Question 1: What is MPLS?

Question 2: Why MPLS is called as Multi-Protocol Label Switching?

Question 3: Why MPLS is called as Layer 2.5 Technology?
Question 4: What are the applications of MPLS?
Question 5: What are the advantages of MPLS?
Question 6: What is LDP?
Question 7: What is MPLS and why it is being so popular in short time?
Question 8: What is the protocol used by MPLS?
Question 9: MPLS works on which layer?
Question 10: What is the difference between P and PE router?
Question 11: Can I make my PE router as P?
To make your PE router as P, you need to remove the BGP configurations and after that it will not
participate with customer network.
Question 12: Two routers are having 4 equal cost links, how many LDP sessions will be
established?
One session
Question 13: My LDP router id, OSPF router id and BGP router id is different, will it work to
forward the traffic of customers or not?
LDP router id and BGP router-id should be same if SP is using labels only for loopbacks. If labels are
generated for each and every route then no problem at all.
Question 14: What is Penultimate Hop Popping and why it is required? Which router performs
the PHP function?
Second last router performs the Penultimate Hop Popping function to remove the top most label.
Question 15: I am receiving aggregate label, what does it mean?
as the name implies, 'aggregate' means that a few FECs received one common label, which
will be used while forwarding to any of them. That usually happens as a result of
summarization.
Question 16: What are the different types of labels?
Implicit Null, Explicit Null, Aggregate Label
Question 17: How to make customer route unique?
By adding route distinguisher
Question 18: What is the difference between RD and RT?
RD is not an extended community where as RT is an extended community.
Question 19: Can I assign a same RD to two different customers?
RD is unique and local to router
Question 20: Is RD travels in route update? No
Question 21: My customer is having three branches and all are attached to three different PEs, In
this case can I use the different VRF names? Yes

Question 22: What is downstream on demand?

Downstream router is the one which is responsible to advertise the label first to upstream router in
case of downstream on demand method is selected.
Upstream router is the one which advertise the labels to its downstream router after receiving label
bindings from it.
Question 23: How to filter MPLS labels?
By using ACLs
Question 24: What is the default range of MPLS labels in Cisco routers? How to extend that
range?
16 – 100000 is default range
Question 25: Without route reflector can I implement MPLS?
Yes, need to develop full mesh BGP
Question 26: What is the difference between VPNv4 and IPv4 address family?
we always accept and forward ip packets to customers, for this we need to use ipv4 address-family.
When the customers packets are being received by PE they become labeled one and to forward
labeled packets to different PE/RR; address-family vpnv4 is required. In short we can say that ipv4
address-family is being used for customers and vpnv4 address-family is used by SP core.

Question 27: What is MP-iBGP? Can we use normal BGP in lieu of MP-iBGP?

No, MP-iBGP is used because of the support of multi protocol which normal BGP doesn’t support
Question 28: What is LIB, LFIB?
The LFIB is essentially the label routing table. ... This information is stored in the Forwarding
Information Base (FIB) and Label Forwarding Information Base (LFIB). Each LSR builds
its LIB, LFIB, and FIB based on received labels

Question 29: What is CEF and without enabling CEF, can we make MPLS work?
CEF is mandatory in Cisco routers for MPLS.

Question 30: I am receiving end to end customer routes on various PE but not able to ping those
routes, what’s could be the problem?
as per your config the network which you are advertising in the BGP VRF Addressfamily for
customer will carry the next hop but in your IGP routing table that is not available. That why
you are not able to ping your customer becasue your next hop is not accessible in your IGP

Question 31: What is explicit null and implicit null?

Both implicit and explicit null labels are generated by last hop router to its
neighbors. Implicit null is by default which means penultimate router should only send IP
packet thus it pops the label (popping the label known as PHP and this is done to reduce the
load on last hop router).

Question 32: Default timers of LDP?

LDP Hello Interval
Hello Timer is the interval that hello messages will be sent.
Default is 5 seconds.
LDP Hold Timer
Hold Timer is the time that the LDP session will go down if no hellos have been received after
the Hold timer expires. Default is 15 sec.
Every time a hello message or LDP message is received, hold timer is reset.
LDP Backoff Timer
If two LSR can't agree on LDP parameters, they will exponentially backoff the session setup until
they can agree.

