application that is part of the Unified VPN Suite Solution that Cisco offers to transport Layer 2 traffic over an MPLS network. AToM is capable of interconnecting disparate Layer 2 protocols through Layer 2 interworking. An AToM pseudowire is made of a pair of MPLS label-switched paths (LSP). Because an MPLS LSP is inherently unidirectional, to have bidirectional connectivity, a pseudowire is formed by establishing two LSPs in the opposite directions AToM utilizes targeted LDP sessions between PE routers to exchange MPLS labels that are used for pseudowires. Using Label Stacking in AToM
One common technique that many MPLS
applications utilize is label stacking. The semantics of labels in a label stack might vary from one MPLS application to another. in MPLS traffic engineering, the top label in the label stack represents the traffic- engineered path, and the bottom label represents the original Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) path. In MPLS Layer 3 VPN, the top label in the label stack represents the IGP path to the next-hop Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) router, which is normally the PE router that originates the VPN routes. The bottom label represents a specific or aggregated VPN route. In Layer 2 VPN, the LDP top label usually represents the IGP path to the peering PE router, and the bottom label represents a Layer 2 VPN forwarder on the peering PE router. The top label is usually known as the tunnel label or the IGP label. The bottom label is usually known as the VC label or the pseudowire label. The optional control word is not part of the MPLS label stack, but pseudowire encapsulation. AToM takes advantage of routing protocols to dynamically set up virtual paths across the core network. Only PE routers need to maintain and manage the pseudowire labels for the virtual connections. The pseudowire labels are at the bottom of the label stack, so they are not visible to the transit routers, also known as the Provider (P) routers. The P routers forward packets using the top label and are unaware of the existence of pseudowires. Many pseudowires can be multiplexed in a single MPLS tunnel LSP. In such a way, the core network is spared from managing and maintaining forwarding information for each pseudowire Layer 2 Protocols Supported by AToM
AToM supports a wide range of Layer 2
protocols, including PPP, High-Level Data Link Control (HDLC), Ethernet, Frame Relay, and ATM. Two types of Ethernet frames are supported in Ethernet over MPLS: Untagged Ethernet frames IEEE 802.1q tagged Ethernet VLAN frames PE routers classify Ethernet frames that are received from CE routers into different pseudowires based on the receiving interface or the VLAN tag carried in the Ethernet VLAN frames. Deciding Whether to Use AToM
When determining whether AToM is the right
choice for your company, you need to consider several factors, including the following: Existing network installation base Advanced network services Interoperability Network operation complexity Advanced Network Services Besides the basic MPLS features such as routing optimization and network consolidation, AToM can leverage advanced MPLS features for enhanced network services, such as MPLS traffic engineering, QoS guarantee, and fast rerouting. Another important advanced MPLS feature that AToM can rely on is the ability to reroute traffic to an alternate path in a short period when a failure occurs along the original path MPLS fast rerouting constructs a protection LSP in advance for a given link by explicitly establishing an alternate path that circumvents the possible failing link. Because the alternate path is set up prior to the link failure, rerouting can take place rather quickly. In Atom LDP sessions are established through LDP extended discovery between PE routers. These sessions are known as targeted LDP sessions. AToM Deployment Model The following steps explain the procedures of establishing an AToM pseudowire: 1. A pseudowire is provisioned with an attachment circuit on PE1.
2. PE1 initiates a targeted LDP session to PE2 if
none already exists. Both PE routers receive LDP Keepalive messages from each other and complete the session establishment. They are ready to exchange pseudowire label bindings. 3. When the attachment circuit state on PE1 transitions to up, PE1 allocates a local pseudowire label corresponding to the pseudowire ID that is provisioned for the pseudowire.
4. PE1 encodes the local pseudowire label into
the Label TLV and the pseudowire ID into the FEC TLV. Then it sends this label binding to PE2 in a Label Mapping message. 5. PE1 receives a Label Mapping message from PE2 and decodes the pseudowire label and pseudowire ID from the Label TLV and FEC TLV.
6. PE2 performs Steps 1 through 5
independently. 7. After PE1 and PE2 exchange the pseudowire labels and validate interface parameters for a particular pseudowire ID, the pseudowire with that pseudowire ID is considered established. If one attachment circuit on one PE router goes down, a Label Withdraw message is sent to the peering PE router to withdraw the pseudowire label that it previously advertised. MTU Size Requirements
Core MTU >= Edge MTU + 18 + 4 + (2 *
4) Supported VC Types EoMPLS can operate in two modes: port- tunneling mode and VLAN-tunneling mode. Port-tunneling is also referred to as port-to-port transport. VLAN-tunneled interfaces are VC type 4, or, 0x0004, and port-tunneled interfaces are VC type 5, or 0x0005 (as specified in the draft-martini). Cisco devices support both VC types. The newest Cisco implementations provide for auto-sensing of the VC type. In VLAN-tunneling mode, the ingress information for the VLAN is contained within the dot1Q header of the packet. "LAN Protocols," for more information on dot1Q.) By looking at the VLAN ID in the dot1Q header, the network processor (NP) can determine the next step in processing, described in the In port-tunneling mode, the packet does not have ingress port information. For inclusion of ingress information, the port- tunneled interface is put into the QinQ mode. A hidden VLAN is then created and added onto the packet. A hidden VLAN is a VLAN that is numbered outside the allowed range for VLAN IDs. This is how the NP learns the ingress information In contrast, VLAN-tunneled mode does not require a hidden VLAN. The NP can discern the ingress information from the packet's dot1Q header. A similar concept applies to routers (VLAN stacking method). It involves the use of subinterfaces. Another difference between the port- tunneling mode and VLAN-tunneling mode is in the handling of VLAN IDs. In port-tunneling mode, the VLAN ID is transparently passed from the ingress PE to the egress PE over MPLS in a single VLAN. In VLAN-tunneling mode, however, the VLAN ID at each end of the EoMPLS tunnel can be different. To overcome this, the egress side of the tunnel that is mapped to a VLAN rewrites the VLAN ID in outgoing dot1Q packets to the ID of the local VLAN. To impose labels on packets, the ingress PE router maintains a table, which associates an EoMPLS tunnel with an interface/FEC. This table keeps the information needed for sending the packet, such as the outgoing interface and encapsulation. Ethernet over MPLS
In Ethernet over MPLS environment,
Ethernet frames are exchanged between customer sites using the SP backbone as the medium of transport. Ethernet over MPLS is implemented in two different modes: Port mode VLAN mode Router-Based Ethernet over MPLS Port Mode
In port mode, the entire Ethernet frame
without the preamble or FCS is transported as a single AToM packet. In port mode, the interface uses VC type 5 or 0x0005. Ethernet over MPLSPort Mode Control and Data Plane EoMPLS Port Mode Router-Based Ethernet over MPLS VLAN Mode In the VLAN mode, PE devices do not filter any frames based on the MAC addresses. In other words, there is no support for MAC layer address learning and filtering. In EoMPLS, the Spanning- Tree Protocol is not used, and BPDUs are propagated transparently but not processed. Data Plane OperationEthernet over MPLS: VLAN Mode Router-Based EoMPLSVLAN Rewrite
VLAN mapping does not have to be
consistent across sites to implement router- based Ethernet over MPLS VLAN mode.