Multiprotocol Label

Switching
The future of IP Backbone
Technology
Ravikumar Pragada
&
Girish Srinivasan

1
Overview
Need for MPLS
MPLS Basics
Benefits
Label Switched Path
Label Distribution Protocol
Hierarchy in MPLS
Explicit Routing
Loop Detection
Traffic Engineering
Constraint Based Routing
Tag Switching
IP Switching


2
Conventional IP Networks &
Routing
Client networks are connected to backbone via
edge routers
 LAN, PSTN, ADSL
Data packets are routed based on IP address and
other information in the header
Functional components
 Forwarding
 responsible for actual forwarding across a router
 consists of set of procedures to make forwarding
decisions
 Control
 responsible for construction and maintenance of the
forwarding table
 consists of routing protocols such as OSPF, BGP and PIM



Need for Multiprotocol
Label Switching (MPLS)
Forwarding function of a conventional router
a capacity demanding procedure
constitutes a bottle neck with increase in
line speed
MPLS simplifies forwarding function by
taking a totally different approach by
introducing a connection oriented
mechanism inside the connectionless IP
networks

4
Label Switching
Decomposition of network layer routing into
control and forwarding components
applicable
Label switching forwarding component
algorithm uses
forwarding table
label carried in the packet
What is a Label ?
Short fixed length entity


5
 MPLS Basics
A Label Switched Path (LSP) is set up for each
route
A LSP for a particular packet P is a sequence of
routers,

<R1,R2………..Rn>
for all i, 1< i < n: Ri transmits P to R[i+1] by
means
 of a label
Edge routers
analyze the IP header to decide which LSP to use
add a corresponding local Label Switched Path
Identifier, in the form of a label
forward the packet to the next hop


6
 MPLS Basics
Subsequent nodes
contd..
just forward the packet along the LSP
simplify the forwarding function greatly
increase performance and scalability
dramatically
New advanced functionality for QoS,
differentiated services can be introduced in the
edge routers
Backbone can focus on capacity and performance
Routing information obtained using a common
intra domain routing protocol such as OSPF

7
 B a sic M o d e lfo r M P LS
N e tw o rk
Internet

LER
IP
LER
LSR
LSR

MPLS
LSR MPLS
LSR

LER IP

LSR = Label Switched Router

LER = Label Edge Router
8
MPLS Benefits
Comparing MPLS with existing IP core and


IP/ATM technologies, MPLS has many

advantages and benefits:
The performance characteristics of layer 2
networks
The connectivity and network services of
layer 3 networks
Improves the price/performance of network
layer routing
Improved scalability

9
MPLS Benefits contd..
Improves the possibilities for traffic
engineering
Supports the delivery of services with QoS
guarantees
Avoids need for coordination of IP and ATM
address allocation and routing information

10
Necessity of L3
Forwarding
For security
To allow packet filtering at firewalls
Requires examination of packet contents,
including the IP header
For forwarding at the initial router - used
when hosts don’t do MPLS
For Scaling
Forward on a finer granularity than the
labels can provide


11
Carrying a Label
Certain link layer technologies can carry
label as a part of their link layer header
e.g ATM & Frame Relay
Link layers that do not support labels in
their header carry them in a “shim” label
header

Link layer “Shim” label Network Network

header header layer header layer data

12
Establishing Label
Switched Path
LSPs are generated and maintained in a
distributed fashion
Each LSR negotiates a label for each
Forwarding Equivalence Class (FEC) with
its upstream and downstream neighbors
using a distribution method
Label Information Base (LIB) - Result of
negotiation

13
LDP - Terminology
Label Distribution Protocol (LDP)
set of procedures by which LSRs establish
LSPs
mapping between network-layer routing
information directly to data-link layer
switched paths
LDP peers:
two LSRs which use LDP to exchange
label/stream mapping
information exchange known as “LDP
Session”

14
LDP Message Exchange
Discovery messages - used to announce and
maintain the presence of an LSR
Session messages - used to establish, maintain
and terminate sessions between LDP peers
Advertisement messages - used to create,
change, and delete label mappings
Notification messages - used to provide
advisory information and to signal error
information