Question 33: Does LDP require OSPF, IS-IS or BGP?

IGP is required for IP Reachability

Question 34: In neighbor discovery command, I am receiving only xmit, what does it mean
You can see only xmit in neighbor discovery command which means neighboring router
isn't sending any ldp hello packets

Question 35: What is transport address?

Routers must first establish a TCP session between each other before they can establish an
LDP session. The TCP session enables the routers to exchange the label advertisements
needed for the LDP session. To establish the TCP session, each router must learn the other
router's transport address. The transport address is an IP address used to identify the TCP
session over which the LDP session will run.

Question 36: What is the RFC of MPLS? RFC 3031

Question 37: Why MPLS is called multi-protocol?

 MPLS is called multiprotocol because it works with the Internet Protocol (IP),
Asynchronous Transport Mode (ATM), and frame relay network protocols.

Question 38: What is the difference between MPLS, SSL and IPSec?

MPLS provides secure transmission of packets at the IP layer as well. ... While IPSEC does
provide encryption and authentication, there is a trade off in performance.

Question 39: I am using different vendor products and want to implement TDP, what type of
challenges will you face?
Question 40: What is the MFA Forum?
Question 41: What MPLS related mailing lists are there and what are they used for?
Question 42: How did MPLS evolve?
Question 43: What problems does MPLS solve?
Question 44: What is the status of the MPLS standard?
Question 45: What is a Label?
Section 3.1 of RFC 3031: “Multiprotocol Label Switching Architecture” defines a label as follows “A
label is a short, fixed length, locally significant identifier which is used to identify a FEC. The label
which is put on a particular packet represents the “Forwarding Equivalence Class” to which that
packet is assigned.”
Question 46: What is a Label Switch Path?
An LSP is a specific path traffic path through an MPLS network. An LSP is provisioned
using Label Distribution Protocols (LDPs) such as RSVP-TE or CR-LDP. Either of these
protocols will establish a path through an MPLS network and will reserve necessary
resources to meet pre-defined service requirements for the data path.

LSPs must be contrasted with traffic trunks. From RFC 2702: “Requirements for Traffic
Engineering Over MPLS,” “A traffic trunk is an aggregation of traffic flows of the same class
which are placed inside a LSP. It is important, however, to emphasize that there is a
fundamental distinction between a traffic trunk and the path, and indeed the LSP, through
which it traverses. In practice, the terms LSP and traffic trunk are often used synonymously.
The path through which a trunk traverses can be changed. In this respect, traffic trunks are
similar to virtual circuits in ATM and Frame Relay networks.”

Question 47: What is a Label Distribution Protocol?

A label distribution protocol (LDP) is a specification which lets a label switch router (LSR)
distribute labels to its LDP peers. When a LSR assigns a label to a forwarding equivalence
class (FEC) it needs to let its relevant peers know of this label and its meaning and LDP is
used for this purpose. Since a set of labels from the ingress LSR to the egress LSR in an
MPLS domain defines a Label Switched Path (LSP) and since labels are mapping of network
layer routing to the data link layer switched paths, LDP helps in establishing a LSP by using a
set of procedures to distribute the labels among the LSR peers.

Label Switching Routers (LSRs) use labels to forward traffic. A fundamental step to Label
Switching is that LSRs agree on the what labels they should use to forward traffic. They
come to this common understanding by using the Label Distribution

Label Distribution Protocol is a major part of MPLS. Similar mechanisms for Label exchange
existed in vendor implementations like Ipsilonâs Flow Management Protocol (IFMP), IBMâs
Aggregate Route-based IP Switching (ARIS), and Ciscoâs Tag Distribution Protocol. LDP
and labels are the foundation of Label Switching.

