MPLS Basics Components and Protocols Operation Advantages and Disadvantages

IP
The first defined and used protocol De facto the only protocol for global Internet working

but there are disadvantages

IP Routing disadvantages Connectionless - e.g. no QoS Each router has to make independent forwarding decisions based on the IP-address Large IP Header - At least 20 bytes Routing in Network Layer - Slower than Switching Usually designed to obtain shortest path - Do not take into account additional metrics

 ATM
connection oriented - Supports QoS fast packet switching with fixed length packets (cells) integration of different traffic types (voice, data, video)

but there are also disadvantages

 ATM disadvantages
Complex Expensive Not widely adopted

 Idea: Combine the forwarding algorithm used in ATM with IP.

 Motivation Components and Protocols Operation Advantages and Disadvantages

 Multi Protocol Label Switching is arranged between Layer 2 and Layer 3

 MPLS Characteristics Mechanisms to manage traffic flows of various granularities (Flow Management) such as flows among different hardware, machines, or even flows among different applications. Is of Layer-2 and Layer-3 protocols Interfaces to existing routing protocols (such as RSVP, OSPF) supports the IP, ATM, and frame-relay Layer 2 protocols.

 Motivation MPLS Basics MPLS Operation Advantages and Disadvantages

 Resides at the edge of an MPLS network and assigns and removes the labels from the packets. Support multiple ports connected to dissimilar networks (such as frame relay, ATM, and Ethernet).

Is a high speed router in the core on an MPLS network. ATM switches can be used as LSRs without changing their hardware. Label switching is equivalent to VP/VC switching.

 A label is a short, fixed-length value carried in the packet's header to identify a

A label is analogous to a connection identifier, such as an ATM VPI/VCI or a Frame Relay DLCI, because it has only link-local significance, does not encode information from the network layer header, and maps traffic to a specific FEC.

 Generic label format

 uses normal processing of routing protocols (such as OSPF and BGP) uses processing of request-based control traffic (such as RSVP) uses the reception of a packet to trigger the assignment and distribution of a label The and methods are examples of control-driven label bindings, while the traffic-based method is an example of

 Label distribution
MPLS does not specify a single method for label distribution BGP has been enhanced to piggyback the label information within the contents of the protocol RSVP has also been extended to support piggybacked exchange of labels. IETF has also defined a new protocol known as the for explicit signaling and management

 Is a representation of a group of packets that share the same requirements for their transport. The assignment of a particular packet to a particular is done just once (when the packet enters the network).

 Within an MPLS domain, a path is set up for a given packet to travel based on an FEC. The is set up prior to data transmission.

 MPLS provides two options to set up an LSP

The LSP setup for an FEC is unidirectional. The return traffic must take another LSP!

 use the route determined by the dynamic routing protocol Each LSR independently selects the next hop for a given FEC. LSRs support any available routing protocols (OSPF, ATM ). the sender LSR can specify an explicit route for the LSP Explicit route can be selected ahead of time or dynamically Is similar to source routing. The ingress LER specifies the list of nodes through which the packet traverses.

 Motivation MPLS Basics Components and Protocols

Advantages and Disadvantages

 The following steps must be taken for a data packet to travel through an MPLS domain.
label creation and distribution table creation at each router label-switched path creation label insertion/table lookup packet forwarding

Packet forwarding
may not have any labels for this packet as it is the first occurrence of this request. In an IP network, it will find the longest address match to find the next hop. Let LSR1 be the next hop for LER1. LER1 will initiate a label request toward LSR1. This request will propagate through the network as indicated by the broken green lines.

 Each intermediary router will receive a label from its downstream router starting from LER4 and going upstream till LER1. All these routers will update their LIB table for this FEC. The LSP setup is indicated by the broken blue lines using LDP or any other signaling protocol. LER1 will insert the label and forward the packet to LSR1.

Input Port 1 2

Incoming Outgoing Output Port Port Label Port Label 3 9 3 1 6 7

 Each subsequent LSR, i.e., LSR2 and LSR3, will examine the label in the received packet, replace it with the outgoing label and forward it. When the packet reaches LER4, it will remove the label because the packet is departing from an MPLS domain and deliver it to the destination. The actual data path followed by the packet is indicated by the broken red lines.

Intf Label Intf Label In In Out Out 3 50 1 40

Intf In 3

Label Intf In Out 40 1

1
47.1

Dest Intf Label Out Out 47.1 1 50

47.3 3

3
3 1 2 2 2 1 Mapping: 40 47.2

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 IP restoration is very slow

OSPF, RIP, etc. require a redistribution of updated link status information in response to a failure. Routing table convergence time on the order of seconds. Looping and packet loss can occur during convergence

MPLS enables

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 A backup LSP is set up in advance from the source LSR to the destination LSR of the primary LSP. The backup LSP is link and node disjoint with the primary LSP Need reserve resources for the backup LSP Source LSR responsible for restorationsender must be notified of the failure

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 When establishing a primary LSP, a backup LSP for each possible link or node failure is set up Resources reserved for each backup LSP Failure detecting LSR responsible for switching traffic to the backup LSR Faster restoration than end-to-end protection

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: must create a separate set of backup LSPs for every primary LSP Can a single LSP backup a set of primary LSPs? Yes! Use MPLS label stacking.

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 A packet may carry multiple labels, organized as a A label may be added to/removed from the stack at any LSR Processing always done on the Allow the aggregation of LSPs into a single LSP for a portion of the route,
At the beginning of the tunnel, the LSR assigns the same label to packets from different LSPs by the label onto each packets stack At the end of the tunnel, the LSR the top label
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a LSP used to protect a set of LSPs passing over a common facility. Label stacking allows different primary LSPs to use the same bypass tunnel for failure protection.

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When a failure occurs: LSR at the beginning of the tunnel will

Switch packets received on the protected LSP x onto the bypass tunnel Replace the old label with a new label that will be understood by the last node in the bypass tunnel to indicate LSP x Push the bypass tunnel's label onto the label-stack of the redirected packets.

LSR at the end of the tunnel will

Pop the bypass tunnel's label Examine the top label to determine the protected LSP that the packet is to follow. 39

Motivation Basics Components and Protocols Operation

 Improves packet-forwarding performance in the network Supports QoS and CoS for service differentiation Supports network scalability Integrates IP and ATM in the network Builds interoperable networks

 An additional layer is added The router has to understand MPLS

 Simplify packet forwarding based on a fixed length label Enable explicit routing in IP networks
Can be used for traffic management, QoS routing

Enable fast restoration from failures.

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 http://www.iec.org/online/tutorials/mpls.pdf Cisco Press-Network Consultants Handbook-by Mathew Castelli.pdf http://www.iaik.tugraz.ac.at/teaching/03_advanced%20 computer%20networks/ss2004/vo3/MPLS.pdf by Mario Ivkovic http://ica1www.epfl.ch/cn2/0304/doc/lecture/mpls.pdf Encyclopedia of Netwoking.pdf

Q&A

Thank you!