15
LD P M e ssa g e Fo rm a t
0 1 2 3
01234567890123456789012345678901

U Message Type Message Length

Message ID

Mandatory Parameters

Optional Parameters

16
LDP Protocol Data Units
(PDUs)
LDP message exchanges are accomplished
by sending LDP PDUs
Each LDP PDU is an LDP header followed by
LDP message
The LDP header is:

0 1 2 3
01234567890123456789012345678901
Version PDULength

LDP Identifier

17
Forwarding Equivalence
Class (FEC)
Introduced in MPLS standards to denote
packet forwarding classes
Comprises traffic
to a particular destination
to destination with distinct service
requirements
Why FEC?
To precisely specify which IP packets are
mapped to each LSP
Done by providing a FEC specification for
each LSP

18
 LSP - FEC Mapping
FEC specified as a set of two elements
(currently)
1. IP Address Prefix - any length from 0 - 32
 2. Host Address - 32 bit IP address
A given packet matches a particular LSP if and
only if IP Address Prefix FEC element matches
packet’s IP destination address

19
Rules for Mapping packet to
a LSP
If exactly one LSP’s Host Address FEC element ~
packet’s IP destination address, packet is mapped
to that LSP
If there are multiple LSPs satisfying the above
condition, then the packet is mapped to one of
those LSPs†
If a packet matches exactly one LSP, packet is
mapped to that LSP
If packet matches multiple LSPs, mapped to one
with the longest prefix match

† Which LSP to be chosen - outside the scope of this presentation

20
Label Spaces
Useful for assignment and distribution of
labels
Two types of label spaces
Per interface label space: Interface-
specific labels used for interfaces that use
interface resources for labels
Per platform label space: Platform-wide
incoming labels used for interfaces that
can share the same label space

21
 LDP Identifiers
A six octet quantity
used to identify specific label space within an
LSR
First four octets encode LSR’s IP address
Last two octets identify specific label space
Representation <IP address> : <label space id>
e.g., 171.32.27.28:0, 192.0.3.5:2
Last two octets for platform-wide label spaces
are always both zero

22
 LDP Discovery
A mechanism that enables an LSR to discover
potential LDP peers
Avoids unnecessary explicit configuration of LSR
label switching peers
Two variants of the discovery mechanism
basic discovery mechanism: used to discover LSR
neighbors that are directly connected at the link
level
extended discovery mechanism: used to locate
LSRs that are not directly connected at the link
level

23
 LDP Discovery contd..
Basic discovery mechanism
 To engage - send LDP Hellos periodically
 LDP Hellos sent as UDP packets for all routers on that
subnet
Extended discovery mechanism
 To engage - send LDP targeted Hellos periodically
 Targeted Hellos are sent to a specific address
 Targeted LSR decides whether to respond or to ignore th
targeted Hello
LDP Link Hello sent by an LSR
 carries the LDP identifier for the label space the LSR
intends to use for the interface


24
 Session establishment
Exchange of LDP discovery Hellos triggers session
establishment
Two step process
Transport connection establishment
 If LSR1 does not already have a LDP session for the
exchange of label spaces LSR1:a and LSR2:b, it
attempts to open a TCP connection with LSR2
 LSR1 determines the transport addresses at it’s end
(A1) and LSR2’s end (A2) of the TCP connection
 If A1>A2, LSR1 plays the active role; otherwise it is
passive
Session initialization
 Negotiate session parameters by exchanging LDP
initialization messages

25
 Session Initialization State Transition
NON
Diagram EXISTENT
Session connection Rx Any LDP msg except
established Init msg or Timeout
Rx Any other
msg or Timeout
(Passive Role) INITIALIZED
Tx NAK msg (Active Role)
Rx Acceptable Tx Init msg
Init msg/
Tx Init msg &
KeepAlive msg

OPENREC OPENSENT Rx Any other

Rx KeepAlive msg or Timeout
msg Rx Acceptable Init msg Tx NAK msg
Tx KeepAlive msg
OPERATION
AL Rx Shutdown
All other LDP msgs msg or Timeout
Tx Shutdown msg
Rx - Receive
Tx - Transmit
Session Initialization State
Transition Table
STATE EVENT NEW STATE