LDP has the following basic characteristics:

It provides an LSR discovery mechanism to enable LSR peers to find each other and establish
communication
It defines four classes of messages: DISCOVERY, ADJACENCY, LABEL
ADVERTISEMENT, and NOTIFICATION messages
It runs over TCP to provide reliable delivery of messages (with the exception of
DISCOVERY messages
LDP label distribution and assignment may be performed in several different modes:

Unsolicited downstream versus downstream-on-demand label assignment

Order versus independent LSP control
Liberal versus conservative label retention

Question 48: What’s the difference between CR-LDP and RSVP-TE

CR-LDP and RSVP-TE are both signaling mechanisms used to support Traffic Engineering
across an MPLS backbone. RSVP is a QoS signaling protocol that is an IETF standard and
has existed for quite some time. RSVP-TE extends RSVP to support label distribution and
explicit routing while CR-LDP proposed to extend LDP (designed for hop-by-hop label
distribution to support QoS signaling and explicit routing). MPLS Traffic Engineering
tunnels are not limited to IP route selection procedures and thus will spread network traffic
more uniformly across the backbone taking advantage of all available links. A signaling
protocol is required to set up these explicit MPLS routes or tunnels.

There are many similarities between CR-LSP and RSVP-TE for constraint-based routing. The
Explicit Route Objects that are used are extremely similar. Both protocols use ordered Label
Switched Path (LSP) setup procedures. Both protocols include some QoS information in the
signaling messages to enable resource allocation and LSP establishment to take place
automatically.

At the present time CD-LDP development has ended and RSVP-TE has emerged as the
“winner” for traffic engineering protocols.

Question 49: What is a “Forwarding Equivalency Class”?

Forwarding Equivalency Class (FEC) is a set of packets which will be forwarded in the same
manner (e.g., over the same path with the same forwarding treatment). Typically packets
belonging to the same FEC will follow the same path in the MPLS domain. While assigning a
packet to an FEC the ingress LSR may look at the IP header and also some other information
such as the interface on which this packet arrived. The FEC to which a packet is assigned is
identified by a label.

One example of an FEC is a set of unicast packets whose network layer destination address
matches a particular IP address prefix. A set of multicast packets with the same source and
destination network layer addresses is another example of an FEC. Yet another example is a
set of unicast packets whose destination addresses match a particular IP address prefix and
whose Type of Service bits are the same
Question 50: How are Label Switch Paths built?
A Label Switch Path (LSP) is a set of LSRs that packets belonging to a certain FEC travel in
order to reach their destination. Since MPLS allows hierarchy of labels known as label stack,
it is possible to have different LSPs at different levels of labels for a packet to reach its
destination. So more formally, a LSP of a packet with a label of level m is a set of LSRs that
a packet p has to travel at level m to reach its destination. Please refer to 3.15 of RFC 3031 –
Multiprotocol Label Switching Architecture, for a very formal and complete definition.

g. What is the relationship between MPLS and the Interior Routing Protocol

Interior Gateway Protocols (IGP), such as OSPF and IS-IS, are used to defined reachability
and the binding/mapping between FEC and next-hop address. MPLS learns routing
information from IGP (e.g., OSPF, IS-IS). Link-state Interior Gateway Protocol is typically
already running on large Corporations or Service Providers networks There are no changes
required to IGP routing protocols to support MPLS, MPLS-TE, MPLS QoS, or MPLS-BGP
VPNs.

Question 51: What other protocols does MPLS support besides IP?

By definition, Multiprotocol Label Switching supports multiple protocols. At the Network
Layer MPLS supports IPv6, IPv4, IPX and AppleTalk. At the Link Layer MPLS supports
Ethernet, Token Ring, FDDI, ATM, Frame Relay, and Point-to-Point Links. It can essentially
work with any control protocol other than IP and layer on top of any link layer protocol. In
addition, development efforts have allowed MPLS to not only work over any data link layer
protocol, but also to natively carry a data link layer protocol over IP, thus enabling services
such as Ethernet over MPLS.

MPLS and ATM

Question 52: What are the differences between MPLS and ATM?

MPLS brings the traffic engineering capabilities of ATM to packet-based network. It works by tagging
IP packets with “labels” that specify a route and priority. It combines the scalability and flexibility of
routing with performance and traffic management of layer 2 switching. It can run over nearly any
transport medium (ATM, FR, POS, Ethernet…) instead of being tied to a specific layer-2
encapsulation. As it uses IP for its addressing, it uses common routing/signaling protocols (OSPF, IS-
IS, RSVP…)

Question 53: Does MPLS replace ATM?

