MPLS Introduction

Multi-Protocol Label Switching

Professor: Math Sa
Presented by: Sim Chhanun
Dept. of Telecommunications and Electronic Engineering

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Content

 MPLS Overview
 Unicast IP Forwarding in Traditional IP Networks
 MPLS Forwarding
 Architectural Blocks of MPLS
 MPLS Terminology
 CEF in MPLS Networks
 MPLS Label Assignment
 MPLS Router Type
 Provider Router – “P” Router
 Provider Edge Router – “PE” Router
 Customer Edge Router – “CE” Router
 Router Reflector
 MPLS Advantages and Disadvantages
 Reference
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MPLS Overview

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Unicast IP forwarding in Traditional IP Networks
• The first defined and used protocol
• Packets are forwarded based on destination IP address.
• Routers use routing tables to determine the next hop address.
• Connectionless
- e.g. no QoS

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MPLS Forwarding

• Packets are forwarded based on labels, which are generated per router (or
interface).
• Labels define paths called Label Switched Paths (LSPs).
• Only edge routers perform routing lookups.

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Architectural Blocks of MPLS
MPLS functionality is divided into two main architectural blocks:
o Control plane:
 Contains all Layer 3 routing information and processes to
exchange reachability information.
 Examples of control plane functions:
• Routing protocol information exchange (OSPF, BGP)
• Label distribution protocols (LDP)

o Data plane:
 Performs functions related to forwarding data packets.
 Information in the data plane, such as label values, is derived
from the control plane.
 Uses mappings of IP destination prefixes to labels from the
control plane to forward data plane labeled packets.

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Architectural Blocks of MPLS (Con’t)

Control Plane and Data Plane on a Router

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MPLS Terminology

 Forwarding Equivalence Class (FEC): A group of packets that are

forwarded in the same manner (over the same path with the same
forwarding treatment).
 MPLS Label Switch Router (LSR): A router that performs label
switching. LSRs can either remove, add, or swap labels on packets.
 MPLS Edge-Label Switch Router (E-LSR): An LSR at the border of an
MPLS domain.
• Ingress E-LSRs impose labels on packets and forward them to the destination.
• Egress E-LSRs remove labels from packets and forward them to the destination.

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MPLS Terminology (Con’t)

LSR and Edge LSR

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 MPLS Label
• MPLS is known as OSI layer 2.5
• Label info is inserted between Data link and Network layer and this is sometimes
called shim header

• 20-bit label value: Identifies the prefix in question.

• 3-bit experimental field: Defines the QoS assigned to the FEC.
• 1-bit bottom-of-stack indicator: Indicates if the label is the bottom label of the
label stack.
• 8-bit Time-to-Live field: Prevents looping of unwanted packets.
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CEF in MPLS Networks

 CEF's Role in MPLS

• CEF eliminates cache rewrite overhead in the IP Core by utilizing a Forwarding
Information Base (FIB) mirroring the entire IP routing table.

 Data Plane Structures

1. FIB (Forwarding Information Base)
• Resides in the data plane.
• Maps destination networks to next-hop adjacencies.
2. LFIB (Label Forwarding Information Base)
• Resides in the data plane.
• Contains a local label to next-hop label mapping along with the outgoing
interface for forwarding labeled packets.

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MPLS label assignment

MPLS label assignment allows LSRs to forward packets faster by

eliminating the need to perform routing lookups. Instead, LSRs can simply
look up the label for the packet's destination address in the FIB and
forward the packet to the next hop router based on the label.

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MPLS Router Type

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Provider Router – “P” Router

 Used for transport across the MPLS backbone

 Runs an IGP such as OSPF or ISIS
 Has no BGP peeing
 Has no knowledge of customer

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Provider Edge Router – “PE” Router

 Label Switching Router

 Has Knowledge of the customer routes
 Peers directly with customer equipment

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Customer Edge Router – “CE” Router

 Typically has an eBGP peering with upstream PE router.

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Router Reflector

 Deploying multiple Route Reflectors in the network allows for redundancy. If one
Route Reflector fails, the other can continue to serve BGP clients.
 Route Reflectors should be distributed across different physical locations or
network segments to minimize the risk of a single point of failure.

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MPLS Advantages and Disadvantages

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MPLS Advantages and Disadvantages

 Advantages
• Improves packet-forwarding performance in the network
• Supports QoS and CoS for service differentiation
• Supports network scalability
• Integrates IP and ATM in the network
• Builds interoperable networks

 Disadvantages
• An additional layer is added
• The router has to understand MPLS

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Reference

Refer to this book

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Thank you!

Q&A

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