Mpls Day 1 - Introduction To Mpls

APRICOT 2014 MPLS WORKSHOP
INTRODUCTION TO MPLS
Speaker Name
Date
COPYRIGHT 2013 ALCATEL-LUCENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
AGENDA
1. Introduction to MPLS
2. MPLS Terminology
3. Fundamentals of MPLS
4. Label Distribution Protocol (LDP)
3
INTRODUCTION TO MPLS
MPLS IS A LABEL SWITCHING TECHNOLOGY THAT COMBINES THE TRAFFIC ENGINEERING

CAPABILITIES OF ATM WITH THE FLEXIBILITY AND SCALABILITY OF IP
MPLS PROVIDES THE ABILITY TO ESTABLISH CONNECTION -ORIENTED PATHS OVER A
CONNECTIONLESS IP NETWORK, AND FACILITATES A MECHANISM TO ENGINEER NETWORK
TRAFFIC PATTERNS INDEPENDENTLY OF SHORTEST PATH ROUTING TABLES
MPLS TECHNOLOGY OFFERS MANY SERVICES, INCLUDING LAYER 2 AND LAYER 3 VPN SERVICES,
TRAFFIC ENGINEERING, AND RESILIENCY
4
MULTI PROTOCOL LABEL SWITCHING

INTRODUCTION
RFC 3031 describes the Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) architecture
The term Multiprotocol indicates that an MPLS architecture can transport payloads from
many different protocols (IPv4, IPv6, Ethernet, ATM, Frame Relay, etc.)
Label Switching describes that an MPLS domain switches, rather than routes, packets in the
Service Provider Core
MPLS routers forward packets using pre-determined labels
5
MPLS
IMPROVING PACKET FORWARDING PERFORMANCE
Label switching was initially considered an improvement over IP packet routing as it involves a
simpler lookup
- 20-bit fixed label size versus 32/128-bit longest match IP destination lookup
Advances in network processors lead to MPLS for Layer 3 packet forwarding performance being
an obsolete use-case
MPLS LABEL
IP SOURCE
IP SOURCE
IP DESTINATION
IP DESTINATION
OPTIONS
OPTIONS
PAYLOAD
PAYLOAD
6
MPLS
IP ROUTING REVIEW
Longest match lookup on
destination address
R1
Prefix
Next-hop
Metric
10.1.1.0/24
R5
50
10.1.1.0/24
R6
20
10.1.0.0/16
R7
10
IP
IP
IP
L2
L2
L2
R2
R3
IP routing follows a simple process at each router:
R5
R4
R6
R7
1. Check and remove the L2 encapsulation header of the incoming packet

2. Examine the L3 (IP) header and perform a longest match lookup on the destination IP address in the
forwarding table
3. Determine the next-hop interface
4. Build a new L2 encapsulation header and forward the packet to the next-hop router, decrementing the
IP TTL/hop count
7
MPLS
LIMITATIONS OF IP FORWARDING PARADIGM
Destination based routing lookup only
- No ability to look at the source address of packets without complicated configuration such as PBR to determine
next-hop
- No ability to steer different types of traffic over different next-hops without PBR
IP over underlay technologies (e.g. ATM)

- Was used extensively in the past to abstract the L2 and L3 topologies of networks by using underlying networks
such as ATM or Frame Relay to build any-to-any paths in large networks
- This approach could build a pseudo-full-mesh in a large scale network to optimize traffic flows
- Has been repeated in the MPLS world with IP-over-MPLS overlays
- Early form of IP TE
Traffic Engineering limitations

- In many networks it is desirable to send different traffic types via different paths (e.g. lowest latency, highest
bandwidth, etc)
- This sort of TE is difficult to represent in IP routing without complicated PBR configurations
- MPLS-TE allows for this information to be reflected in the network, and to map traffic to different path types
selected by the source node
- In many networks, not all links were utilized to get traffic across networks, leading to congestion on some links
and under-utilization on others
8
MPLS
HOW IT HELPS
MPLS is a label based forwarding paradigm
- Separating IP destination from the forwarding lookup
Labels usually correspond to IP destination networks

