MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS)

Pramoda Nallur

Alcatel Internetworking Division

July 29, 2000

TECON 2000

Agenda
MPLS - The Motivation How MPLS Works ! MPLS Technology MPLS Application

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000

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.
July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 3

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)

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000

MPLS and ISO model

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 Applications TCP IP MPLS Frame FR Relay UDP 7 to 5 4 3 ATM (*) ATM (*) 2 1

PPP PPP

Physical (Optical - Electrical)

(*) ATM overlay model (without addressing and P-NNI) is considered as an ISO layer 2 protocol.

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000

Agenda
Motivation for MPLS How MPLS Works ! MPLS Technology MPLS Application

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000

MPLS Architecture
LSP Routing protocol FEC table Attributes Label table Label Switch
Classification Label assignment Label swapping Label removal

OSPF

OSPF

OSPF

Local table

Local table

Local table

Precedence

Local table

Local table

Local table

Layer 2

Layer 2

Layer 2

Layer 1 Ingress Node

Layer 1 Core Node

Layer 1 Egress Node

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000

MPLS process
Label Switch Path OSPF / RIP / IS-IS Label removal Label swapping Classification Label assignment
FEC FEC FEC

Precedence

Label table

Label table

Label table

Layer 2

Layer 2

Layer 2

Layer 1 Ingress Node

Layer 1 Core Node

Layer 1 Egress Node

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000

MPLS Cloud
LER LER L3 Routing LER

L3 Routing LSR Label Swapping

L3 Routing

LER

LSR Label Swapping LER

L3 Routing L3 Routing
IP Packet IP Packet w/ Label
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MPLS Link Layers & Label Encapsulation

Layer2

ATM
VPI VCI

FR DLCI

Ethernet

PPP

Shim Label

Shim header . IP | PAYLOAD

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 10

Agenda
Motivation for MPLS How MPLS Works ! MPLS Technology MPLS Application

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000

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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.

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FEC Classification
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.
Ingress Label 6 FEC 138.120.6/24 - xxxx Egress Label 9

FECs are manually initiated by the operator A FEC is associated at least one Label
Ingress Label Ingress Label 6 6 July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 FEC FEC Attribute Egress Label Attribute Egress Label A B 9 12 13

138.120.6/24 - xxxx 138.120.6/24 - xxxx

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 ATM ATM Gig Eth

Port 1-1 1-1 5-1

Ingress Label FEC 12 (i.e. 4/65) 15 (i.e. 0/25) 7 F1 F4 F1

L2 Type ATM FR ATM

Egress Label Port 22 (i.e. 5/65)3-4 9 (i.e. 101) 5-1 22 (i.e. 4/65)3-4

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000

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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, CRLDP requests

Traffic Driven
Label assignment in response to flow detection & triggering
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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)
Label : Exp : S: TTL :
July 29, 2000 TECON 2000

Exp (3 bits)

S (1 bit)

TTL (8bits)

Label value (0 to 15 are reserved for special use) Experimental Use Bottom of Stack (set to 1 for the last entry in the label) Time To Live
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Label Switched Path

Ingress Ingress Interface Label 1 5 FEC Egress Egress Interface Label 138.120 3 12 Ingress Ingress Interface Label 1 12 FEC Egress Egress Interface Label 138.120 4 x

MPLS switch
1 3 4 1 2 3 1 2 2 3

138.120

127.20

MPLS switch
1 3 2

MPLS switch

192.168

MPLS switch

Ingress Ingress Interface Label 1 x

FEC Egress Egress Interface Label 5 3 138.120

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July 29, 2000 TECON 2000

Hop by Hop IP forwarding

Ingress Ingress Interface Label 1 Default FEC Egress Egress Interface Label None 3 Default Ingress Ingress Interface Label 1 Default FEC Egress Egress Interface Label None 4 x

??
1

MPLS switch
3

??
1 2 2

4 3

138.120

138.120.6.12

127.20

MPLS switch
1 3 2 1

2 3

MPLS switch

192.168

138.120.6.12

??
Ingress Ingress Interface Label 1 x

MPLS switch

FEC Egress Egress Interface Label None 3 Default

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July 29, 2000 TECON 2000

IP forwarding using LSP

Ingress Ingress Interface Label 1 5 FEC Egress Egress Interface Label 138.120 3 12 Ingress Ingress Interface Label 1 12 FEC Egress Egress Interface Label 138.120 4 x

MPLS switch
1 3 4 1 2 3 1 2 2 3

138.120
138.120.6.12

127.20
138.120.6.12

MPLS switch
1 3 2

MPLS switch

192.168

MPLS switch

Ingress Ingress Interface Label 1 x

FEC Egress Egress Interface Label 138.120 3 5

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July 29, 2000 TECON 2000

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

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000

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Downstream stream on demand

Ingress Ingress Interface Label 1 5 FEC Egress Egress Interface Label 138.120 3 12 Ingress Ingress Interface Label 1 12 FEC Egress Egress Interface Label 138.120 4 x

MPLS switch
1 3 4 1 2 3 1 2 2 3

138.120

127.20

MPLS switch
1 3 2

MPLS switch

192.168

MPLS switch

Ingress Ingress Interface Label 1 x

FEC Egress Egress Interface Label 138.120 3 5

The label is requested by the upstream node and the downstream node defines the label used.
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July 29, 2000 TECON 2000

Unsolicited Downstream
Ingress Ingress Interface Label 1 5 FEC Egress Egress Interface Label 138.120 3 12 Ingress Ingress Interface Label 1 12 FEC Egress Egress Interface Label 138.120 4 x

MPLS switch
1 3 4 1 2 3 1 2 2 3

138.120

127.20

MPLS switch
1 3 2

MPLS switch

192.168

MPLS switch

Ingress Ingress Interface Label 1 x

FEC Egress Egress Interface Label 138.120 3 5

The downstream node defines the label and advertises it to the upstream node.
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July 29, 2000 TECON 2000

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

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000

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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

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000

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Agenda
Motivation for MPLS How MPLS Works ! MPLS Technology MPLS Application

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000

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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

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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
July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 27

Explicitly Routed LSP

Overload !! LER 1 Overload !! LSR 2 LSR 3 LER 4

Forward to LSR 2 LSR 3 LSR 4 LSR X

End-to-End forwarding decision determined by ingress node. Enables Traffic Engineering

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 28

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.

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000

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MPLS VPN : MPLS topology

VPN 2
138.120.6.0/24 LSR 138.120.8.0/24

Site B Site A

VPN 1

ISP Backbone
LSR

LSP 47
LSR LSR

LSR

LSP 32
LSR

Site A
138.120.8.0/24

Site B
138.120.6.0/24

VPN 2
July 29, 2000 TECON 2000

VPN 1
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MPLS - Some Major Vendors

Alcatel Cisco Juniper Networks Nortel Lucent

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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

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000

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Any Questions ?
Thanks for your time !

Email Pramoda.Nallur@ind.alcatel.com

MPLS - An Analysis
TCP & UDP Flows without MPLS Throughput (in Mbps) UDP

TCP 2 TCP 1 UDP Rate (in Mbps)

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000

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MPLS - An Analysis
TCP & UDP Flows with MPLS Trunks (LSPs) Throughput (in Mbps) UDP

TCP 2

TCP 1 UDP Rate (in Mbps)

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000

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