Module 1 - 1

Introducing Basic MPLS

Concepts

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-1

 Drawbacks of Traditional IP Routing

• Routing protocols are used to distribute Layer 3

routing information.
• Forwarding is based on the destination
address only.
• Routing lookups are performed on every hop.

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-2

 Drawbacks of Traditional IP Routing:
Traditional IP Forwarding

• Every router may need full Internet routing

information (more than 100,000 routes).
• Destination-based routing lookup is needed on
every hop.

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-3

 Drawbacks of Traditional IP Routing:
IP over ATM

• Layer 2 devices have no knowledge of Layer 3 routing

information—virtual circuits must be manually established.
• Layer 2 topology may be different from Layer 3 topology,
resulting in suboptimal paths and link use.
• Even if the two topologies overlap, the hub-and-spoke topology
is usually used because of easier management.

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-4

 Drawbacks of Traditional IP Routing:
Traffic Engineering

• Most traffic goes between large sites A and B, and uses only the
primary link.
• Destination-based routing does not provide any mechanism for load
balancing across unequal paths.
• Policy-based routing can be used to forward packets based on other
parameters, but this is not a scalable solution.
© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-5
 Basic MPLS Concepts

• MPLS is a new forwarding mechanism in which

packets are forwarded based on labels.
• Labels usually correspond to IP destination
networks (equal to traditional IP forwarding).
• Labels can also correspond to other parameters,
such as QoS or source address.
• MPLS was designed to support forwarding of other
protocols as well.

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-6

 Basic MPLS Concepts Example

• Only edge routers must perform a routing lookup.

• Core routers switch packets based on simple label lookups and
swap labels.
© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-7
 MPLS vs. IP over ATM

• Layer 2 devices are IP-aware and run a routing protocol.

• There is no need to manually establish virtual circuits.
• MPLS provides a virtual full mesh topology.

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-8

 Traffic Engineering with MPLS

• Traffic can be forwarded based on other parameters

(QoS, source, and so on).
• Load sharing across unequal paths can be achieved.

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-9

 MPLS Architecture

MPLS has two major components:

• Control plane: Exchanges Layer 3 routing
information and labels; contains complex
mechanisms to exchange routing information, such
as OSPF, EIGRP, IS-IS, and BGP, and to exchange
labels; such as LDP, and RSVP
• Data plane: Forwards packets based on labels; has
a simple forwarding engine

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-10

 MPLS Architecture (Cont.)

Router functionality is divided into two major

parts: the control plane and the data plane
© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-11
 MPLS Labels

• MPLS technology is intended to be used anywhere

regardless of Layer 1 media and Layer 2 protocol.
• MPLS uses a 32-bit label field that is inserted
between Layer 2 and Layer 3 headers
(frame-mode MPLS).
• MPLS over ATM uses the ATM header as the label
(cell-mode MPLS).

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-12

 MPLS Labels: Label Format

MPLS uses a 32-bit label field that contains

the following information:
• 20-bit label
• 3-bit experimental field
• 1-bit bottom-of-stack indicator
• 8-bit TTL field

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-13

 MPLS Labels: Frame-Mode MPLS

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-14

 Label Switch Routers

• LSR primarily forwards labeled packets (label swapping).

• Edge LSR primarily labels IP packets and forwards them
into the MPLS domain, or removes labels and forwards IP
packets out of the MPLS domain.

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-15

 Label Switch Routers:
Architecture of LSRs

• LSRs, regardless of the type, perform these

functions:
– Exchange routing information
– Exchange labels
– Forward packets (LSRs and edge LSRs) or cells
(ATM LSRs and ATM edge LSRs)
• The first two functions are part of the control
plane.
• The last function is part of the data plane.

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-16

 Label Switch Routers:
Architecture of Edge LSRs

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-17

Module 1 - 2

Identifying MPLS
Applications

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-18

 MPLS Applications

• MPLS is already used in many different applications:

– Unicast IP routing
– Multicast IP routing
– MPLS TE
– QoS
– MPLS L2/L3 VPNs (course focus)
• EoMPLS
• VPLS
• Regardless of the application, the functionality is always split into
the control plane and the data (forwarding) plane:
– The applications differ only in the control plane.
– The applications all use a common label-switching data
(forwarding) plane.
– Edge LSR Layer 3 data planes may differ.
© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-19
 Unicast IP Routing

• Two mechanisms are needed on the control plane:

– IP routing protocol (OSPF, IS-IS, EIGRP,
and so on)
– Label distribution protocol (LDP)
• A routing protocol carries the information about
the reachability of networks.
• The label distribution protocol binds labels to
networks learned via a routing protocol.

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-20

 MPLS TE

• MPLS TE requires OSPF or IS-IS with extensions

for MPLS TE as the IGP.
• OSPF and IS-IS with extensions hold the entire
topology in their databases.
• OSPF and IS-IS should also have some additional
information about network resources and
constraints.
• RSVP is used to establish TE tunnels and to
propagate labels.