NON Session TCP connection established INITIALIZED

EXISTENT
INITIALIZED Transmit initialization message OPENSENT
(Active Role)

Receive acceptable initialization OPENREC

message (Passive role)
Action: Transmit initialization
message and Keep alive message

Receive Any other LDPmsg NON

Action: Transmit error notification EXISTENT
msg (NAK) and close transport
connection

27
Session Initialization State Transition Table
cont.)
STATE EVENT NEW STATE
OPENREC Receive KeepAlive msg OPERATIONAL
Receive Any other LDP msg
Action: Transmit Error NON EXISTENT
Notification msg (NAK) and close
transport connection
OPENSENT Receive acceptable Init msg OPENREC
Action: Transmit KeepAlive msg
NON EXISTENT
Receive Any other LDP msg
Action: Transmit Error msg
(NAK) and close transport
connection

OPERATIONAL Receive Shutdown msg NON EXISTENT

Action: Transmit Shutdown msg
and close transport connection

All other LDP messages OPERATIONAL

 Label Distribution and
Management
Two label distribution techniques
Downstream on demand label distribution:
 An LSR can distribute a FEC label binding in
response to an explicit request
Downstream Unsolicited label distribution:
 Allows an LSR to distribute label bindings to
LSRs that have not explicitly requested them
Both can be used in the same network at the
same time; however, each LSR must be aware of
the distribution method used by its peer

29
Label Distribution Control
Mode
Independent Label Distribution Control
Each LSR may advertise label mappings to
its neighbors at any time
In independent Downstream on Demand
mode - LSR answers without waiting for a
label mapping from next hop
In independent Downstream Unsolicited
mode - LSR advertises label mapping for
a FEC whenever it is prepared
Consequence: upstream label can be
advertised before a downstream label is
received

30
Label Distribution Control Mode
contd..
Ordered Label Distribution Control
Initiates transmission of label mapping for a
FEC only if it has next FEC next hop or is the
egress
If not, the LSR waits till it gets a label from
downstream LSR
LSR acts as an egress for a particular FEC, if
 next hop router for FEC is outside of label
switching network
 FEC elements are reachable by crossing a
domain boundary

31
Label Retention Mode
Conservative Label Retention Mode
 Advertised label mappings are retained only if
they are used for forwarding packets
 Downstream on Demand Mode typically used
with Conservative Label Retention Mode
 Advantage: only labels required are maintained
 Disadvantage: a change in routing causes delay
Liberal Retention Mode
 All label mappings are retained regardless of
whether LSR is next hop or not
 reaction to routing changes will be quick

32
Label Information Base
LSR maintains learned labels in Label
Information Base (LIB)
Each entry of LIB associates an FEC with an
(LDP Identifier, label) pair
When next hop changes for a FEC, LSR will
retrieve the label for the new next hop from
the LIB


33
 H ie ra rch ica lO p e ra tio n in
M P LS
Example:
•External Routers A,B,C,D,E,F - Talk BGP
•Internal Routers 1,2,3,4,5,6 - Talk OSPF

C D
Domain #2
1 6
2 3 4 5
A B E F
Domain #1 Domain #3

Note: Internal routers in domains 1 and 3 not shown 34

 Hierarchical Operation
contd..
When IP packet traverses domain #2, it will contain
two labels, encoded as a “label stack”
Higher level label used between routers C and D,
which is encapsulated inside a lower level label
used within Domain #2
Operation at C
C needs to swap BGP label to put label that D
expects
C also needs to add an OSPF label that 1 expects
C therefore pushes down the BGP label and adds a
lower level label

35
Label Stack
Multiple labels are carried in data packets
e.g. data packet carried across Domain #2
Concept of stacking
provides a mechanism to segregate
streams within a switched path
one useful application of this technique is
in Virtual Private Networks
Advantage of Hierarchical MPLS is that the
internal routers need not know about
higher level (BGP) routing

36
Multipath
Many IP routing protocols support the notion of
equal-cost multipath routes
Few possible approaches for handling
multipath within MPLS
First approach:
separate switched path from each ingress
node to the merge point
preserves switching performance, but at the
cost of proliferating the number of switched
paths