Question 54: What is “Ships in the night”?
Question 55: What does MPLS traffic engineering accomplish?
Traffic engineering refers to the process of selecting the paths chosen by data traffic in order
to balance the traffic load on the various links, routers, and switches in the network. Traffic
engineering is most important in networks where multiple parallel or alternate paths are
available.

A major goal of Internet Traffic Engineering is to facilitate efficient and reliable network
operations while simultaneously optimizing network resource utilization and traffic
performance.

The goal of TE is to compute a path from one given node to another (source routing), such
that the path does not violate the constraints (e.g. Bandwidth/administrative requirements…)
and is optimal with respect to some scalar metric. Once the path is computed, TE (a.k.a.
Constraint based routing) is responsible for establishing and maintaining forwarding state
along such a path.

Question 56: What are the components of MPLS-TE?

In order to support Traffic engineering, besides explicit routing (source routing), the
following components should be available:

Ability to compute a path at the source by taking into account all the constraints. To do so the
source need to have all the information either available locally or obtained from other routers
in the network (e.g. Network topology)

Ability to distribute the information about network topology and attributes associated with
links throughout the network once the path is computed, need a way to support forwarding
along such a path

Ability to reserve network resources and to modify link attributes (as the result of certain
traffic taking certain routes)

MPLS TE leverages several foundation technologies:

Constraint shortest path first algorithm used in path calculation. This is a modified version of
the well known SPF algorithm extended to constraints support

RSVP extension used to establish the forwarding state along the path, as well as to reserve
resources along the path

Link state IGPs with extension (OSPF with Opaque LSAs, IS-IS with Link State Packets
TLV (type, length, value)) keeping track of topology changes propagation

Question 57: How does MPLS merge traffic flows?

MPLS allows the mapping from IP packet to forwarding equivalence class (FEC) to be
performed only once at the ingress to an MPLS domain. A FEC is a set of packets that can be
handled equivalently for the purpose of forwarding and thus is suitable for binding to a single
label.

From a forwarding point of view, packets within the same subset are treated by the LSR in
the same way, even if the packets differ from each other with respect to the information in the
network layer header. The mapping between the information carried in the network layer
header of the packets and the entries in the forwarding table of the LSR is many to one. That
is packets with different content of their network layer headers could be mapped into the
same FEC. (example of a FEC: set of unicast packets whose network layer destination
address match a particular IP address prefix…)

Question 58: How loops are prevented in MPLS networks?

Before focusing on MPLS loops prevention, let’s introduce briefly the different loops
handling schemes.

Generally speaking, loop handling can be split into two categories:

Loop prevention: provides methods for avoiding loops before any packets are sent on the path
– i.e. Path Vector

Loop mitigation (survival+detection): minimize the negative effects of loopseven though

short term transient loops may be formed. – i.e. Time-To-Live (TTL). If the TTL reaches 0,
then the packet is discarded

Dynamic routing protocols which converge rapidly to non-looping paths

As far as loop mitigation is concerned, MPLS labeled packets may carry a TTL field that
operates just like the IP TTL to enable packets caught in transient loops to be discarded.

However, for certain medium such as ATM and Frame Relay, where TTL is not available,
MPLS will use buffer allocation as a form of loop mitigation. It is mainly used on ATM
switches which have the ability to limit the amount of switch buffer space that can be
consumed by a single VC.

Another technique for non TTL segment is the hop count approach: hop count information is
carried within the Link Distribution Protocol messages [3]. It works like a TTL. Hop count
will decrease by 1 for every successful label binding.

