Department of Information & Communications Technology

HKIVE (TY)
Broadband/High Performance Networks Tutorial #10
1.

Which of the following statements are TRUE?

(I)
A VRF table in a PE is associated with a customer site connected directly
with to this PE.
(II)
A VRF table in a PE is associated with a port.
(III)
A VRF table in a PE can be associated with one or more customer sites
connected directly to this PE.
(IV)
A VRF table in a PE can be associated with one or more ports.
(V)
A VRF table in a PE is usually configured to handle VPN information of one
directly connected customer site.
(VI)
A VRF table in a PE is usually configured to handle VPN information of one
or more directly connected customer sites.

2.

List two types of data links that a CE router can use to connect to the service
providers PE router.

3.

List two protocols that a PE router in a BGP/MPLS VPN network can use to
exchange routing information with its directly connected CE routers.

4.

State the protocol that PE routers in a BGP/MPS VPN network used to exchange
VPN routing information

5.

State THREE factors that can enhance the scalability of a service provider
BGP/MPLS VPN network.

6.

Besides scaling, state another TWO issues that BGP/MPLS VPNs have to solve.

7.

The VPN-IPv4 addresses are being used to solve the overlapping of customers
private IP address spaces.
i)
Draw a diagram to show the fields of an VPN-IPv4 address
ii)
What should the ADMINISTRATOR sub-field in a route distinguisher
hold when the value of the TYPE sub-field is 0?
iii)
What should the ADMINISTRATOR sub-field in a route distinguisher
(RD) hold when the value of the TYPE sub-field is 1?
iv)
State the protocol that a PE router uses to distribute its VPN-IPv4 addresses
to other PE routers within the VPN.
v)
Which of the following statements are TRUE?
(I)
Each VRF table in a PE router within a VPN can have its own unique
RD.
(II)
VPN customers are aware of the use of VPN-IPv4 address.
(III)
VPN-IPv4 addresses are carried in MP-BGP that runs across the
service provider network.
(IV)
VPN-IPv4 addresses are carried in user data packets that traverse
across the service provider network.
(V)
VPN-IPv4 addresses are used both inside and outside a service
provider network.
(VI)
In addition to IPv4, MP-BGP carries routing information for other
network layer protocols like, IPX, IPv6, VPN-IPv4, etc.

8.

Service provider can constrain the flow of customer VPN data traffic by constraining
the flow of VPN-IPv4 routing information.
i)
One way to constrain the flow of VPN-IPv4 routing information is by using
multiple VRF tables. With reference to figure 6.34 in notes, assume multiple
VRF tables are used in each PE for per-VPN segregation of routing
information and PE 2 imports customer B site 2s VPN B routes into VRF-B.
Which of the following statement(s) is(are) TRUE?
(I)
PE 2 imports local customer A site 2s VPN A routes into VRF-B.
(II)
PE 2 imports remote customer A site 1s VPN A routes into VRF-B.
(III)
PE 2 imports remote customer A site 3s VPN A routes into VRF-B.
(IV)
PE 2 imports remote customer B site 1s VPN B routes into VRF-B.
ii)
BGP extended community attributes are also used to control the distribution
of routing information between PE routers.
(a)
Is a BGP extended community has to be globally unique?
(b)
How many BGP extended communities can a customer VPN use?
(c)
List the THREE types of BGP extended community attributes that
VPNs can use.
(d)
Assume Full-Mesh-A and Full-Mesh-B are two globally

unique route targets. Replace I, II, III, IV, V and VI in the

diagram below with either Full-Mesh-A or Full-Mesh-B
such that the service provider network provides full-mesh VPN
connectivity for customer A.

Service Provider
Network
CE 1
Customer A
Site 1
10.11/16

Exp Target = I
Imp Target = II

CE 2
Exp Target = III
Imp Target = IV

VRF-A

Customer A
Site 2
10.21/16

VRF-A

PE 1
PE 2

Exp Target = V
Imp Target = VI
CE 4
VRF-A
PE 3
Customer A
Site 3
10.31/16

LSP

9.

When the configuration of a PE router is changed, e.g. adding a new VRF table, how
can this PE router trigger other PE routers in the same service provider network to retransmit their routing information?

10.

Briefly explain how the outbound route filters can be used to reduce the number of
routing updates and hence conserve the backbone bandwidth and the processing
resources of PE routers.

11.

With reference to figure 6.36 in notes,

i)
list the two pieces of routing information PE 1 has to advertise to PE 2 for
Customer Bs route to prefix 10.11/16

ii)
iii)

12.

list the two actions that PE 2 will perform after it receives from PE 1 the
route advertisement for prefix 10.11/16.
list the protocol that can be used to establish BEST-EFFORT LSPs from PE2
to PE 1.

With reference to the diagram below, assume:

PE 1 can send user data traffic to PE 2 using LSP 1
the initial MPLS label for LSP 1 at PE 1 is 121
the MPLS label that associates VRF-B at PE 1 to the port that connects CE5
is 715
PE 2 can send user data traffic to PE 1 using LSP 2
the initial MPLS label for LSP 2 at PE 2 is 211
the MPLS label that associates VRF-B at PE 2 to the port that connects CE3
is 823
I, II, III & IV represent MPLS labels
Based on the assumption above, replace I, II, III and IV with valid values for
successful transportation of user data between site 1 and site 2 of customer B.

