Workshop MPLS

MPLS
Multi Protocol Label Switching

AGENDA
 MPLS Overview & Fundamentals
 What is MPLS?
 ATM
 Challenges of MPLS
 LSP
 MPLS Header
 Forward Equivalence Class
 Label Switching Router
 Label Stacking
 Reserved MPLS Labels
 Label Distribution Modes
AGENDA
 MPLS Overview & Fundamentals (continue)

 LSP Control Modes
 LDP Messages
 MPLS Acronyms
 MPLS VPN’s Overview

 MPLS VPN
 Overlay Model
 Peer VPN Model
 L2VPN
 Benefits of VPN
Multi-Protocol Label Switching
 Why MPLS?
It provides the infrastructure that allows for the convergence: Voice, Video
and Data.
Q. What are two benefits of deploying MPLS?

A. Convergence of networks, and Ability to offer new services
What is MPLS?
 Is a protocol defining label switching technology. It can be seen as

extension to IP.
 Is often referred to as Layer 2.5.
What is MPLS?
 MPLS is a well defined and agreed technology. It combines the switching

principles of ATM with the flexibility of IP.
 MPLS can be carried over ATM, Sonet/SDH, PPP, HDLC or Ethernet.
 MPLS is a switching protocol. Data packets are encapsulated into MPLS by
adding a label to them.
 A label is a short, fixed length, locally significant identifier which is used to
identify a packet flow.
 Packets are switched and NOT routed through the network.
Challenges of MPLS
 QoS: Provides predictable paths for IP traffic. Predictable paths allow for
traffic engineering and enables the network for triple play services. Traffic
engineering means that we have control over the paths.
 VPN (Virtual Private Network): is a service offered by Internet service
providers (ISP).
LSP
 A Label-Switched Path (LSP) is an unidirectional flow of traffic, carrying
packets from beginning to end. Packets must enter the LSP at the
beginning of the path and can only exit the LSP at the end. Packets cannot
be injected into an LSP at an intermediate hop. The traffic flows in one
direction from the ingress router to an egress router.
MPLS Header
MPLS Header
• Label: carries the value of the MPLS label.

• EXP: experimental field, use to define the class of service which the packet
belongs to. It can identify the priority of the packet. (QoS)
• S: stack, It is possible for packets to have multiple labels attached. If there
are multiple labels attached, then it’s just the top, or “active” label that is
analyzed. Value “1” indicates that this label is the bottom in the stack, “0”
indicates that there are no more labels in the stack.
• TTL: time to live, It specifies the maximum number of hops a packet can go
through in the MPLS backbone.
FEC – Forward Equivalence Class
 It is defined as a group of layer three packets that will have similar or the
same characteristics and that can be forwarded in the same manner.
 If packets have the same label they may not be in the same FEC as they
may have a different QoS priority. In other words they might have the same
label but different EXP values.
Label Switching Router
PHP/
 CE (Customer Edge): They do normal IP routing and send packets towards

the MPLS cloud.
 LSR (Label Switch Router): it understand MPLS labels and transmit a labeled
packet according to that label.
 There are three types of LSR:
1. There is an Ingress LSR. Also known as LER (Edge LSR) or PE (Provider Edge).
This router will receive un-labeled IP packets from the CE and will insert a label in
front of the packet, encapsulating it into MPLS. It’ll then forward the encapsulated
packet out to the next hop in the LSP. This action is called “Push”.
2. There is an Intermediate LSR - Also known as P (Provider) routers. These routers
receive a labeled packet and perform an operation on the packet, usually switching
the label, and it’ll send it onto the next hop in the LSP. The LSR will look at the
incoming label, identify the path it is to take, and then changes the label according
to it’s label switching table. This action is called “Swap”.
Usually the egress LSR routers will ask the second last LSR router to pop the label
from the packet. This action is called PHP – Penultimate Hop Popping.
3. There is also an Egress LSR. Also known as LER (Edge LSR) or PE (Provider Edge).
The difference here is that the egress LSR receives the encapsulated packets,
removes the labels and sends them on. This action is called “Pop”.
Label Stacking
 The ingress LER needs to add 2 pieces of information to a packet:
 Which VPN does this packet belong to – represented by the inner label.
 Which LSP should be used to reach egress LSR – represented by the outer label.
 The outer label will be examined by intermediate LSR routers and will be
swapped at each hop. The inner label will be examined and popped only by
egress LSR.
Reserved MPLS Labels
 0-15 are reserved
How does a neighbor learn what label
to use?
 There are 2 protocols to do it automatically:
 LDP: Label Distribution Protocol
 RSVP: Resource Reservation Protocol

