SPB (SHORTEST PATH BRIDGING)

B A S I C A N D F U N D A M E N TA L S : I E E E 8 0 2 . 1 A Q

VAIBHAV DHEKANE
 NEED FOR SPB
MPLS APPROACH
STP Vs SPB
SPB OVERVIEW
AGENDA SPB TERMINOLOGY
SPB- HOW IT WORKS?
CONCEPT OF SPB
SPT CALCULATIONS
SPB KEY ADVANTAGES
Q&A

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 NEED FOR SPB
•Modern Networks are critical assets to service the business function.
•Demanding voice and video networks requires sub-second failover.
•Carrier end offering like MPLS are complex and expensive.
•A key objective in the deployment of SPB technology across any metro
backbone is to provide a consistent enabling foundation to support current
and emerging needs of the network.
•In addition, future growth or additions to the network can be
accommodated in a seamless and non-disruptive manner.
•Simplicity
•Resiliency
•Security

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 Example Segmentation With
OSPF

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 MULTI-PROTOCOL LABEL SWITCHING (MPLS)
•MPLS directs data from one node to the next based on short path
labels rather than long network addresses, thus avoiding complex
lookups in a routing table and speeding traffic flows
 

•MPLS can encapsulate packets of various network protocols, hence

the "multiprotocol" reference on its name
•MPLS supports a range of access technologies, including T1/E1, 
ATM, Frame Relay, and DSL.
•MPLS operates at layer 2.5
•It was designed to provide a unified data-carrying service for
both circuit-based clients and packet-switching clients which provide
a datagram service model.

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 What is MPLS Approach? Legend:
PE Router= Provide Edge Router
P Router= Provider Router

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 Why do we need
SPB?

STP (802.1d) & RSTP (802.1w)

• Blocked Ports
• Bandwidth utilization is not optimal
• No support for ECMP
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• Higher convergence ?
• Scalability?
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 An IEEE 802.1AQ RFC 6329 open standard protocol

Based on ISIS a Link State protocol

SPB OVERVIEW Uses 802.1AH standard for MAC-IN-MAC encapsulation(SPB-M)

Maintains a loop-free network while providing efficient use of

available bandwidth

Transparently extends Layer 2 domain (VLAN segments) across a

large virtual service Layer 2 backbone network.

Provides a clear separation of customer traffic (between

different customers) and between the provider network domain

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 802.1aq allows for most efficient shortest path forwarding in
a mesh Ethernet network context utilizing multiple equal
cost paths.

This permits it to support much larger Layer 2 topologies,

with faster convergence, and vastly improved use of the
mesh topology without creating loops in the complex and
most redundant connectivity network.
WHAT IS SPB?

Combined with this is single point provisioning for logical

connectivity membership, which includes point-to-point,
point-to-multipoint variations.

Mostly beneficial for widely distributed network with mesh

connectivity across multiple locations.

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 • ISIS-SPB
• PROVIDER BACKBONE BRIDGE (PBB)
• PROVIDER BACKBONE BRIDGE
NETWORK (PBBN)
• BACKBONE CORE BRIDGE (BCB)
TERMINOLOGY • BACKBONE EDGE BRIDGE (BEB)
• SERVICE INSTANT IDENTIFIER (I-SID)
• BACKBONE VLAN (BVLAN)
• SHORTEST PATH TREE (SPT)
• EQUAL COST TREE (ECT)
• CUSTOMER EDGE (CE)
• CUSTOMER VLAN (CVLAN)
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 SHORTEST PATH BRIDGING
(SPB)
IEEE 802.1aq & RFC 6329 SPB Shortest Path Tree for
BEB-1 to BEB-2
SPB Network

BCB
BCB

Edge BEB-1

BCB
11 BCB BEB-2

BCB
BCB Edge

SPB is a Spanning-Tree Protocol replacement for Ethernet and introduces:

Network Efficiency - No blocked ports

Fast resiliency - Sub-second Network re-convergence
Simplicity - Well-known networking paradigm (link state)
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© 2011 Avaya Inc. All rights reserved. 1 8

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 SPB is Based on link-state ISIS protocol

ISIS Nodes forms the adjacencies

ECT (Equal Cost Tree) algorithm is used to find

HOW DOES IT WORK? the best path during ECMP (Equal Cost Multiple
Path)

SPT is used to encapsulated tunnel the customer

data (MAC-in MAC IEEE 802.1AH) through the
provider network.