A third alternative adopted by MPLS is an optional loop detection technique called path
vector. A path vector contains a list of the LSRs that label distribution control message has
traversed. Each LSR which propagates a control packet (to either create or modify an LSP)
adds its own identifier to the path vector list. Loop is detected when an LSR receives a
message with a path vector that contains its own identifier. This technique is also used by the
BGP routing protocol with its AS path attribute.
Question 59: How does MPLS perform failure recovery?
When a link goes down it is important to reroute all trunks that were routed over this link.
Since the path taken by a trunk is determined by the LSR at the start of the MPLS path (head
end), rerouting has to be performed by the head end LSR. To perform rerouting, the head end
LSR could rely either on the information provided by IGP or by RSVP/CR-LDP.

However, several MPLS-specific resiliency features havebeen developed including Fast Re-
Route, RAPID, and Bidirectional Forwarding. See RFC 3469: “Framework for Multi-
Protocol Label Switching (MPLS)-based Recovery” for additional information.

Question 60: What differences are there in running MPLS in OSPF versus IS-IS environments
This is not an MPLS question but an IGP (Interior Gateway Protocol) question. MPLS
extensions, stated in IEFT RFC’s, are supported for both OSPF and IS-IS. MPLS and BGP-
VPN real-world deployments have been on both protocols for some time now.

There is much debate over which IGP is best. This is usually centered around scalability. The
street word is that IS-IS is more scaleable than OSPF. That is, a single OSPF area can support
150 plus routers and a single IS-IS area can support 500 plus routers. However, very large IS-
IS and OSPF networks have been deployed.

Ultimately, it is best to first understand the benefits and disadvantages of each protocol. Then
use the customer / network requirements to choice the IGP which best suites your needs.

Question 61: Can there be two or more Autonomous Systems within the same MPLS domain?
This is possible only under very restricted circumstances. Consider the ASBRs of two
adjacent ASes. If either or both ASBRs summarize eBGP routes before distributing them into
their IGP, or if there is any other set-up where the IGP routes cover a set of FECs which
differs from that of the eBGP routes (and this would almost always be the case), then the
ASBRs cannot forward traffic based on the top-level label. A similar argument applies to TE
tunnels. Some traffic usually will be either IP forwarded by the ASBR, or forwarded based on
a non-top-level label.

So there would usually be 2-3 MPLS forwarding domains if there were two ASes: one for
each of the two ASes, and possibly one for the link between the two ASBRs (in the case that
labelled packets instead of IP packets are forwarded between the two ASBRs).

Also, it’s likely that the ASBRs could not be ATM-LSRs, as ATM-LSRs typically have
limited or no capability of manipulating label stacks or forwarding unlabelled IP traffic.

Another example (thanks to Robert Raszuk) is with the multi-provider application of

BGP+MPLS VPNs. As described earlier, there are usually no *top-level* LSPs established
across the two (or more) provider ASes involved, so it can be argued that:
The two ASes are separate administrative domains. However there are some LSPs established
across the two ASes, at a lower level in the label stack. So, it can be argued that

(1) and (2) are both true, which implies that different definitions of the boundary of the
administrative domains can exist with respect to different levels in the label stack. It is also
(in hindsight) obvious that different MPLS domain boundaries can exist with respect to
different levels of the label stack.

MPLS VPNs

Question 62: How does MPLS enable VPNs?

Since MPLS allows for the creation of “virtual circuits” or tunnels, across an IP network, it is
logical that service providers would look to use MPLS to provision Virtual Private Network
services. Several standards have been proposed to allow service providers to use MPLS to
provision VPN services that isolate a customers traffic across the provider’s IP network and
provide secure end-to-end connectivity for customer sites.

It should be noted that using MPLS for VPNs simply provides traffic isolation, much like an
ATM or Frame Relay service. MPLS currently has no mechanism for packet encryption, so if
customer requirements included encryption, some other method, such as IPsec, would have to
be employed. The best way to think of MPLS VPNs is to consider them the equivalent of a
Frame Relay or ATM virtual circuit.

Question 63: What alternatives are there for implementing VPNs over MPLS?
Question 64: What is the “Martini Draft’?
The “Martini Draft” actually refers to set of Internet drafts co-authored by Luca Martini. These drafts
define how MPLS can be used to support Layer 2 transport services such as Ethernet, Frame Relay
and/or ATM. Martini drafts define Layer 2 encapsulation methods, as well as Layer 2 transport
signaling methods.