- Similar to traditional IP routing
- Labels can also correspond to other parameters such as service IDs for pseudowire services, QoS
parameters, traffic engineering tunnel, etc
Separating packet forwarding from destination lookup gives operators flexibility to solve some of
the problems discussed on the previous slide
9
MPLS
HOW IT HELPS DESTINATION BASED FORWARDING LOOKUP
FEC
In-Label
Out-label
Next-Hop
1000
2000
R2
1234
4567
R2
IP
IP
IP
1000
2000
3000
L2
L2
L2
R1
R2
R3
R4
Label based lookup
MPLS changes the forwarding paradigm by using labels and switching between them in the
center of the network
Only edge routers need to be IP aware, core routers are label-aware
Label tables contain ingress label, egress label, next-hop, and action information (push, pop,
swap)
10
MPLS
HOW IT HELPS TRAFFIC ENGINEERING
R2
R3
R1
R4
R5
R6
MPLS gives operators flexibility for traffic engineering (TE) in their networks, including the
ability to use multiple links
Typically, IP will pick the best path (commonly, lowest metric). In topologies such as shown
here, ECMP is not possible to implement due to multiple links and metrics
MPLS-TE can force traffic at the ingress node (R1) to pick specific links, or share traffic across
multiple paths
11
MPLS
HOW IT HELPS TRAFFIC ENGINEERING
1G
10G
1G
R2
R3
10G
1G
R1
1G
10G
1G
R5
R4
R6
In a complex topology, sometimes bandwidth is a key driver

- It might be required to use a higher-bandwidth, but less-metric-preferred path, to carry bulk traffic
across the network
Sometimes latency is a key driver

- Low-latency paths might be preferred for voice traffic
Put other traffic on remaining path(s)

12
MPLS
HOW IT HELPS
Service flexibility and convergence
- Since MPLS matured and the primary goal of IP performance improvements became less relevant, MPLS
has been optimised for service flexibility and delivery
- Delivering Layer 2 services such as point-to-point pseudowires or multipoint services like VPLS
- Delivering Layer 3 services such as L3VPNs (aka VRF, VPRN, IP-VPN, RFC2547bis, RFC4364)
- This allows a single IP core to provide many service types across the network optimizing CAPEX and OPEX
for service providers
Network resiliency
- As part of signalling paths through an IP network, MPLS can signal for backup / alternate paths and allow
both the originating router and mid-point routers perform protection of paths should a link fail
- Typically this is seen as IP networks competing with traditional optical protection mechanisms in SDH or
DWDM platforms
BGP free core operations

- As traffic can be tunneled across the core nodes, BGP can be removed from these nodes allowing for
BGP/L3 only to exist on the IP edge
13
MPLS TERMINOLOGY
iLER
CE
PE
eLER
Service Provider Terminology
MPLS Terminology
-
PE
- CE: Customer Edge router

- PE: Provider Edge router
- P: Provider (Core) Router
iLER: Ingress Label Edge Router

eLER: Egress Label Edge Router
LSR: Label Switch Router
LSP: Label Switched Path
FEC: Forwarding Equivalence Class
14
CE
MPLS TERMINOLOGY
LABEL SWITCHED PATHS
Label
Push
PACKET
CE
Label
Swap
LABEL 1
PE
PACKET
Label
Swap
LABEL 2
PACKET
Label
Pop
LABEL 3
PACKET
PACKET
PE
CE
LSP
Labels are pushed onto packets when they enter the service provider network
Labels are swapped across the network as they transit a core/transit router
Labels are popped when they reach the egress edge of the network
LSPs refer to the end-to-end unidirectional tunnel across the network, regardless of how many
labels it consists of
LSP is a logical entity that reflects the connection between routers

15
MPLS TERMINOLOGY
FORWARDING EQUIVALENCE CLASS
The Forwarding Equivalence Class (FEC) refers to packets that are forwarded in the same
manner over the same path with the same forwarding treatement
In IP-only networks, FECs usually correspond to an IP prefix in the routing table