37
 Multipath contd..
Second approach
 Only one switched path from one ingress node to a
destination
 Conserves switched paths but cannot balance loads
across downstream links as well as other approaches
 LSP may be different from the normal L3 path
Third approach:
 Allows single stream to be split into multiple streams, by
using L3 forwarding
 e.g. might use a hash function on source and
destination IP addresses
 Conserves paths at the cost of switching performance

Explicit Routing in MPLS
Two options for route selection:
Hop by hop routing
Explicit routing
Explicit Routing (aka Source Routing) is a
very powerful technique
With pure datagram routing overhead of
carrying complete explicit route is
prohibitive
MPLS allows explicit route to be carried
only at the time the LSP is setup, and not
with each packet
MPLS makes explicit routing practical

39
Explicit Routing in MPLS
contd..
In an explicitly routed LSP
the LSP next hop is not chosen by the local
node
selected by a single node, usually the
ingress
The sequence of LSRs may be chosen by
configuration (e.g., by an operator or by a
centralized server)
an algorithm (e.g., the ingress node may
make use of topological information
learned from a link state routing protocol)

40
Loops and Loop Handling
Routing protocols used in conjunction with
MPLS are based on distributed computation
which may contain loops
Loops handling - 3 categories
Loop Survival
Loop Detection
Loop Prevention

41
Loop Survival
Minimizes the impact of loops by limiting the
amount of resources consumed by the loop
Method
based on use of TTL field which is
decrement at each hop
Use of dynamic routing protocol converging
rapidly to non-looping paths
Use of fair queuing

42
Loop Detection
Loops may be setup but they are subsequently
detected
The detected loop is then broken by dropping
label relationship
Broken loops now necessitates packets to be
forwarded using L3 forwarding

43
Loop Detection (cont.)
Method is based on transmitting a Loop
Detection Control Packet (LDCP) whenever a
route changes
LDCP is forwarded towards the destination until
last MPLS node along the path is reached
TTL of the LDCP expires
it returns to the node which originated it

44
Loop Prevention
Ensures that loops are never set up
labels are not used until it is sure to be loop
free
Methods
labels are propagated starting at the egress
switch
use source routing to set up label bindings
from the egress switch to each ingress
switch

45
Leaf Leaf
Leaf

Detects loop
immediately

Link removed Change in Link

LSR from tree

Ingress Node

Egress Node
46
Traffic Engineering and
Performance Objectives
Traffic Engineering (TE) is concerned with
performance optimization of operational
networks
The key performance objectives
traffic oriented - aspects that enhance the
QoS of traffic streams e.g minimization of
packet loss
resource oriented - aspects that pertain to
the optimization of resource utilization
e.g efficient management of bandwidth

47
Performance Objectives
(cont.)
Minimizing congestion is a major traffic and
resource oriented performance objective
Congestion manifest under two scenarios
network resources are insufficient or
inadequate
 can be solved by capacity expansion or
classical congestion control techniques
traffic streams are inefficiently mapped
onto available resources
 can be reduced by adopting load balancing
policies

48
Traffic and Resource
Control
The traffic engineer acts as the controller in
an adaptive feedback control system which
includes
a set of interconnected network elements
a network performance monitoring system
&
network configuration management tools
The traffic engineer formulates control
policies, observes the state of the network,
characterizes the traffic and applies the
control actions in accordance to the control
policy

49
MPLS and Traffic
Engineering
Main components used
Traffic Trunk - aggregation of traffic flows of
the same class which are placed inside a
Label Switched Path
Induced MPLS Graph
 analogous to a virtual topology in an overlay
model
 logically mapped onto the physical network
through the selections o LSPs for traffic
trunk
 comprises a set of LSRs which act as nodes of
the graph and a set of LSPs which provide
logical point to point connectivity between
LSRs and thus act as edges of the graph
50
Augmented Capabilities
Set of attributes associated with traffic
trunks which collectively specify their
behavioral characteristics
Set of attributes associated with resources
which constrain the placement of traffic
trunks through them
A “constraint based routing” framework
which is used to select paths for traffic
trunks subject to constraints imposed

51
 Basic operation on traffic
trunks
Establish - create an instance of a traffic trunk
Activate - cause to start passing traffic
Deactivate - stop passing traffic
Modify Attributes
Reroute - administratively or by underlying
protocols
Destroy - reclaim all resources such as label
space and bandwidth