Question 65: What is a “Layer 2 VPN”?

Layer 2 VPNs are an extension of the work being undertaken in the PWE3 working group.
Layer 2 VPNs allow service providers to provision Layer 2 services such as Frame Relay,
ATM and Ethernet between customer locations over an IP/MPLS backbone. Service
providers can thus provision Layer 2 services over their IP networks, removing the need to
maintain separate IP and Frame Relay/ATM network infrastructures. This allows service
providers to simplify their networks and reduce operating expenses.

The IETF’s “Layer 2 Virtual Private Networks (l2vpn)” working group is currently defining
standards for provisioning Layer 2 VPN services. Current working group drafts can be
located at http://www.mplsrc.com/standards.shtml under the sub-heading “Layer 2 VPNs and
Layer 2 Emulation.”
Question 66: What is a Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS)?
VPLS refers to a method for using MPLS to create virtual LAN services based on Ethernet.
In this type of service, all edge devices maintain MAC address tables for all reachable end
nodes, much in the same way as a LAN switch.

VPLS services enable enterprises to provide Ethernet reachability across geographic

distances served by MPLS services. Several alternatives for enabling VPLS services are in
development by the L2VPN working group. Please refer to drafts from that working group
for additional information. Also see the Juniper Network’s White Paper “VPLS: Scalable
Transparent LAN Services.”

Question 67: Are MPLS-VPNs secure?

Question 68: What kinds of QoS protocols does MPLS support?
Question 69: How do I integrate MPLS and DiffServ?
Question 70: How do I integrate MPLS and ATM QoS?
Question 71: What is “Generalized MPLS” or “GMPLS”
Question 72: What are the components of GMPLS?
Question 73: What are the features of GMPLS?
Question 74: What are the “Peer” and “Overlay” models?
Question 75: What is the “Optical Internetworking Forum”?
Question 76: Can voice and video traffic be natively encapsulated into MPLS?
Question 77: How are MPLS networks managed?
Question 78: Are there any MPLS-specific MIBs?
Question 79: Is there open source MPLS code to test MPLS?
Question 80: What shows and conferences provide information on MPLS?
Question 81: Are there any labs that are performing MPLS interoperability testing?
Question 82: Does MPLS support IPv6?
Question 83: Can I use the existing IPv4 MPLS backbone for IPv6?
Question 84: Define various troubleshooting commands in MPLS?
Question 85: What is adjacency table?
Question 86: Difference between MPLS IP and MPLS Label Protocol LDP command?
Question 87: If MPLS get disable, will it harm my IGP or IPv4 traffic?
Question 88: What is MPLS-TP?
Question 89: What is downstream and upstream router in MPLS? Difference between MPLS and
MPLS-TP?
Question 90: How does LDP Initializes?
Question 91: What is Cell Mode MPLS over ATM?
Question 92: Difference Between VC Based Multiplexing And Logical Link Control
Encapsulation in ATM?
Question 93: Basics of ATM?
Question 94: ATM is packet or circuit switching?
Question 95: Is LDP Required for VPNv4 Labels?
Question 96: What will happen if you see your PE loopback in vpnv4 table?
Question 97: What is Bidirectional Forwarding Detection?
Question 98: Different types of Pseudo Wire?
Question 99: Modes of EoMPLS (Ethernet over MPLS)
Question 100: What is L2VPN over Metro Ethernet?
Question 101: What is E-VPN (Ethernet VPN)?
Question 102: What is FEC in traditional IP routing and MPLS?
Question 103: How does CEF understand overlapping of ip addresses?
Question 104: What is the difference between Optimum, Fast and CEF Switching?
Question 105: Define CEF FIB table entries.
Question 106: What is the port number used by LDP?
Question 107: What are the prerequisites to run MPLS?
Question 108: What is penultimate hop popping?
Question 109: What are the functions done by MPLS?
Question 110: What is the difference between Per Platform Label Space and Per Interface Label
Space?
Question 111: Is summarization is recommended in MPLS?
Question 112: What is TTL Propagation in MPLS?
Question 113: What is LDP IGP Synchronization?
Question 114: What is the difference between Implicit Null and Explicit Null?