II I

Service Provider
Network

user data
LSP 1

VRF-B

PE 1

PE 2
VRF-B

Customer B
Site 1
10.11/16

LSP 2

user data
CE 5

III IV

CE 3

Customer B
Site 2
10.21/16

13.

State THREE benefits of BGP/MPLS VPNs when compared with other L2 VPN
technologies.

14.

State ONE disadvantage of BGP/MPLS VPNs.

15.

Which of the following statements are TRUE?

(I)
Pseudo-wire (PW) is a circuit leased line concept standardized by ITU-T.
(II)
Pseudo-wire (PW) is a packet leased line concept standardized by IETE.
(III)
An Ethernet PW allows Ethernet frames not including preamble and FCS to
be carried over a packet switched network.
(IV)
An Ethernet PW allows Ethernet frames including preamble and FCS to be
carried over a packet switched network.
(V)
A PW terminates a logical port within a PE.
(VI)
A PW terminates a physical port within a PE.
(VII) The terminating port of an Ethernet PW in a PE provides an IP-address based
transportation service
(VIII) The terminating port of an Ethernet PW in a PE provides an Ethernet MAC
based transportation service
(IX)
An Ethernet PW can be setup via manual configuration
(X)
An Ethernet PW can be setup using signaling protocol like BGP or LDP
(XI)
A packet switched network (PSN) tunnel can only support one PW.

(XII)

With reference to figure 6.37 in notes, P1 and P2 need to have information

about the L2 services provided by PE 1 and PE 2.
(XIII) With draft-martini encapsulation, a PW can be constructed by building a bidirectional virtual connection LSP.
(XIV) With draft-martini encapsulation, a PW can be constructed by building a pair
of uni-directional virtual connection LSPs.
(XV) The ingress PE and egress PE in an LDP session that is setup with targeted
LDP must be directly connected with each other.
16.

A PW can be configured in one of the two modes of Ethernet encapsulation. List

these two modes of Ethernet encapsulation.

17.

Does a PW support frame re-ordering?

18.

LDP and MPLS LSP are used to setup a PW

i)
State four types of virtual connection (VC) information exchanged between
two PEs in a targeted LDP session for setting up a PW.
ii)
How many MPLS LSPs are needed between two PEs to support one PW?
iii)
With reference to figure 6.40 in notes,
i)
what is the VC label PE 1 sends to PE 2 in the targeted LDP session
for setting up the PW?
ii)
what is the VC label PTE 2 sends to PE 1 in the targeted LDP session
for setting up the PW?
iii)
what is the LSP label PE 2 sends to P 2 for setting up the LSP from
PE 1 to PE 2?
iv)
what is the LSP label P 1 sends to PE 1 for setting up the LSP from
PE 1 to PE 2?

19.

Which of the following statements are correct?

(I)
VPLS does not allow an enterprise customer to be in full control of its WAN
routing policies.
(II)
VPLS allows an enterprise customer to be in full control of its WAN routing
policies.
(III)
VPLS uses L2 emulated LANs to transport any type of traffic
(IV)
VPLS uses L3 emulated LANs to transport any type of traffic
(V)
A PE in an MPLS domain can participate in ONLY ONE VPLS domain.
(VI)
A PE in an MPLS domain can participate in MORE THAN ONE VPLS
domain.
(VII) To a CE, a VPLS domain looks like a router.
(VIII) To a CE, a VPLS domain looks like an Ethernet switch.
(IX)
An LSP can ONLY be used by ONE VPLS domain.
(X)
An LSP can be used by more than one VPLS domains and other services.

20.

State 4 requirements for VPLS.

21.

Briefly describe the main difference in the signaling mechanism between the P2P
martini model and VPLS

22.

Briefly describe how to avoid loops in a VPLS domain.

23.

With reference to figure 6.43:

i)
At PE 1, which of the following statement is correct?
(I)
PE 1 associates MAC address 080003009876 with VC-LSP
(102).

(II)

ii)

iii)

PE 1 associates MAC address 080003009876 with VC-LSP

(201).
(III) PE 1 associates MAC address 080003009876 with the local
Ethernet port connecting to CE 1.
At PE 2, which of the following statement is correct?
(I)
PE 2 associates MAC address 080003009876 with VC-LSP
(201).
(II)
PE 2 associates MAC address 080003009876 with VC-LSP
(102).
(III) PE 2 associates MAC address 080003009876 with the local
Ethernet port connecting to CE 2.
At PE 3, which of the following statement is correct?
(I)
PE 3 associates MAC address 080003009876 with VC-LSP
(301).
(II)
PE 3 associates MAC address 080003009876 with VC-LSP
(103).
(III) PE 3 associates MAC address 080003009876 with VC-LSP
(302).
(IV) PE 3 associates MAC address 080003009876 with VC-LSP
(203).
(V)
PE 3 associates MAC address 080003009876 with the local
Ethernet port connecting to CE 3.

24.

With reference to figure 6.41,

i)
how many forward information base does PE 1 have to maintain?
ii)
how many forward information base does PE 3 have to maintain?

25.

Briefly describe the difference between unqualified and qualified MAC address
learning in VPLS.

26.

i)
ii)

What is auto-discovery in VPLS?

A mechanism using BGP extended communities is used for auto-discovery in
VPLS. State the information exchanged among PEs using BGP extended
communities for auto-discovery in VPLS.