MultiProtocol Label Switching

(MPLS)
July 29, 2000 TECON 2000
Pramoda Nallur
Alcatel Internetworking Division
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 2
Agenda
MPLS - The Motivation
How MPLS Works !
MPLS Technology
MPLS Application




J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 3
MPLS - The Motivation
IP Protocol Suite - the most predominant
networking technology.
Voice & Data convergence on a single network
infrastructure.
Continual increase in number of users.
Demand for higher connection speeds.
Increase in traffic volumes.
Ever-increasing number of ISP networks.
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 4
MPLS Working Groups and
Standards
Standardized by the IETF - currently in Draft stage.
MPLS recommendations are done by IP players for IP
services
MPLS core components are generic
MPLS doesnt use specific technology process (e.g.
ATM/FR signaling protocol PNNI or ATM OAM flow)
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 5
MPLS and ISO model
PPP
Physical (Optical - Electrical) 1
2
IP 3
4
Applications
7
to
5
Frame
Relay
ATM (*)
TCP UDP
PPP FR ATM (*)
MPLS
(*) ATM overlay model (without addressing and P-NNI) is considered as an ISO layer 2 protocol.
IETF main goal is that
when a layer is added,
no modification is
needed on the existing
layers.
All new protocol must
be backward
compatible
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 6
Agenda
Motivation for MPLS
How MPLS Works !
MPLS Technology
MPLS Application




J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 7
MPLS Architecture
Routing protocol
OSPF OSPF OSPF
Attributes
Precedence
Local table
Label table
Local table Local table
LSP
Label swapping Label removal
Classification
Label assignment
Ingress
Node
Core
Node
Egress
Node
Label Switch
Layer 2
Layer 1
Layer 2
Layer 1
Layer 2
Layer 1
Layer 2
Layer 1
Layer 2
Layer 1
FEC table
Local table Local table Local table
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 8
Label swapping
Label removal
Classification
Label assignment
Label swapping
Label removal
Classification
Label assignment
OSPF / RIP / IS-IS
Label Switch Path
Label table
Ingress
Node
Core
Node
Egress
Node
Layer 2
Layer 1
Layer 2
Layer 1
Layer 2
Layer 1
Precedence
Label table Label table
Layer 2
Layer 1
Layer 2
Layer 1
FEC FEC FEC
MPLS process
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 9
MPLS Cloud
LSR
LER
LSR
LER
IP Packet
IP Packet w/ Label
L3 Routing
L3 Routing
Label Swapping Label Swapping
LER
LER
LER
L3 Routing
L3 Routing
L3 Routing
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 10
MPLS Link Layers & Label
Encapsulation
ATM FR
Ethernet
PPP
VPI VCI
DLCI Shim Label
Layer2
Shim header .
IP | PAYLOAD
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 11
Agenda
Motivation for MPLS
How MPLS Works !
MPLS Technology
MPLS Application




J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 12
Some MPLS Terms...
LER - Label Edge Router
LSR - Label Switch Router
FEC - Forward Equivalence Class
Label - Associates a packet to a FEC
Label Stack - Multiple labels containing information on how a packet
is forwarded.
Shim - Header containing a Label Stack
Label Switch Path - path that a packet follows for a specific FEC
LDP - Label Distribution Protocol, used to distribute Label
information between MPLS-aware network devices
Label Swapping - manipulation of labels to forward packets towards
the destination.
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 13
Ingress Label FEC Egress Label
6 138.120.6/24 - xxxx 9
Ingress Label Attribute FEC Egress Label
Ingress Label FEC Egress Label
6 138.120.6/24 - xxxx 9
Attribute
A
6 138.120.6/24 - xxxx 12 B
FECs are manually initiated by the operator
A FEC is associated at least one Label
A packet can be mapped to a particular FEC based on the following criteria:
destination IP address,
source IP address,
TCP/UDP port,
in case of inter AS-MPLS, Source-AS and Dest-AS,
class of service,
application used,

any combination of the previous criteria.
FEC Classification
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 14
What is a Label ?
A short, fixed length, locally significant identifier
used to identify a FEC.
The label can be identified by the L2 technology
identifier (e.g. VPI/VCI for ATM, DLCI for FR or MPLS label for
PPP/Ethernet).

