ODA000015 MPLS Basic
Knowledge
ISSUE 1.0
Fixed Network Curriculum
Development Section
Course Contents
Chapter 1 MPLS Overview
Chapter 2 Label and Label Stack
Chapter 3 Label Forwarding and Allocation
Chapter 4 LDP and Configuration
MPLS
MPLS——Multi-Protocol Label Switching
Multi-Protocol
Support multiple Layer-3 protocols, such as IP, IPv6, IPX, SNA
Label Switching
Label packets, and replace IP forwarding with label switching
Origin: To Integrate IP with ATM
IP MPLS ATM
Connectionless Connectionless
control plane control plane Connection-oriented
control plane
Connectionless Connection-oriented Connection-oriented
forwarding plane forwarding plane forwarding plane
Connection-oriented Features
S2 1 S6 S2 S6
1 1
S1 S8 S1 S3 S5 S8
S3 S5 VC
2 2
S4 2 S7 S4 S7
Connectionless: packet route connection-oriented: cell switching
• Path 1 = S1, S2, S6, S8 VC = S1, S4, S7, S8
• • The data reach their destination in
Path 2 = S1, S4, S7, S8
order along the same connection
• The data reach their destination
• Fixed time delay, easy to control
out of order along different paths
• Connection types: PVC SVC
Traditional IP Forwarding
Parse IP header Parse IP header Parse IP header
mapped to next hop mapped to next hop mapped to next hop
IP header is parse at each hop, resulting in low efficiency.
It is hard to deploy QoS and the efficiency is rather low.
All routers are expected to know all routes in the entire netw
ork.
ATM Switching Process
Virtual Channel Connection
(VCC)
Virtual Path Connection(VPC)
UNI
UNI
NNI NNI
VC VP VC
switching switching switching
VPI = 1 VPI = 2 VPI = 26 VPI = 20
VCI = 1 VCI = 44 VCI = 44 VCI = 30
Connection-oriented
Routing depending on link layer, based on VPI/VCI or label
Ensure QoS and real-time service
Technology Combining the Advantages of ATM and
IP
R + X = X
Router ATM switch MPLS
Router
Layer 3 routing – scalable and flexible
Layer 2 switching – High reliability and traffic engineering
management
MPLS——multi-protocol label switching
MPLS Advantages
Replace IP header with short and fixed-length labels as
forwarding basis to improve forwarding speed
Provide value-added service without prejudice to efficiency:
VPN
Traffic engineering
QOS
Basic Working Process of MPLS
Core LSR
Edge LSR Edge LSR
IP IP L1 IP L2 IP L3 IP
Traditional Traditional IP
IP forwarding Label forwarding forwarding
Basic MPLS Concepts
LER
MPLS domain
IP
LER LSR LSR
LER
LSP
LSR
MPLS
LER
LSR: Label Switch Router
LER: Label Edge Router
LSP: Label Switch Path
Course Contents
Chapter 1 MPLS Overview
Chapter 2 Label and Label Stack
Chapter 3 Label Forwarding and Allocation
Chapter 4 LDP and Configuration
MPLS Encapsulation Format and Label
0 20 23 24 31
Label EXP S TTL 32 bits
Layer 2
header MPLS header IP header Data
Two types of MPLS encapsulation for ATM and FR:
shim encapsulation: similar to other link layers
Cell mode: VC (VPI/VCI for ATM, DLCI for FR) is directly
used as the label
Label Position in Packet
Ethernet
Ethernet header
/SONET
/PPP header Label Layer-3 data
/SDH packet
Cell mode
ATM packet VPI/VCI Layer-3 data
Label Stack
Layer2 MPLS MPLS
header header header IP header Data
Theoretically, label stack enables limitless nesting to
provide infinite service support. This is simply the
greatest advantage of MPLS technology.
