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 2

 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 doesn’t use specific technology process (e.g.
ATM/FR signaling protocol PNNI or ATM OAM
flow)

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 4

 MPLS and ISO model

7
IETF main goal is that Applications to
when a layer is added, 5
no modification is TCP UDP 4
needed on the existing
layers. IP 3
All new protocol must MPLS
Frame
be backward PPP ATM (*) 2
PPP FR
Relay ATM (*)
compatible
Physical (Optical - Electrical) 1

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

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 5

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

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 6

 MPLS Architecture
Classification
LSP Label assignment
Label swapping Label removal

Routing protocol OSPF OSPF OSPF

FEC table Local table Local table Local table

Attributes Precedence

Label table Local table Local table Local table

Layer 2 Layer 2 Layer 2

Label Switch
Layer 1 Layer 1 Layer 1

Ingress Core Egress

Node Node Node
July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 7
 MPLS process
Label Switch Path

OSPF / RIP / IS-IS

FEC FEC FEC

Label removal
Precedence
Label swapping

Label table Label table Label table

Classification
Label assignment
Layer 2 Layer 2 Layer 2

Layer 1 Layer 1 Layer 1

Ingress Core Egress

Node Node Node
July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 8
 MPLS Cloud
LER

L3 Routing LER
LER

L3 Routing L3 Routing

LER LSR LSR

Label Swapping Label Swapping LER

L3 Routing
L3 Routing

IP Packet
IP Packet w/ Label
July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 9
 MPLS Link Layers & Label
Encapsulation

Layer2 ATM FR Ethernet PPP

VPI VCI DLCI “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 11

 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.

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 12

 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 FEC Egress Label

6 138.120.6/24 - xxxx 9
•FECs are manually initiated by the operator
•A FEC is associated at least one Label

Ingress Label
Ingress Label FEC FEC Attribute Egress
Attribute Label
Egress Label
6 138.120.6/24 - xxxx A 9

6 138.120.6/24 - xxxx B 12

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 13

 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 Port Ingress Label FEC L2 Type Egress Label Port

ATM 1-1 12 (i.e. 4/65) F1 ATM 22 (i.e. 5/65)3-4
ATM 1-1 15 (i.e. 0/25) F4 FR 9 (i.e. 101) 5-1
Gig Eth 5-1 7 F1 ATM 22 (i.e. 4/65)3-4

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 14

 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

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 15

 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 Exp S TTL

(20 bits) (3 bits) (1 bit) (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
July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 16
 Label Switched Path
Ingress Ingress FEC Egress Egress
Ingress Ingress FEC Egress Egress Interface Label Interface Label
Interface Label Interface Label
1 12 138.120 4 x
1 5 138.120 3 12

MPLS switch
3
1
4 138.120
1
2
MPLS switch 3
127.20 1 2
3 3 MPLS switch 192.168
2 1 2

MPLS switch

Ingress Ingress FEC Egress Egress

Interface Label Interface Label
1 x 138.120 3 5

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 17

 Hop by Hop IP forwarding
Ingress Ingress FEC Egress Egress
Ingress Ingress FEC Egress Egress Interface Label Interface Label
Interface Label Interface Label
1 Default None 4 x
1 Default None 3 Default

?? MPLS switch

1 38.1
2 0 .6
1
.12
138.123
0.6.12
??
138.12 1
4 138.120
0.6.12 138.120.6.12
2
MPLS switch 3
12
127.20 1 . 12 0.6. 2
1338 3 MPLS switch 192.168
138.120.6.12
2 1 2

??
MPLS switch
Ingress Ingress FEC Egress Egress
Interface Label Interface Label
1 x None 3 Default

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 18

 IP forwarding using LSP
Ingress Ingress FEC Egress Egress
Ingress Ingress FEC Egress Egress Interface Label Interface Label
Interface Label Interface Label
1 12 138.120 4 x
1 5 138.120 3 12

MPLS switch
138.120.6.12 3
1
138.1 4 138.120
2 20.6.1
6.1 1 2 138.120.6.12
.1 20. 2
138
MPLS switch 3
127.20 1 2
3 3 MPLS switch 192.168
138.120.6.12
2 1 2

MPLS switch
Ingress Ingress FEC Egress Egress
Interface Label Interface Label
1 x 138.120 3 5

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 19

 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 20

 Downstream stream on demand
Ingress Ingress FEC Egress Egress
Ingress Ingress FEC Egress Egress Interface Label Interface Label
Interface Label Interface Label
1 12 138.120 4 x
1 5 138.120 3 12

MPLS switch
Reque
3 s t 1 38.
1 120
8 .120 4 138.120
es t 13
u 1
Req 2 Mapp
MPLS switch g5 in g 12 3
pin
127.20 1 Map 2
3 3 MPLS switch 192.168
2 1 2

MPLS switch The label is requested by the

Ingress Ingress FEC Egress Egress upstream node and the
Interface Label Interface Label downstream node defines the
1 x 138.120 3 5 label used.

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 21

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

MPLS switch
3
1
4 138.120
1
2 Mapp
MPLS switch g5 in g 12 3
pin
127.20 1 Map 2
3 3 MPLS switch 192.168
2 1 2

MPLS switch
The downstream node
Ingress Ingress
defines the label and
FEC Egress Egress
Interface Label Interface Label advertises it to the
1
upstream node.
x 138.120 3 5

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 22

 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 23

 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 24

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

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 25

 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

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 26

 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 4
LER 1
Overload !!

Forward to
LSR 2 LSR 3
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 29

 MPLS VPN : MPLS topology
VPN 2
138.120.6.0/24
LSR
138.120.8.0/24 Site B
VPN 1 Site A LSP 47
ISP Backbone
LSR LSR LSR

LSR

LSP 32
LSR

Site A
Site B
138.120.8.0/24
VPN 2 138.120.6.0/24 VPN 1

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 30

 MPLS - Some Major Vendors

• Alcatel
• Cisco
• Juniper Networks
• Nortel
• Lucent

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 31

 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 32

 Any Questions ?

Thanks for your time !

Email
Pramoda.Nallur@ind.alcatel.com
 MPLS - An Analysis
TCP & UDP Flows without
MPLS
UDP
Throughput (in Mbps)

TCP 2
TCP 1

UDP Rate (in Mbps)

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 34

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

TCP 2

TCP 1

UDP Rate (in Mbps)

July 29, 2000 TECON 2000 35