- 10.1.1.0/24 with next-hop 192.0.2.1
- Packets destined for 10.1.1.1 and 10.1.1.2 will both be forwarded to 192.0.2.1; meaning they share the
same FEC
- IP-only FEC lookups are performed at each hop
In MPLS networks, FECs can be defined based on destination IP prefixes and other administrative
criteria
- MPLS based FEC lookups are performed only at the ingress LER on incoming packets
- The FEC lookup determines the next-hop LSR and the label to be pushed onto the packet
16
MPLS TERMINOLOGY
FORWARDING EQUIVALENCE CLASS
FEC
In-Label
Out-label
Next-Hop
1000
2000
R2
1234
4567
R2
R1
FEC lookup
IP
IP
IP
1000
2000
3000
L2
L2
L2
R2
R3
R4
Label swap
FEC lookup is performed at the ingress LER (R1 in this example), and the label is imposed based
on the FEC lookup
LSRs R2 and R3 perform label swap operations
17
MPLS TERMINOLOGY
PLANES
The Control Plane in a router refers to the processes running
control protocols, such as routing information and MPLS
Control Plane
RIB
- OSPF, IS-IS, LDP, BGP are control plane processes
OSPF
LIB
BGP
FIB
IS-IS
LFIB
Data Plane
The Routing Information Base (RIB) receives all routing

information from routing protocols, and computes the best
path information for the Forwarding Information Base (FIB)
MPLS protocols exchange label bindings for their FECs, which
build the Label Information Base (LIB), which is computed for
the LFIB
The FIB is a data plane (or forwarding plane) function, which

refers to how the line cards will actually forward packets
18
MPLS ARCHITECTURE
MPLS LABELS
MPLS labels use a 32-bit field thats inserted between the L2 and L3 headers, often referred to
as a shim header
- Known as frame mode
Header format:
-
20 bit Label
3 bit Traffic Class field (aka EXPerimental, or Class of Service)
1 bit Bottom of Stack field
MPLS
Ethernet
Packet
8 bit Time To Live (TTL) field
Shim
MAC
Payload
(0x8847 or
0x8848)
20 bits
3 bits 1 8 bits
Label
TC
19
TTL
MPLS ARCHITECTURE
SPECIAL LABEL VALUES
Some special MPLS label values have been reserved:
-
0: IPv4 Explicit Null

1: Router Alert
2: IPv6 Explicit Null
3: Implicit Null
- Used for Penultimate Hop Popping (PHP)
- 7: Entropy Label Indicator (ELI)

- 13: GAL Label
- 14: OAM Alert Label
Reserved labels are documented by IANA:

- http://www.iana.org/assignments/mpls-label-values/mpls-label-values.xhtml
20
MPLS ARCHITECTURE
MPLS LABEL STACK
MPLS allows multiple labels to be inserted to a packet, referred to as stacking
These labels are typically used to provide different functions in the network
- A service label might identify a customer specific VPN
- A transport label might identify the LSP between two routers
- Other labels might be added depending on network complexity and topology, such as Fast Reroute labels
Label stacks impact your MTU, as each time one

label is added the packet size grows by 32 bits
- Its not unusual to have 5-6 labels in a packet in the
core of a network
- Check your routing platforms for limitations around
pushing/popping labels
- Ensure your MTU is engineered correctly!
The bottom label has the S bit set to 1

- Indicating bottom of stack
21
MPLS
LABEL ASSIGNMENT AND DISTRIBUTION
Labels are locally significant
- Meaning that they are only relevant to an LSR
LSR assigns labels to prefixes learnt in the routing table