1. 0. Are MPLS-VPNs secure?

Among many network security professionals, the term “VPN” implies “encrypted” tunnels
across a public network. Since MPLS-VPNs do not require encryption, there is often
concern over the security implications of using MPLS to tunnel non-encrypted traffic over
a public IP network. There are a couple of points to consider in this debate:

MPLS-VPN traffic is isolated by the use of tags, much in the same way ATM and Frame
Relay PVCs are kept isolated in a public ATM/Frame Relay network. This implies that
security of MPLS-VPNs is equivalent to that of Frame Relay or ATM public network
services. Interception of any of these three types of traffic would require access to the
service provider network.

MPLS-VPNs do not prohibit security. If security is an issue, traffic can be encrypted

before it is encapsulated into MPLS by using a protocol such as IPSec or SSL.

The debate over MPLS security really comes down requirements of the customer.
Customers comfortable with carrying their traffic over public ATM or Frame Relay
services should have the same level of comfort with MPLS-VPN services. Customers
requiring additional security should employ encryption in addition to MPLS.

MPLS Quality of Service

31. What kinds of QoS protocols does MPLS support?

MPLS supports the same QoS capabilities as IP. These mechanisms are IP Precedence,
Committed Access Rate (CAR), Random Early Detection (RED), Weighted RED,
Weighted Fair Queuing (WFQ), Class-based WFQ, and Priority Queuing. Proprietary and
non-standard QoS mechanisms can also be support but are not guaranteed to interoperate
with other vendors.

Since MPLS also supports reservation of Layer 2 resources, MPLS can deliver finely
grained quality of service, much in the same manner as ATM and Frame Relay.

32. How do I integrate MPLS and DiffServ

DiffServ can support up to 64 classes while the MPLS shim label supports up to 8 classes.
This shim header has a 3-bit field defined ãfor experimental use. This poses a problem.
This Exp field is only 3 bits long, whereas the Diff-Serv field is 6 bits. There are different
scenarios to work around this problem.

There are two alternatives that address this problem called Label-LSP and Exp-LSP
models. But they introduce complexity into the architecture. The diffserv model
essentially defines the interpretation of the TOS bits. As long as the IP precedence bits
map to the Exp bits the same interpretation as the diffserv model can be applied to these
bits. In the case where additional bits are used in the diffserv model, one can essentially
use the label value to interpret the meaning of the remaining bits. Recognizing that 3 bits
are sufficient to identify the required number of classes, the remaining bits in the diffserv
model are used for identifying the drop priority and these drop priorities can be mapped
into an L-LSP in which case the label identifies the drop priority while the exp bits
identify the Class that the packet belongs to.

Many Service Provides have or will add just a few classes. This small enhancement will
be hard enough to provision, manage and sell. This would be an effective strategy to get to
market quickly with a value-added service.

The followings classes may be more appropriate for the initial deployment of MPLS QoS:

High-priority, low-latency “Premium” class (Gold Service)

Guaranteed-delivery “Mission-Critical” class (Silver Service)
Low-priority “Best-Effort” class (Bronze Service)

33. How do I integrate MPLS and ATM QoS ?

MPLS makes it possible to apply QoS across very large routed or switched networks
because Service Providers can designate sets of labels that have special meanings, such as
service class. Traditional ATM and Frame Relay networks implement CoS with point-to-
point virtual circuits, but this is not scalable for IP networks. Placing traffic flows at the
edge into service classes enables providers to engineer and manage classes throughout the
network.

If service providers manage networks based on service classes, not point-to-point

connections, they can substantially reduce the amount of detail they must track and
increase efficiency without losing functionality. Compared to per-circuit management,
MPLS-enabled CoS provides virtually all of the benefit with far less complexity. Using
MPLS to establish IP CoS has the added benefit of eliminating per-VC configuration. The
entire network is easier to provision and engineer.

Generalized MPLS

34. What is “Generalized MPLS” or “GMPLS”

From “Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching Architecture” “Generalized MPLS

extends MPLS to encompass time-division (e.g. SONET ADMs), wavelength (optical
lambdas) and spatial switching (e.g. incoming port or fiber to outgoing port or fiber).”