Course Contents
Chapter 1 MPLS Overview
Chapter 2 Label and Label Stack
Chapter 3 Label Forwarding and Allocation
Chapter 4 LDP and Configuration
Basic Concepts of Label Forwarding
FEC (Forwarding Equivalence Class): Import the packets
with identical characteristics into the same LSP
NHLFE (Next Hop Label Forwarding Entry): Describe label
operations
next hop
label operation types: push/pop/swap
FTN (FEC to NHLFE): Map FEC to NHLFE
ILM (Incoming Label Map): Map MPLS label to NHLFE
Label Forwarding
label operation: pop
Label operation: push
Label operation: swap ILM->NHLFE
Parse IP header Label operation: swap Parse IP header
FEC bound with LSP distribute FEC
ILM->NHLFE ILM->NHLFE mapped to next hop
FTN->NHLFE
A B C D
Ingress LER LSR LSR Egress LER
The traditional routing protocol and Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) serve to create routing table and label
mapping table (FEC-Label mapping) in each LSR for FECs with service requirement, i.e. create LSP succe
ssfully.
Ingress LER receives a packet, determines the FEC that the packet belongs to, and label the packet
In MPLS domain, packets are forwarded in accordance with labels and label forwarding table via the forwar
ding unit
Egress LER removes the label and continues forwarding the packet
NHLFE
A:
NHLFE
FEC next hop Label operation Others
Transmitting interface
[Link]/24 B E1 Add label L1 …
B,C:
Ingress NHLFE
Transmitting
label Next hop interface label operation Others
L1 C E1 Remove the previous label and add L2 …
D:
Ingress NHLFE
label Next hop
Transmitting
interface Label operation Others
L2 D Remove label …
PHP
Label operation: push
Label operation: swap Parse IP header
Parse IP header Label operation: pop
Distribute FEC
FEC bound with LSP
FTN->NHLFE ILM->NHLFE ILM->NHLFE Mapped to next hop
Ingress LER LSR LSR Egress LER
The label at the outmost layer does not make any sense to the last hop. Thus, it
is advisable to pop the label at the last hop but one to ease the burden of the
last hop.
If there is only one layer of label, the last hop will perform IP forwarding directly;
otherwise, it will perform the internal label forwarding.
Creating LSP
LSP drive modes:
Driven by stream: incoming packets drive LSP creation
Driven by topology: topology information (route) drives LSP creati
on
Driven by application: application (like QoS) drives LSP creation
Signaling protocol is used to distribute labels between LSRs an
d establish LSP:
LDP
CR-LDP (Constraint-based Routing LDP)
RSVP-TE (Resource Reservation Protocol)
MP-BGP
PIM
Several Issues Concerning
Label Distribution
Label allocation mode
DoD : downstream-on-demand
DU: downstream unsolicited
Label control mode
Ordered
Independent
Label hold mode
Conservative retention mode : upon receiving a label, if there is
no route destined for the corresponding FEC, hold the label for
later use
Liberal mode: upon receiving a label, if there is no route destin
ed for corresponding FEC, discard the label
Label Allocation Mode: DoD
Label 18 is 171.68.10/24
Route 分配到171.68.10/24 分配到20
Label is allocated
allocated to
triggering 的标签为18
171.68.10/24 的标签为20
to 171.68.10/24
171.68.40/24 171.68.10/24
LSR1 LSR2 LSR3 Downstream
Upstream
请求到目的地址
Requesting labels Requesting labels
destined for 171.68.10/24
171.68.10/24 的标签 destined for 171.68.10/24
的标签
The upstream LSR sends a label request (containing FEC
description information) to the downstream LSR.
The downstream LSR allocates a label to this FEC and feeds back
the bound label to the upstream LSR via the label mapping
message.
Label Allocation Mode: DU
Route
triggering
到18
Label 171.68.10/24
can be used 到 171.68.10/24
Label 20 can be used
to reach 171.68.10/24 Downstream
Upstream 可以使用标签 18 可以使用标签
to 20
reach 171.68.10/24
171.68.40/24 171.68.10/24
Once the LDP session is set up successfully, the downstream
LSR will initiatively advertise the label mapping message to its
upstream LSR.