Label Distribution Protocol (LDP)
 It distributes MPLS labels. It is used to assign a label to the FEC. These

label/FEC pairs are then used to create LSP’s.
 LDP works between neighbors but they don’t have to be directly

connected.
 Neighbors store these information in a separate table, the LIB (Label

Information Base).
 LDP does not take any path selection decision. LDP activates only the path
selected by the Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP).
RSVP
 Resource Reservation Protocol does not create LSPs automatically like LDP.
 RSVP signals LSP’s end-to-end path, this guaranties QoS, each router can
signal problems along the LSP.
 The head end of LSP selects the path and sends RSVP PATH request. The
PATH message is sent in the downstream direction.
MPLS VPN
What is a VPN service?
 VPN stands for Virtual Private Network.

 A VPN is a network because it provides connectivity between sites.
 A VPN is also private because it has the same properties as locally run
internal networks (the same privacy, routing policy, addressing). Customer
sites are separated.
VPN Requirements
 Privacy: Because the service provider is carrying different customers’
information, which is often sensitive, traffic needs to be separated
between customers.
 Easy for the customer to use: The customer is not in the business of running
large, international networks. They want to run their private network the
same way as ever.
 Easy provisioning of new sites: As an organization expands into new markets
they will require new sites to be added.
 Scalability: A service provider needs to support many sites with multiple
customers to get a proper return on investment for their infrastructure.
MPLS VPN
 Is a service based on an MPLS backbone. It supports both IP VPNs and Layer

2 VPN's.
 IP is a layer 3 (L3) protocol used to route packets through a network. MPLS
is a label-switching protocol that is used to encapsulate IP packets with
labels and forwards them across the service providers backbone.
 Layer 2 VPN's are quite similar to Layer 3 VPN's, except that L3 is IP only
while L2 allows other transport methods, such as Frame Relay, Ethernet or
ATM. For L2VPN's MPLS encapsulates frames or cells rather than IP packets.
Overlay Model
 Is used commonly in L3VPN's.
 In this model the customer leases the lines off the operator, and so takes
responsibility for the VPN running over the service providers network.
Customer sites are connected by point-to-point links (ATM, FR, IPSec).
 In this model there is a lot of responsibility on the customer to build and
maintain their network properly, which can lead to many problems.
Problems include issues with scalability, suboptimal routing and complex
provisioning.
Peer VPN Model
 In this model the service provider takes responsibility for all
connectivity aspects, including routing. The service provider sets up
the network and will make sure the customers packets are routed
correctly between sites.
 No peering between customer routers is needed. The peering is
done between CE and the edges of the service providers network.
The customer needs neither any knowledge on how the backbone
works nor needs to care about routing between the sites. The
service provider makes sure the optimal path between sites is
selected at all times.
 The peer VPN model is usually offered as an add-on service by the
service provider and could come with an extra cost.
L2VPN
 There are two different kinds of L2VPN services that a service provider
could offer to a customer.
 Virtual Private Wire Service (VPWS): is a point-to-point service creates
pseudo wires across the MPLS cloud.
 Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS): provides an Ethernet service to the
customer. The providers backbone emulates a LAN service across a WAN. In
this scenario the provider backbone appears as a switch/bridge to the
customer sites.
Benefits of VPN’s
 Separation of customers traffic.
 Overlapping IP addresses including private IP ranges.
 Label switching provides predictable paths of traffic and allows more
control and manipulate the traffic flow.
 Requirement for VPN’s, security; customer’s traffic is invisible.
 Easy provisioning – adding new customers requires minimal work.
 Scalability thanks to BGP and T-LDP.

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MPLS

Multi Protocol Label Switching

 MPLS Overview & Fundamentals (continue)

 MPLS VPN’s Overview

Q. What are two benefits of deploying MPLS?

 Is a protocol defining label switching technology. It can be seen as

 MPLS is a well defined and agreed technology. It combines the switching

• Label: carries the value of the MPLS label.

 CE (Customer Edge): They do normal IP routing and send packets towards

 There are 2 protocols to do it automatically:

 LDP: Label Distribution Protocol

 RSVP: Resource Reservation Protocol

 It distributes MPLS labels. It is used to assign a label to the FEC. These

 LDP works between neighbors but they don’t have to be directly

 Neighbors store these information in a separate table, the LIB (Label

 VPN stands for Virtual Private Network.

 Is a service based on an MPLS backbone. It supports both IP VPNs and Layer

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