Label bindings are exchanged by adjacent LSRs
- <Label, Prefix, Mask>
When LSRs are exchanging label binding information, two approaches can be taken:
- Unsolicited mode where the downstream LSR advertises label bindings to all adjacent LSRs, regardless of
whether the adjacent LSR demands the label or not (MP-iBGP, LDP)
- On-demand mode where the downstream LSR advertises label bindings to adjacent LSRs which demand
the label binding (RSVP-TE)
22
MPLS
COMPARISON OF UNSOLICITED AND ON-DEMAND
Unsolicited mode:
20|10.1.2.0/24
Downstream-on-demand mode:
30|10.1.3.0/24
Request label
for 10.1.3.0/24
40|10.1.3.0/24
FEC
In-Label
Out-label
FEC
Next-Hop
In-Label
10.1.2.0/24
20
R2
10.1.3.0/24
40
R2
10.1.3.0/24
10.1.2.0/24
20
Loopback
10.1.3.0/24
40
30
R3
40
R2
10.1.2.0/24
20
Loopback
10.1.3.0/24
40
30
R3
R3
10.1.3.0/24
R3
-
Next-Hop
R2
R2
30
Out-label
R1
R1
10.1.3.0/24
30|10.1.3.0/24
Loopback
23
30
Loopback
MPLS
CONTROL MODES
Ordered Control
- LSRs will advertise FECs upstream only when downstream routers have advertised a label for it first
Independent Control
- LSRs will advertise FECs upstream regardless of whether a downstream router has advertised a label for it
I know where
10.1.3.0/24 is and I
will advertise it
now!
I know where
10.1.3.0/24 is, but
I will not advertise
it yet
--|10.1.3.0/24
--|10.1.3.0/24
24
MPLS
LABEL RETENTION MODES
LSRs maintain received label bindings through two approaches
Conservative Retention mode
- A router that does not need a specific label binding will not hold the binding
Liberal Retention mode

- A router that does not need a specific label binding will hold the binding
I dont need the
binding for
10.1.3.0/24 now, I
will delete it
I dont need the

binding for
10.1.3.0/24 now, I
but I will keep it
30|10.1.3.0/24
30|10.1.3.0/24
25
MPLS
PENULTIMATE HOP POPPING
Penultimate Hop Popping (PHP) is when the label at the top of the stack is popped by the
upstream LSR of the egress LER
The egress LER requests the popping through the label distribution protocol
- Egress LER advertises the implicit-null label
This saves a lookup in the egress LER, optimizing performance

26
MPLS
IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT NULLS
When a downstream router advertises a FEC with the Implicit Null label, it is requesting the
upstream router perform Penultimate Hop Popping
- This removes the transport tunnel MPLS header and leaves the router with only the payload (or service
tunnel header), and can result in a loss of QoS information as the MPLS Transport Class field is no longer
present
- Note: Implicit Null label is a signaling-only label, and not visible in the forwarding plane
A downstream router may also advertise a FEC with the Explicit Null label, which can also be
used for PHP
- The upstream LSR will send the packet to the LER with the Explicit Null label set, which preserves the
Transport Class field
- The LER will not use the MPLS header for anything other than the QoS information
- Thus, the Explicit Null header is visible in the forwarding plane
27
MPLS
TRANSPORT TUNNEL SIGNALING PROTOCOLS
Label Distribution Protocol (LDP)
Resource Reservation Protocol with Traffic

Engineering (RSVP-TE)
Defined in RFC5036
Defined in RFC3209
IGP-based tunnels only
Fully customizable tunnel paths
Simple configuration
Ability to run more complex path calculations

with administrative constraints
Automatic tunnel creation

No Traffic Engineering support
Decoupled from IGP
IGP dependant convergence time
Traffic protection mechanisms
Also called Link or Interface LDP
Higher administrative overhead
Downstream Unsolicited mode
Downstream on Demand mode
Liberal retention
Conservative retention
28
MPLS
SERVICE TUNNEL SIGNALING PROTOCOLS
Targeted LDP (T-LDP)
Multi-Protocol Border Gateway Protocol (MPBGP)
Defined in RFC4447
Based on RFC4364 and many extensions
Used for L2VPNs
Used for L3VPN services, L2VPN services, and

many extensions
Creates an end-to-end session between two PE

routers
Multi-Protocol due to its support for multiple

address families in addition to IPv4
Not to be confused with LDP
29
MPLS
LABEL DISTRIBUTION PROTOCOL (LDP) INTRODUCTION
RFC 3036, later updated by RFC 5036, defines LDP as a label distribution protocol
Routers configured for LDP establish an LDP session between them and become peers
The LDP sessions enable the exchange of label/FEC binding (mapping) information
LDP operates in two distinct modes:
- Link (or interface) LDP - Establishing Transport Tunnels
- Targeted LDP - Establishing Service Tunnels between PE routers
LDP is a TLV based messaging protocol
30
MPLS
LDP: TRANSPORT AND SERVICE TUNNELS
Service 1
Service Tunnel 1
Service 1
Service Tunnel 2
Service 2
Transport Tunnel
Service 2
Link LDP is used to establish transport tunnels