The upstream router will save the label in the label mapping
table.
Label Control Mode: Ordered
Upstream Downstream
Not until it receives a label mapping message from its
downstream LSP will it send the message upstream
Label Control Mode: Independent
Upstream Downstream
Whether it receives a label mapping message from its downstream
LSR, it will send upstream a label mapping message immediately.
Common Collocation 1:
DoD + Ordered + Liberal
Upstream Downstream
It is relatively easy to control the use of labels and the cr
eation of LSPs
Common Collocation 2:
DU + Ordered + Conservative
Upstream Downstream
A waste of label resources
Useless LSPs would be created
LSPs can be set up quickly
LSP Loop Detection
Path looping shall be avoided even in setting up
LSP within the MPLS domain.
LSP path looping can be avoided in two ways:
Maximum hop number;
Path vector
Course Contents
Chapter 1 MPLS Overview
Chapter 2 Label and Label Stack
Chapter 3 Label Forwarding and Allocation
Chapter 4 LDP and Configuration
Basic Concepts of LDP
LDP is a MPLS control and signaling protocol
Main functions:
Release Label-FEC mapping
Create and maintain label switching path
LDP serves to distribute and maintain label mapping
messages between peers in the form of message.
LDP uses the TCP transmission service.
LDP Message Types
Discovery message: Used to discover LDP adjacencies
in the network
Session message: Used to set up, maintain and
terminate a session between LDP peers
Distribution message: Used to create, change and delete
label mappings related to FEC
Notification message: Used to provide recommendation
or error notification information
LDP Message Switching
UDP-Hello
Discovery stage
UDP-Hello
TCP connection establishment
Session creation
and maintenance
Session initialization
Label request
FEC
LSP creation and
maintenance Label
Label mapping
Basic MPLS Configurations (1)
Designate ID for LSR
It is necessary to configure the LSR with an ID before configuring othe
r MPLS commands. The ID is generally in the format of IP address, an
d shall be unique within the domain.
mpls lsr-id X.X.X.X
Note: make configurations in the system view.
Activate/deactivate the LDP or enter the LDP view
To configure LDP, first activate the LDP and enter the LDP view
mpls ldp
Note: make configurations in the system view
Basic MPLS Configurations (2)
Enable interface LDP
mpls ldp enable
Note: make configurations in the interface view
LDP loop detection control
Enable loop detection
Loop-detect
Set the maximum hot number for loop detection
hops-count hop-number
MPLS Debugging
MPLS display commands
Display information about LDP and LSR
display mpls ldp
Display information about LDP-enabled interface
display mpls ldp interface
Display information about all LSPs established in the public netw
ork
display mpls lsp
Configuration Example
Suppose a network consists of four NE routers, where Router B is connected to
Router C via SDH, while Router B is connected to Router A and Router D via
Ethernet.
The four routers all support MPLS. LSP can be set up between any two routers. The
operational routing protocol is OSPF
Router B
Router A ethernet1/0/0 ethernet1/0/1
Router D
[Link] [Link]
pos2/0/1
ethernet8/0/0 100.10.1. ethernet2/0/1
[Link] 2 [Link]
Router C is configured with:
[Quidway] interface pos 7/0/0
Configuration procedure pos7/0/0 [Quidway-Pos7/0/0] ip address [Link] 255.255
[Link] .255.0
Configure ip address for th [Quidway] router id [Link]
[Quidway] ospf
e interface [Quidway-ospf] area 0
Router C
[Quidway-ospf-area-[Link]] network [Link] 0.
Configure the ospf protoco 0.0.255
l [Quidway] mpls lsr-id [Link]
[Quidway] mpls ldp
Configure the MPLS LDP [Quidway-Pos7/0/0] mpls ldp enable
Summary
Grasp the basic concepts and working process of MPLS
Grasp label allocation and distribution
Grasp MPLS LDP configuration