L2 Type L2 Type Port Port Ingress Label Egress Label FEC
ATM 1-1 12 (i.e. 4/65) F1 22 (i.e. 5/65) 3-4
ATM
ATM 1-1 15 (i.e. 0/25) F4 9 (i.e. 101) 5-1
FR
Gig Eth 5-1 7 F1 22 (i.e. 4/65) 3-4
ATM
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 15
MPLS Label Assignment Schemes
Topology Driven
Label assignment in response to routing
protocols (OSPF and BGP) updates
Control Driven
Label assignment in response to RSVP, CR-
LDP requests
Traffic Driven
Label assignment in response to flow detection
& triggering
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 16
The MPLS Shim Header
The Label (Shim Header) is represented as a sequence of
Label Stack Entry
Each Label Stack Entry is coded by 4 bytes (32 bits) as
described
20 Bits is reserved for the Label Identifier (also named Label)
Label
(20 bits)
Exp
(3 bits)
S
(1 bit)
TTL
(8bits)
Label : Label value (0 to 15 are reserved for special use)
Exp : Experimental Use
S : Bottom of Stack (set to 1 for the last entry in the label)
TTL : Time To Live
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 17
Label Switched Path
5 12
Ingress
Interface
Ingress
Label
FEC Egress
Interface
Egress
Label
1
138.120 3
12
Ingress
Interface
Ingress
Label
FEC Egress
Interface
Egress
Label
1
138.120 x 4
5
3
Ingress
Interface
Ingress
Label
FEC Egress
Interface
Egress
Label
1 x 138.120
MPLS switch
MPLS switch
MPLS switch
MPLS switch
1
2
3
1 2
3
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
138.120
192.168
127.20
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 18
MPLS switch
MPLS switch
MPLS switch
MPLS switch
1
2
3
1 2
3
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
138.120
192.168
127.20
138.120.6.12
138.120.6.12
??
138.120.6.12
Default 3
Ingress
Interface
Ingress
Label
FEC Egress
Interface
Egress
Label
1 x None
??
138.120.6.12
??
Default Default
Ingress
Interface
Ingress
Label
FEC Egress
Interface
Egress
Label
1
None 3
??
??
Default
Ingress
Interface
Ingress
Label
FEC Egress
Interface
Egress
Label
1
None x 4
??
Hop by Hop IP forwarding
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 19
5 12
Ingress
Interface
Ingress
Label
FEC Egress
Interface
Egress
Label
1
138.120 3
12
Ingress
Interface
Ingress
Label
FEC Egress
Interface
Egress
Label
1
138.120 x 4
5 3
Ingress
Interface
Ingress
Label
FEC Egress
Interface
Egress
Label
1 x 138.120
MPLS switch
MPLS switch
MPLS switch
MPLS switch
1
2
3
1 2
3
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
138.120
192.168
127.20
138.120.6.12
138.120.6.12
IP forwarding using LSP
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 20
MPLS Label Distribution Protocol
LDP - a set of procedures by which one LSR informs
the other of the FEC-to-Label binding it has made.
Currently, several protocols used as Label
Distribution Protocol (LDP) are available:
RSVP-TE (MPLS extension)
LDP and CR-LDP
BGP-4 MPLS extensions
Label Distribution schemes
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 21
Downstream stream on demand
5 12
Ingress
Interface
Ingress
Label
FEC Egress
Interface
Egress
Label
1
138.120 3
12
Ingress
Interface
Ingress
Label
FEC Egress
Interface
Egress
Label
1
138.120 x 4
5 3
Ingress
Interface
Ingress
Label
FEC Egress
Interface
Egress
Label
1 x 138.120
MPLS switch
MPLS switch
MPLS switch
MPLS switch
1
2
3
1 2
3
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
138.120
192.168
127.20
The label is requested by the
upstream node and the
downstream node defines the
label used.
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 22
Unsolicited Downstream
MPLS switch
MPLS switch
MPLS switch
MPLS switch
1
2
3
1 2
3
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
138.120
192.168
127.20
5 12
12
5
Ingress
Interface
Ingress
Label
FEC Egress
Interface
Egress
Label
1
138.120 3
Ingress
Interface
Ingress
Label
FEC Egress
Interface
Egress
Label
1
138.120 x 4
3
Ingress
Interface
Ingress
Label
FEC Egress
Interface
Egress
Label
1 x 138.120
The downstream node
defines the label and
advertises it to the
upstream node.
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 23
Edge LSR Features
Routing protocols
FEC Classification
Initiates LSP setup for Downstream On Demand method
Adaptation of non-MPLS data to MPLS data
Layer 2 translation for MPLS data
Terminated MPLS-VPN
At least one LDP protocol
Edge LSR is counted into the TTL count as a regular router
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 24
Core LSR Features
Routing protocols
Propagates Downstream On Demand method (request
and mapping)
Layer 2 translation
High speed label forwarding/switching
At least one LDP protocol
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 25
Agenda
Motivation for MPLS
How MPLS Works !
MPLS Technology
MPLS Application