- iLER uses the transport tunnel to reach the eLER
Targeted LDP is used to establish L2VPN service tunnels

- eLER uses the service tunnel for service de-multiplexing
31
MPLS
LDP: LINK LDP
Link LDP sessions are established between all directly adjacent LDP routers
Routers exchange label bindings with each other over LDP sessions
This creates a full-mesh of transport tunnels in the network
LDP relies on IGP for operation and convergence
32
MPLS
LDP: LINK LDP OPERATION OVERVIEW
The following four processes create and maintain a Link LDP session:
- Peer Discovery Routers use LDP Hello messages to automatically discover other LDP peers
- Session Establishment and Management LDP sessions are built between LDP peering routers. Sessions
are maintained via keepalive messages
- Label Management After sessions are established, LDP distributes label bindings, and withdraws them if
necessary
- Notification LDP uses notification messages to alert LDP peering routers about errors
LDP uses both UDP and TCP for transport services

- UDP based messages (port 646)
- Discovery messages periodically announce and maintain an LDP router in a network
- TCP based messages (port 646)

- Session messages establish, maintain, and terminate sessions between LDP peers
- Advertisement messages create, change, and delete label mappings for FECs
- Notification messages signal errors and other events
33
MPLS
LDP: PDU STRUCTURE
Version ( 1 )
PDU Length ( 26 )
LDP Header
LDP ID ( 4 bytes LSR ID + 2 bytes label space)
Message Type ( 0x4001)
Message Length ( 16 )
Message ID
F
FEC Type ( prefix FEC == 2 )
FEC TLV ( 0x100 )
Length ( 8 )
FEC Element Address Type ( ipv4 == 1 )

Prefix ( 100.0.0.2 )
34
FEC Element Length ( 32 )
MPLS
LDP: PEER DISCOVERY PROCESS (HELLO)
35
MPLS
LDP: HELLO PARAMETERS
LDP-ID (LDP Identifier): 6-byte field that identifies an LSR uniquely along with its label space.
Used in all the LDP messages
- The LSR ID is typically a loopback/system address
- The Label Space ID identify label space within the LSR. For platform-wide label spaces, it is always set to
zero
LSR ID
Label Space ID
(32-bit router ID)
(16 bits)
Transport Address: A necessary parameter to establish the subsequent LDP session with the
neighbor
Hello Timeout: Routers continue exchanging LDP Hellos after a successful discovery. A neighbor
is declared down if no hello messages are received from that neighbor within the timeout period
36
MPLS
LDP: LDP SESSION ESTABLISHMENT
37
MPLS
LDP: MESSAGE TYPES
TYPE
NAME
FUNCTION
0x0001
Notification
Signals errors and other events
0x0100
Hello
Announces the presence of an LSR
0x0200
Initialization
Starts the session establishment process
0x0201
KeepAlive
Monitors the integrity of the LDP session transport connection
0x0300
Address
Advertises the interface addresses to an LDP peer
0x0301
Address Withdraw
Withdraws a previously advertised interface address
0x0400
Label Mapping
Advertises a FEC-label binding to an LDP peer
0x0401
Label Request
Requests a FEC-label binding from an LDP peer
0x0402
Label Withdraw
Requests the peer remove from its LIB a previously signaled label
0x0403
Label Release
Signals the peer the LSR no longer needs specific FEC-label mappings previously
requested of and/or advertised by the peer
0x404
Label Abort Request
Aborts an outstanding Label Request message
0x3E00 0x3EFF
Vendor Private
Conveys vendor-private information between LSRs
0x3F00 0x3FF
Experimental
LDP experimental extensions undefined use
38
MPLS
LDP: LABEL ADVERTISEMENT
Version =1
LDP-Id = 10.0.0.6:0
203.0.113.0/24
Message-Type = Label
Mapping (0x400)
FEC = 203.0.113.0/24
Label = 132071
Link LDP sessions are established between all adjacent routers

