol [LDP] (MPLS)

■ BGP (MPLS virtual private networks [VPNs])

■ Resource-Reservation Protocol [RSVP] (MPLS Traffic Engineering [MPLS-

TE])
■ CR-LDP (MPLS-TE)

The data plane however, is a simple label-based forwarding engine that is

independent of the type of routing protocol or label exchange protocol. A Label

Forwarding Information Base (LFIB) is used to forward packets based on labels.

The LFIB table is populated by the label exchange protocols used in the control

plane.

MPLS Architecture (Cont.) MPLS Architecture (Cont.)

• Router’s functionality is divided into two

major parts: control plane and data plane

Data plane

Control plane

OSPF: 10.0.0.0/8

LDP: 10.0.0.0/8
Label 17

OSPF

LDP

LFIB

LDP: 10.0.0.0/8

Label 4

OSPF: 10.0.0.0/8

4!17

Labeled packet

Label 4

Labeled packet

Label 17

A simple MPLS implements destination-based forwarding that uses labels to

make forwarding decisions.

A L3 routing protocol is still needed to propagate L3 routing information. A label

exchange mechanism is simply an add-on to propagate labels that are used for L3

destinations.

This figure illustrates the two components of the control plane:

■ OSPF that receives IP network 10.0.0.0/8 from the left neighbor and forwards

it to the right neighbor.

■ LDP that receives label 17 from the left neighbor to be used for packets with a

destination address 10.x.x.x when forwarded to that neighbor. A local label 4

is generated and sent to upstream neighbors so these neighbors can label

packets with the appropriate label. LDP inserts an entry into Data Plane’s

LFIB table where label 4 is mapped to label 17.

The data plane then forwards all packets with label 4 through the appropriate

interfaces and replaces the label with label 17.

MPLS Modes of Operation

• MPLS technology is intended to be used

anywhere regardless of Layer 1 (L1)

media and L2 protocol

• MPLS uses a 32-bit label field which is

inserted between L2 and L3 headers

(frame-mode)

• MPLS over ATM uses the ATM header

as the label (cell-mode)

MPLS is designed for use on virtually any media and L2 encapsulation. Most L2

encapsulations are frame-based and MPLS simply inserts a 32-bit label between
the L2 and L3 headers (“frame-mode” MPLS).

ATM is a special case where fixed-length cells are used and a label cannot be

inserted on every cell. MPLS uses the virtual path identifier/ virtual channel

identifier (VPI/VCI) fields in the ATM header as a label (“cell-mode” MPLS).

Label Format Label Format

MPLS uses a 32-bit label field that

contains the following information:

• 20-bit label

• 3-bit experimental field

• 1-bit bottom-of-stack indicator

• 8-bit time-to-live field (TTL)

LABEL EXP S TTL

0 19 20 24 22 23 31
A 32-bit label contains the following fields:

■ 20-bit label: The actual label

■ 3-bit experimental field: It is used to define a class of service (i.e. IP

precedence)

■ Bottom-of-stack bit: MPLS allows multiple labels to be inserted; this bit is

used to determine if this is the last label in the packet

■ 8-bit time-to-live (TTL) field: It has the same purpose as the TTL field in

the IP header

MPLS Applications

Objectives

Upon completion of this lesson, the learner will be able to perform the following

tasks:

■ Identify various MPLS applications

■ Describe the overall structure of each MPLS application

■ Explain the interactions between several MPLS applications running on the

same platform

MPLS Applications MPLS Applications

MPLS is already used in many different applications:

• Unicast IP routing

• Multicast IP routing

• MPLS-TE

• Quality of Service (QoS)

• Virtual private networks (MPLS VPNs)

• Any Transport over MPLS (AToM)

Regardless of the application, the functionality is

always split into the control and the data plane:

• The applications differ only in the control plane

• They all use a common label switching data plane

• Edge LSR L3 data planes may differ

• In general a label is assigned to a Forwarding Equivalence Class (FEC)

MPLS can be used in different applications:

■ Unicast IP routing is the most common application for MPLS

■ Multicast IP routing is treated separately because of different forwarding

requirements

■ MPLS-TE is an add-on to MPLS that provides better and more intelligent link

utilization

■ Differentiated QoS can also be provided with MPLS

■ MPLS VPNs are implemented using labels to allow overlapping address

space between VPNs

■ AToM is allowing transport of L2 frames (or cells) across an MPLS cloud

The data plane is the same regardless of the application. The control plane

however needs appropriate mechanisms to exchange routing information and

labels.

The term “Forwarding Equivalence Class” (FEC) is used to describe the packets

that are using the same Labeled Switched Path (LSP) across the network.