J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 26
MPLS Advantages
Simplified Forwarding
Efficient Explicit Routing
Traffic Engineering
QoS Routing
Mappings from IP Packet to Forwarding
Equivalence Class (FEC)
Partitioning of Functionality
Common Operation over Packet and Cell media
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 27
MPLS - the Future
Who will use MPLS?
Large-scale data networks used by Enterprises,
Carriers and ISPs.
Why MPLS?
Delivers high speed L2 (really Label) switching
at low cost vs. traditional L3 routing
Provides Traffic Engineering - allows the user to
direct traffic based on network utilization and
demand.
Ease of provisioning QoS
Support for VPNs
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 28
Explicitly Routed LSP
End-to-End forwarding decision determined by ingress node.
Enables Traffic Engineering
LER 1
LSR 2 LSR 3
LER 4
Forward to
LSR 2
LSR 3
LSR 4
LSR X
Overload !!
Overload !!
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 29
MPLS Traffic Engineering
MPLS Traffic Engineering (TE) provides high quality IP
service.
TE defines :
LSP Admission Control (LAC)
IP traffic (policing or shaping)
IP service prioritization
Network capacity and growth capacity
TE is primary done by external tools. This solution allows
flexibility and customization.
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 30
MPLS VPN : MPLS topology
Site A
138.120.8.0/24
VPN 2
Site B
138.120.6.0/24
VPN 2
ISP Backbone
LSR LSR
LSR
LSR
LSR
LSR
Site A
138.120.8.0/24
VPN 1
Site B
138.120.6.0/24
VPN 1
LSP 32
LSP 47
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 31
MPLS - Some Major Vendors
Alcatel
Cisco
Juniper Networks
Nortel
Lucent
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 32
MPLS - More Information @
MPLS Charter
http://www.ietf.org/html.charters/mpls-charter.html
MPLS Resource Center
http://www.mplsrc.com
MPLS Forum
http://www.mplsforum.org

Any Questions ?
Thanks for your time !
Email
Pramoda.Nallur@ind.alcatel.com
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 34
MPLS - An Analysis
UDP Rate (in Mbps)
T
h
r
o
u
g
h
p
u
t

(
i
n

M
b
p
s
)

TCP 1
UDP
TCP 2
TCP & UDP Flows without
MPLS
J uly 29, 2000 TECON 2000 35
MPLS - An Analysis
UDP Rate (in Mbps)
T
h
r
o
u
g
h
p
u
t

(
i
n

M
b
p
s
)

TCP 1
UDP
TCP 2
TCP & UDP Flows with
MPLS Trunks (LSPs)