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-21

 Quality of Service

• Differentiated QoS is an extension to unicast IP

routing that provides differentiated services.
• Extensions to LDP are used to propagate different
labels for different classes.

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-22

 Virtual Private Networks

• Networks are learned via an IGP (OSPF, EBGP, EIGRP,

Routing Information Protocol version 2, or static) from
a customer or via BGP from other internal routers.
• Labels are propagated via MP-BGP.
• Two labels are used:
– The top label points to the egress router
(assigned through LDP).
– The second label identifies the outgoing interface on
the egress router or a routing table where a
routing lookup is performed.
• FEC is equal to a VPN site descriptor or VPN routing
table.

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-23

 Interactions Between MPLS Applications

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-24

Module 1 - 3

Introducing MPLS
Labels and Label Stack

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-25

 MPLS Labels

• Labels are inserted between the Layer 2 (frame)

header and the Layer 3 (packet) header.
• There can be more than one label (label stack).
• The bottom-of-stack bit indicates if the label is the
last label in the label stack.
• The TTL field is used to prevent the indefinite
looping of packets.
• Experimental bits are usually used to carry the IP
precedence value.

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-26

 MPLS Label Format

MPLS uses a 32-bit label field that contains the

following information:
• 20-bit label (a number)
• 3-bit experimental field (usually used to carry IP
precedence value)
• 1-bit bottom-of-stack indicator (indicates whether
this is the last label before the IP header)
• 8-bit TTL (equal to the TTL in the IP header)

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-27

 MPLS Label Stack

• The protocol identifier in a Layer 2 header specifies that

the payload starts with a label (labels) and is followed by
an IP header.
• The bottom-of-stack bit indicates whether the next header
is another label or a Layer 3 header.
• The receiving router uses the top label only.

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-28

 MPLS Forwarding

• An LSR can perform the following functions:

– Insert (impose) a label or a stack of labels on
ingress
– Swap a label with a next-hop label or a stack of
labels in the core
– Remove (pop) a label on egress

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-29

 MPLS Forwarding: Frame Mode

• On ingress, a label is assigned and imposed by the IP routing process.

• LSRs in the core swap labels based on the contents of the label forwarding
table.
• On egress, the label is removed and a routing lookup is used to forward the
packet.
© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-30
Module 1 - 4

Introducing MPLS VPN

Routing Model

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-31

 MPLS VPN Routing Requirements

• CE routers have to run standard IP routing

software.
• PE routers have to support MPLS VPN services
and Internet routing.
• P routers have no VPN routes.

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-32

 MPLS VPN Routing:
CE Router Perspective

• The CE routers run standard IP routing software and exchange

routing updates with the PE router.
– EBGP, OSPF, RIPv2, EIGRP, and static routes are supported.

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-33

 MPLS VPN Routing:
Overall Customer Perspective

• To the customer, the PE routers appear as core routers

connected via a BGP backbone.
• The usual BGP and IGP design rules apply.
• The P routers are hidden from the customer.

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-34

 MPLS VPN Routing:
P Router Perspective

• P routers do not participate in MPLS VPN routing

and do not carry VPN routes.
• P routers run backbone IGP with the PE routers
and exchange information about global
subnetworks (core links and loopbacks).

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-35

 MPLS VPN Routing:
PE Router Perspective

PE routers:
• Exchange VPN routes with CE routers via per-VPN routing
protocols
• Exchange core routes with P routers and PE routers via core IGP
• Exchange VPNv4 routes with other PE routers via MP-IBGP
sessions
© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-36
 Support for Existing Internet Routing

PE routers can run standard IPv4 BGP in the global

routing table:
• PE routers exchange Internet routes with other PE routers.
• CE routers do not participate in Internet routing.
• P routers do not need to participate in Internet routing.

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-37

 Routing Tables on PE Routers

PE routers contain a number of routing tables:

• The global routing table contains core routes (filled with core
IGP) and Internet routes (filled with IPv4 BGP).
• The VRF tables contains routes for sites of identical routing
requirements from local (IPv4 VPN) and remote
(VPNv4 via MP-BGP) CE routers.
© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-38
Module 1 - 5

Forwarding MPLS VPN

Packets

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-39

-39
 VPN Label Propagation

Labels are propagated in MP-BGP VPNv4 routing updates.

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-40

 VPN Label Propagation (Cont.)

Step 1: A VPN label is assigned to every VPN route by the egress

PE router.
Step 2: The VPN label is advertised to all other PE routers in an MP-BGP
update.
Step 3: A label stack is built in the VFR table.

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-41

 MPLS VPNs and Packet Forwarding

• The VPN label is understood only by the egress PE

router.
• An end-to-end LSP tunnel is required between the
ingress and egress PE routers.

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-42

 Summary

• PE routers forward packets across the MPLS VPN

backbone using label stacking.
• The last P router in the LSP tunnel pops the LDP
label, and the PE router receives a labeled packet
that contains only the VPN label.
• Labels are propagated between PE routers using
MP-BGP.

© 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-43