The tunneled data is de-capsulated at provider

edge and is forwarded to the client network

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 SPB TOPOLOGY
SERVICE

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ISID ISID
100 100

802.1q CE 802.1qCVLAN BEB

BVLAN BEB CVLAN CE
802.1q

BCB
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 KEY COMPONENTS
Backbone Edge Bridge (BEB)
Positioned at the edge of the PBB network
Learns and encapsulates (adds an 802.1ah header)
Interconnects the customer network space with PBB network space.

Backbone Core Bridge (BCB)

Resides inside the PBB network core.
Employs the same BVLAN on two or more network ports.
Traffic ingressing on an SPB network port is switched to other SPB
network ports.
Does not have to learn any of the customer MAC addresses

Backbone Vlan (BVLAN)

Serves as a transport VLAN for the SPBM service instances
Serves as a control VLAN to exchange ISIS control packets
Connects SPB bridges together through SPT sets

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 KEY COMPONENTS SPB Interface (Network Port)
A port BEB/BCB and connects to the backbone network.
Carries customer traffic encapsulated in 802.1ah frames associated with BVLANs

Service Instance Identifier (I-SID)

Configured only on a BEB,
Identifies a backbone service instance that will tunnel the encapsulated data
Bound to a BVLAN ID and a Service Manager SPB service ID

Access Port
This type of port is configured on the BEBs
Defines the point at which traffic from other provider networks or directly from
customer networks enters the PBBN.

Service Access Point (SAP)

Logical service entity configured on a BEB
Bound to an access port to an SPB service ID
specifies the type of customer traffic ((untagged, single-tagged, double-tagged,
or all)

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 ISIS Hello packets are exchanged and
adjacency is formed

LSPs are exchanged

SPB FLOW SPT between each SPB node is

calculated

ISIS SPB populates BMAC associated

with BVLAN for each node

SDP (Service distribution points) are

created between each BEB for same
BVLAN

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 SDP of remote BEBs are bound to ISID

Customer frames received on SAP port

are then encapsulated and tunneled
using SDP through SPB network.

SDP (Service distribution points) are

created between each BEB for same
BVLAN

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 Legend:

SPB FRAME FORMAT SA = Source MAC address

DA = Dest. MAC address
VID = VLAN ID
C-VID = Customer VID
I-SID = 24 Bit Service ID
B-VID = Backbone VID B-
DA = Backbone DA
B-SA = Backbone SA
Payload Payload Payload
C-VID
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VLAN ID SA SA
SA DA
DA
DA I-SID
B-VID SPB Headers
CVLAN Headers B-SA
(tagged/untagged) B-DA
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 Payload Payload

C-VID C-VID
SA SA Payload
DA DA
I-SID I-SID C-VID
B-VID B-VID SA
B-SA B-SA DA
B-DA B-DA
I-SID
B-VID
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B-SA
B-DA

Payload Payload
VLAN ID Payload Payload
SA SA VLAN ID
DA DA SA SA
DA DA
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 SPB-M Network with Multiple
Services

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 Shortest Path Tree Calculations

• Example of Spantree:

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 Shortest Path Tree Calculations
SPB-M

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 Shortest Path Tree Calculations
SPB-M

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 SPB-M Network Topology

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 Packet Capture

BEB1>

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BEB2>
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 KEY ADVANTAGES
Standards-based IEEE 802.1aq – no lock-in (proprietary) technology, fully
interoperable and ratified in IETF and IEEE

Support for multi-path transport without the use of STP

No constraints on network topology – (mesh, ring, hub and spoke)

Plug-and-play using Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise’s standards-based Intelligent-Fabric

Scalability – SPB scales to multiple “services”

Evolved from carrier – MPLS-like functionality (VPLS service-oriented approach)

without the cost and complexity

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 MINIMUM AOS REQUIRED
Supported
Platforms
OS9900
AOS 8.4.1 R03 and later
OS6860
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AOS 7.3.1. R01 and later
OS6900
AOS 7.3.1. R01 and later
OS6865
AOS 8.3.1. R01 and later
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 Q&A

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 THANK YOU

The Alcatel-Lucent name and logo are trademarks of Nokia used under license by ALE.
 C O N TA C T U S

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The Alcatel-Lucent name and logo are trademarks of Nokia used under license by ALE.