IPv6 over MPLS

6PE and 6VPE

Solutions to Deploy IPv6 in a Service Provider
If the service provider also wants to run MPLS for IPv6, IPv6 needs LDP support,
which is not implemented yet. However, because MPLS stands for Multiprotocol
Label Switching, it can transport more than just IPv4 as a payload. In networks that
are running MPLS today, the labeled packets might be IPv6 packets, without the
need for the P routers to run IPv6

- IPv6 Private Egde Router (6PE) over MPLS

- Pv6 Virtual Private Network (6VPE)

Another solutions but are not recommended :

- IPv6 over an MPLS backbone is Any Transport over MPLS (AToM).
- MPLS VPN Network Using IPv6 over IPv4 Tunnels on the CE Routers
IPv6 Private Egde Router (6PE) over MPLS
RFC 4798: 6PE over MPLS offers global IPv6
connectivity across Core IP/MPLS.

Allows tunneling of traffic in global IPv6 table over IPv4

MPLS Core.
IPv6 packets transported from 6PE to 6PE over Label Switch
Path
MP-BGP exchanges “external” client prefixes, labels, etc.
IPv6prefixes +Label for 6PE
How 6PE Works
The CE routers that are running IPv6 are
connected to the PE router via a normal
interface; the interface is not part of a VRF
for IPv6 even though the same interface
might be in a VRF for IPv4.

PE routers are dual-stack (IPv4 and IPv6).

The IPv6 routing distribution between the
PE routers is done via MP-iBGP. At the
same time, MP-iBGP distributes the label
to be used for the specific IPv6 prefixes.

This BGP label identifies or tags the IPv6

packet at the egress PE.
The egress PE looks up this BGP label in
the label forwarding information base
(LFIB) and uses it to forward the IPv6
packet toward the egress CE.
How 6PE Works

The iBGP sessions distribute the IPv6 prefixes and the associated MPLS label. This is
known as IPv6 + label and is encoded according to RFC 3107. The sydney PE router
distributes the IPv6 prefix 2001:DB8:1:2::1/128 with a label of 22 to the london PE
via MP-iBGP. All PE and P routers run an IGP and LDP.
How 6PE Works

There is two labels on top of the packets: an IGP label as the top label and the
BGP label as the bottom label. The IGP label is the LDP or RSVP (traffic
engineering) label for the BGP next hop of the egress PE.
This BGP next hop is encoded as an IPv4-mapped IPv6 address containing an IPv4
address of the egress PE router.
6PE Benefits
- The P router does not need to run IPv6 or even be IPv6 capable.
- Only the PE router needs to be IPv6 capable.
- IPv6 packets are directly labeled without an extra header.
- Can be quickly deployed over an existing MPLS backbone.
- The operation of 6PE is similar to the operation of MPLS VPN.

Similiraties to MPLS VPN for IPv4

Following are some similarities to MPLS VPN for IPv4:
- A full mesh is needed of MP-iBGP.
- There needs to be an IGP for IPv6 or eBGP or static routing between the PE and CE.
- The IPv6 packets are labeled with two labels.
IPv6 Virtual Private Network (6VPE)
The MPLS VPN solution for IPv6
or IPv6 VPN provider edge
(6VPE) is similar to the operation
of MPLS VPN for IPv4.

The obvious difference between

6PE and
6VPE is that in 6VPE, the IPv6
customer prefixes belong to a
VPN and are completely
separated
from the prefixes of the other
customers who connect to the
same MPLS VPN network
IPv6 Virtual Private Network (6VPE)
6VPE is similar in operation to
MPLS VPN for IPv4, so similar
commands are used, but now
for IPv6 instead of IPv4.
Following are the steps needed
to configure 6VPE:

1. Configure MPLS in the IPv4 core network (IPv4 unicast routing protocol and a label distribution
protocol) as for MPLS VPN for IPv4.
2. Configure an IPv6 VPN routing and forwarding (VRF) instance (with route-target import and
export policies) on the PE router.
3. Associate the IPv6 VRF to an interface on the PE router.
4. Configure address family vpnv6 and address family IPv6 VRF for the BGP routing protocol.
5. Configure an IPv6 routing protocol between the PE and the CE routers.
6VPE and MPLS VPN for IPv4 - Similiraties
The 6VPE and MPLS VPN for IPv4 solutions are different in the following ways:

- Address family vpnv6 is used instead of address family vpnv4 for BGP; there is
vpnv6 + label instead of vpnv4 + label between the PE routers.
- The next hop of the vpnv6 prefix is an IPv4-mapped IPv6 address of the egress PE.

A vpnv6 prefix is an IPv6 prefix that is prepended with a 64-bit route distinguisher
(RD). This combination of an IPv6 prefix and RD makes the vpnv6 prefix unique
throughout the network, allowing overlapping IPv6 prefix ranges in different VPNs,
as long as those VPNs are not allowed to communicate with each other.

You can use 6VPE and MPLS VPN for IPv4 at the same time, even on the same
interface on the PE router toward the CE router. You can have both an IPv6 VRF and
an IPv4 VRF configured on the same interface.
IPv6 Internet Access Through 6VPE
RFC 4364 specifies how to access the Internet from within a VPN. These methods for
accessing the Internet from CE routers belonging to a VPN that is built from the MPLS
VPN for IPv4 architecture. These three methods are as follows:

- Non-VRF Internet access: The PE router has 2 interfaces to the CE (a VRF interface
toward the CE router and other interface that is not in a VRF toward the CE router
for Internet in global routing)
- VRF Internet access : Put the Internet routes into one VRF
- Static and static VRF routes providing Internet access: Using the global keyword to
route the VRF traffic to the global routing in the PE route.