52
 Basic attributes of traffic
trunk
Traffic parameter attribute - capture the
characteristics of the traffic streams
Generic Path selection and maintenance
attributes - defines rules for selecting route
taken by traffic trunk and rules of maintaining
the paths
Priority attribute
Preemption attribute
Resilience attribute
Policing attribute

53
 Resource Attributes
Part of the topology state parameters used to
constrain the routing of traffic trunks through
specific resources
Main components
Maximum Allocation Multiplier (MAM) -
administratively configured to determine the
proportion of resource available for allocation
Resource Class Attribute - administratively assigned
parameters which express some notion of “Class”
for resources

54
 Constraint Based
Routing
Enables a demand driven, resource reservation
aware, routing paradigm to co-exist with current
topology driven protocols
uses the following inputs
traffic trunk attributes
resource attributes
other topology state information
Basic features
prune the resources that do not meet the
requirements of the traffic trunk attribute
run a shortest path algorithm on the residual
graph

55
Constraint Based Routing
(cont.)
Strict & Loose Explicit Routes
Constraint Based LSP (CRLSP) is calculated at
one point at the edge of the network based
on certain criteria
special char. such as assigning certain
bandwidth can be supported
The route is encoded as a series of Explicit
routed hops contained in a CR based route
TLV

56
Constraint Based Routing
(cont.)
Traffic Characteristics
Described in the Traffic Parameter TLV in
terms of peak rate, committed rate and
service granularity
Preemption
Setup and Holding priorities are used to
rank new and existing paths respectively
to determine if new paths can preempt
existing paths
Allocation of these priorities is a network
policy


57
Constraint Based Routing
(cont.)
Route Pinning
applicable to segments of an LSP that are
loosely routed i.e the next hop is an
abstract node
used if the LSP need not be changed
Resource Class
While setup , indication must be given as to
which class the CRLSP can draw resources
from

58
Im p le m e n ta tio n
C o n sid e ra tio n

Management Interface

Conventiona
Constraint Based
MPLS l
Routing Process
IGP Process

Resource Attribute Link State

Availability Database Database
59
 Quality of Service using
CRLSP
Delay Sensitive Service
the network commits to deliver with high
probability, user datagrams at a rate of PDR with
minimum delay and delay requirements
Datagrams in excess of PDR will be discarded
Throughput Sensitive Service
the network commits to deliver at a rate of at least
CDR
Datagrams with higher CDR have lower probability
of being delivered
Best Effort Service
No expected service is guaranteed

60
Ta g S w itch in g
Terminologies Analogies in Label
Switching
Tags Labels

Tag Switching Router (TSR) Label Switching Router

Tag Edge Router (TER) Edge Label Switching

Router
Tag Forwarding Information Label Switching Forwarding
Base (TFIB) Table
Tag Distribution Protocol Label Distribution Protocol
(TDP)
61
Destination Based
Routing
A TSR participates in unicast routing protocols
to construct its mapping between FECs and
next hops
This mapping is used by the Tag Switching
Control component for constructing the TFIB
which is used for actual packet forwarding

62
 fo rw a rd in g m o d e lo f Ta g
S w itch in g
A B

if0 if1 if2

if1 E
if2 if0
if0

if1 if2 192.16/16

if0 if2 if1 if0 TSR

C D

63
Information for
constructing TFIB
A local binding between the FEC and a tag
takes a tag from the pool of free tags and
uses it as an index in the TFIB to set the
incoming tag entry
A mapping between the FEC and the next
hop for that FEC (provided by the routing
protocol(s) running on the TSR)
A remote binding between the FEC and a tag
that is received from the next hop

64
In itia lT FIB E n trie s
Incoming Outgoing Next Outgoing
tag tag hop Interface
On TSR A 100 ? TSR B If1
On TSR B 6 ? TSR E If1
On TSR C 17 ? TSR D If2
On TSR D 5 ? TSR E If0
On TSR E 6 ? TSR E If0