Label bindings are generated for Loopback/System Ips
R6 generates a label binding and advertises it for 203.0.113.0/24
- This is advertised (flooded) throughout the network (Downstream Unsolicited mode)
- Routers may receive the advertisement multiple times in a highly meshed network
39
MPLS
LDP: TARGETED LDP
T-LDP
Used to exchange service labels for Layer 2 Services (VLL, VPLS)

Used independently from its Link LDP counterpart
Peers do not have to be directly connected (typically established between 2 PE routers that
have services configured)
Also used in LDP over RSVP environments
40
MPLS
LDP: TARGETED LDP OPERATION
Operation is very similar to Link LDP

T-LDP sends hellos via Unicast
41

Mpls Day 1 - Introduction To Mpls

Enviado por

Dados do documento

Título original

Direitos autorais

Formatos disponíveis

Compartilhar este documento

Compartilhar ou incorporar documento

Opções de compartilhamento

Você considera este documento útil?

Este conteúdo é inapropriado?

Direitos autorais:

Formatos disponíveis

Mpls Day 1 - Introduction To Mpls

Enviado por

Direitos autorais:

Formatos disponíveis

APRICOT 2014 MPLS WORKSHOP

COPYRIGHT 2013 ALCATEL-LUCENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

4. Label Distribution Protocol (LDP)

MPLS IS A LABEL SWITCHING TECHNOLOGY THAT COMBINES THE TRAFFIC ENGINEERING

MULTI PROTOCOL LABEL SWITCHING

MPLS routers forward packets using pre-determined labels

IP routing follows a simple process at each router:

1. Check and remove the L2 encapsulation header of the incoming packet

IP over underlay technologies (e.g. ATM)

Traffic Engineering limitations

Labels usually correspond to IP destination networks

Label based lookup

In a complex topology, sometimes bandwidth is a key driver

Sometimes latency is a key driver

Put other traffic on remaining path(s)

BGP free core operations

Service Provider Terminology

- CE: Customer Edge router

iLER: Ingress Label Edge Router

LSP is a logical entity that reflects the connection between routers

In IP-only networks, FECs usually correspond to an IP prefix in the routing table

- OSPF, IS-IS, LDP, BGP are control plane processes

The Routing Information Base (RIB) receives all routing

The FIB is a data plane (or forwarding plane) function, which

0: IPv4 Explicit Null

- 7: Entropy Label Indicator (ELI)

Reserved labels are documented by IANA:

Label stacks impact your MTU, as each time one

The bottom label has the S bit set to 1

LSR assigns labels to prefixes learnt in the routing table

Liberal Retention mode

I dont need the

This saves a lookup in the egress LER, optimizing performance

Resource Reservation Protocol with Traffic

IGP-based tunnels only

Fully customizable tunnel paths

Ability to run more complex path calculations

Automatic tunnel creation

Decoupled from IGP

IGP dependant convergence time

Traffic protection mechanisms

Also called Link or Interface LDP

Higher administrative overhead

Downstream Unsolicited mode

Downstream on Demand mode

Multi-Protocol Border Gateway Protocol (MPBGP)

Based on RFC4364 and many extensions

Used for L2VPNs

Used for L3VPN services, L2VPN services, and

Creates an end-to-end session between two PE

Multi-Protocol due to its support for multiple

Not to be confused with LDP

LDP is a TLV based messaging protocol

Link LDP is used to establish transport tunnels

Targeted LDP is used to establish L2VPN service tunnels

LDP uses both UDP and TCP for transport services

- TCP based messages (port 646)

LDP ID ( 4 bytes LSR ID + 2 bytes label space)

Message Type ( 0x4001)

FEC TLV ( 0x100 )

FEC Element Address Type ( ipv4 == 1 )

FEC Element Length ( 32 )

Signals errors and other events