GMPLS represents a natural extension of MPLS to allow MPLS to be used as the control
mechanism for configuring not only packet-based paths, but also paths in non-packet
based devices such as optical switches, TDM muxes, and SONET/ADMs.

35. What are the components of GMPLS?

GMPLS introduces a new protocol called the “Link Management Protocol” or LMP. LMP
runs between adjacent nodes and is responsible for establishing control channel
connectivity as well as failure detection. LMP also verifies connectivity between channels.

Additionally, the IETF’s “Common Control and Measurement Plane” working group
(ccamp) is working on defining extensions to interior gateway routing protocols such as
OSPF and IS-IS to enable them to support GMPLS operation.

36. What are the features of GMPLS?

GMPLS supports several features including:

Link Bundling – the grouping of multiple, independent physical links into a single logical
link

Link Hierarchy – the issuing of a suite of labels to support the various requirements of
physical and logical devices across a given path

Unnumbered Links – the ability to configure paths without requiring an IP address on

every physical or logical interface

Constraint Based Routing – the ability to automatically provision additional bandwidth, or

change forwarding behavior based on network conditions such as congestion or demands
for additional bandwidth

37. What are the “Peer” and “Overlay” models?

GMPLS supports two methods of operation, peer and overlay. In the peer model, all
devices in a given domain share the same control plane. This provides true integration
between optical switches and routers. Routers have visibility into the optical topology and
routers peer with optical switches. In the overlay model, the optical and routed (IP) layers
are separated, with minimal interaction. Think of the overlay model as the equivalent of
today’s ATM and IP networks, where there is no direct connection between the ATM
layer and the IP routing layer.

The peer model is inherently simpler and more scalable, but the overlay model provides
fault isolation and separate control mechanisms for the physical and routed network
layers, which may be more attractive to some network operators.

38. What is the “Optical Internetworking Forum”?

The Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) is an open industry organization of equipment

manufacturers, telecom service providers and end users dedicated to promote the global
development of optical internetworking products and foster the development and
deployment of interoperable products and services for data switching and routing using
optical networking technologies.

An Introduction to the Optical Internetworking Forum White Paper can be found

at http://www.oiforum.com/

Voice over MPLS

39. Can voice and video traffic be natively encapsulated into MPLS?

Yes. The MFA Alliance has released a bearer transport implementation agreement which
can be viewed at http://www.mfaforum.org/VoMPLS_IA.pdf.

MPLS Management

40. How are MPLS networks managed?

Currently, most MPLS implementations are managed using CLI. Tools such as WANDL’s
NPAT simulator allow MPLS networks to be modeled prior to deployment.

Several companies in the operational support systems product space have introduced tools
designed to ease MPLS network management and automatically provision LSPs.

41. Are there any MPLS-specific MIBs?

Yes. Several internet drafts have proposed creating MPLS-specific MIBS.

42. Is there open source MPLS code to test MPLS?

Yes. Several open source implementations of MPLS currently exist.

MPLS Training

43. What shows and conferences provide information on MPLS?

Several conferences are devoted to, or include presentations on MPLS. These include:

“MPLScon” held each May in New York City

“MPLS World Congress” held each February in Paris
“MPLS 200x” held each fall in Washington D.C.

MPLS Interoperability Testing

44. Are there any labs that are performing MPLS interoperability testing?

Several groups and organizations conduct MPLS interoperability testing, including:

The University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab has set up a MPLS Consortium for
vendors to test the interoperability of their products and to support MPLS standards
development. More information is available on their web site
at http://www.iol.unh.edu/consortiums/mplsServices/.

Isocore in Fairfax, VA conducts interoperability testing and hosts the “MPLS 200x”
annual event each fall in Washington D.C.

The MFA Forum has conducted several GMPLS interoperability testing events at
conferences such as SuperComm and Next Generation Networks.

EANTC AG is a vendor-neutral network test center located in Berlin, Germany and

conducts independent MPLS interoperability testing

Photonic Internet Lab is supported by the Government of Japan and provides testing and
simulation efforts for GMPLS development.