65
T FIB E n trie s a fte r Ta g
D istrib u tio n
Incoming Outgoing Next Outgoing
tag tag hop Interface
On TSR A 100 6 TSR B If1
On TSR B 6 6 TSR E If1
On TSR C 17 5 TSR D If2
On TSR D 5 6 TSR E If0
On TSR E 6 ? TSR E If0

66
B e h a vio r d u rin g ro u tin g
ch a n g e
A B

if0 if1 if2

if1 E
if2 if0
if0

if1 if2
Link Down

if0 if2 if1 if0 TSR

C D

67
U p d a te d T FIB
Incoming Outgoing Next Outgoing
tag tag hop Interface
On TSR A 100 6 TSR B If1
On TSR B 6 6 TSR E If1
On TSR C 17 5 TSR D If2
On TSR D 5 6 TSR B If0
On TSR E 6 ? TSR E If0

68
Hierarchy of Routing
Knowledge
All TSRs within a routing domain participate
in a common intra-domain routing protocol
and construct TFIB corresponding to
destinations within the domain
All border TSRs or TERs within a domain and
directly connected TERs from other domains
also exchange Tag binding information via
inter-domain routing protocol

69
 Hierarchy of Routing
Knowledge (cont.)
To support forwarding in the presence of
hierarchy of routing knowledge, Tag switching
allows a packet to carry several tags
organized as a tag stack
At the ingress a tag is pushed onto the tag
stack, and at the egress a tag is popped off a
the stack

70
H ie ra rch y o f R o u tin g
kn o w le d g e m o d e l
Routing Routing
domain Routing domain A domain
B C

V T X Y W Z

TSR

71
T FIB E n trie s in R o u tin g
D o m a in A

Incoming Outgoing Next

tag tag hop
On TSR A N/A 10 TSR X
On TSR B 10 12 TSR Y
On TSR C 12 17 TSR W
On TSR D 17 N/A TSR W

72
 La b e lS ta ck D u rin g
H ie ra rch ica lR o u tin g
TSR Z distributes label 2 to TSR W and TSR W gives
label 5 to TSR T for the purpose of inter-domain routing

Top of
Stack
10 Top of
Stack
2 2
Stack after processing in Stack after processing in
TSR T TSR W
73
Multicast in Tag Switching
Selects the distribution tree based only on
tag carried in a packet
interface on which the packet arrives
TSR maintains its TFIB on a per interface basis
TSRs connected to a common sub-network
agree among themselves on a common tag
associated with a particular multicast tree

74
Multicast in Tag Switching
(cont.)
Procedures are used to partition the set of
tags for use with multicast into disjoint
subsets and care is taken to avoid
overlapping with the help of HELLO
packets
TSR connected to a common sub-network
and those which are a part of the same
distribution tree elect one TSR that will
create the tag bindings and distribute
them and any TSR can join the group
using the JOIN command

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M u ltica st m o d e lin Ta g
S w itch in g
A B
TSR

if0
D
if0 if1

if2

if0 if0

E F
76
RSVP with Tag
Switching
RSVP is supported by the help of a RSVP
object - the tag Object
The tag object binding information for an
RSVP flow is carried in the RSVP “RESV”
message
The RESV message carries the tag object
containing the tag given by a TSR and also
information about the local resources to be
used
The reservation state is refreshed once the
flow is set up using the RESV message

77
Explicit Routes
Tag switching supports explicit routes with the
help of a RSVP object - the Explicit Route
Object
The object is carried in the RSVP “PATH”
message
The tag information is carried in the Tag Object
by the RSVP “RESV”

78
IP Switching
Introduced by Ipsilon
Already been tested in the field
Significant Innovation: Defined a switch
management protocol (GSMP) along with
label binding protocol called Ipsilon Flow
Management Protocol (IFMP)
General Switch Management Protocol
(GSMP) - allows an ATM switch to be
controlled by an “IP switch controller”

79
IP Switching Overview
IP over ATM models are complex and
inefficient - involve running two control
planes
ATM Forum signaling and routing
IP routing and address resolution on top
In contrast IP Switching uses
IP component plus label binding protocol
completely removes ATM control plane
Goal: To integrate ATM switches and IP
routing in a simple and efficient way

80
Removing ATM Control
Plane
IP
ATM MARS NHRP
ARP
PNNI
IP IFMP
Q.2931
ATM hardware ATM hardware
(a) (b)

(a) IP over Standard ATM

(b) IP Switching
81
IP Switching
Architecture
Switch controller
control processor of the system
uses GSMP to communicate with ATM switch
itself
runs IP routing and forwarding code
Default VC
defined to get control traffic before IP
Switching is performed
uses well known VCI/VPI value
also used for data that doesn’t yet have a
label
IP Switch Architecture
Switch controller
Flow Classification and control
To
To Routing downstream

GSMP
IFMP
upstream and switch
switch forwardin
g

GSMP
Default Default
VC VC
Data Data
VC VC
Switch
83
 IP Switching Basics
IP Switching relies on IP protocols
 to establish routing information
 to determine next hop
Flow classification and control module selects flows
from incoming traffic
IP flow refers to a sequence of datagrams
 from one source to one destination, identified by the
ordered pair <source address, destination address>
 can also refer to a flow at finer granularity, e.g.,
different applications between same pair of machines,
identified by < source address, source port,
destination address, destination port>
 Flow Redirection
Redirection: Process of binding labels to flows and
establishing label switched paths
Example:
 data is flowing from A via B to C on default VC
 B sends a redirect to A specifying flow y and the
label (VPI/VCI) on which it expects to receive
 If C issues a redirect to B for flow y, B forwards y
on the VPI/VCI specified by C
 Since same flow y enters B on one VC and leaves
on another, B uses GSMP to inform its switching
element to set up the appropriate switching path
Flow Redirection
Redirect:
Flow y VPI/VCI 3/57
Switch
A B C Controller
Default VC Default VC Switch
3/57 Element
Switch B issues a REDIRECT message to switch A

Redirect: Redirect:
Flow y VPI/VCI 3/57 Flow y VPI/VCI 2/22
Switch
A B C Controller
Default VC Default VC Switch
Element
3/57 2/22
Switch B and C redirect the same flow, allowing it to be switched at B
Ipsilon Flow Management
Protocol (IFMP)
Designed to communicate flow to label
binding information
IFMP is a soft state protocol
IFMP’s Adjacency Protocol:
Used to communicate and discover
information about neighbors
Adjacency message sent as limited
broadcast
IFMP’s Redirection Protocol
used to send appropriate messages for
flow-label bindings


87
IFMP’s Redirection
Protocol
Different message types defined:
REDIRECT: used to bind label to a flow
RECLAIM: enables label to be unbound for
subsequent re-use
RECLAIM ACK: Acknowledgement for
RECLAIM message
ERROR: Used to deal with various error
conditions
Common header format

88
FMP Redirect Protocol Message Format
Version Opcode Checksum

SenderInstance

PeerInstance

SequenceNumber

Messagebody:variablelength

IFMP REDIRECT message body

Flowtype FlowIDlength Lifetime

Label

Flowidentifier
Encapsulation of Redirected
Flows

LLC SN AP IP header Data AAL5

trailer
Encapsulation of IP packet on the default VC

IFMP flow Data AAL5

type header trailer
Encapsulation of IP packet on the redirected VCs

90
 Management Protocol
(GSMP)
GSMP is a master/slave protocol
ATM switch is the slave
Master could be any general purpose computer
The protocol allows the master to
Establish and release VC connections across the
switch
Perform port management (Up, Down, Reset,
Loopback)
Request Data (configuration information,
statistics)
Allows slave to inform master if something
interesting, such as link failure, happens on the
switch 91
GSMP contd..
GSMP packets are LLC/SNAP encapsulated
and sent over ATM link using AAL5
GSMP Adjacency Protocol
used to gain information about the system
at the other end of the link and
to monitor link status
GSMP Connection Management Protocol
used to ensure consistency between the
GSMP master and slave
also specifies the QoS using a priority field

92
 Implementations &
Contributions
IP Switching products
 available since 1996
 Ipsilon product family uses Intel Pentium-based PC as
the switch controller
 Also offers a number of ATM switches that are
controlled by the switch controller
IP Switching made the following significant
contributions to label switching effort:
 first to deliver real products and caused activity that
resulted in the development of Tag Switching and
ultimately the formation of MPLS working group
 contributed GSMP


93