Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a method for engineering traffic patterns by assigning short labels to network packets that describe how to forward them through the network. MPLS is independent of routing tables or any routing protocol and can be used for unicast packets.
This overview contains the following topics:
In a traditional IP network, packets are transmitted with an IP header that includes a source and destination address. When a router receives such a packet, it examines its forwarding tables for the next-hop address associated with the packet's destination address and forwards the packet to the next-hop location.
In an MPLS network, each packet is encapsulated with an MPLS header. When a router receives the packet, it copies the header as an index into a separate MPLS forwarding table. The MPLS forwarding table consists of pairs of inbound interfaces and path information. Each pair includes forwarding information that the router uses to forward the traffic and modify, when necessary, the MPLS header.
Because the MPLS forwarding table has far fewer entries than the more general forwarding table, the lookup consumes less processing time and processing power. The resultant savings in time and processing are a significant benefit for traffic that uses the network to transit between outside destinations only.
Label-switched paths (LSPs) are unidirectional routes through a network or autonomous system (AS). In normal IP routing, the packet has no predetermined path. Instead, each router forwards a packet to the next-hop address stored in its forwarding table, based only on the packet's destination address. Each subsequent router then forwards the packet using its own forwarding table.
In contrast, MPLS routers within an AS determine paths through a network through the exchange of MPLS traffic engineering information. Using these paths, the routers direct traffic through the network along an established route. Rather than selecting the next hop along the path as in IP routing, each router is responsible for forwarding the packet to a predetermined next-hop address.
Figure 85 shows a typical LSP topology.
Figure 85: Typical LSP Topology
In the topology shown in Figure 85, traffic is forwarded from Host C1 to the transit network with standard IP forwarding. When the traffic enters the transit network, it is switched across a preestablished LSP through the network. In this example, an LSP might switch the traffic from Router R4 to Router R2 to Router R1. When the traffic exits the network, it is forwarded to its destination by IP routing protocols.
Routers that are part of the LSP are label-switching routers (LSRs). Each LSR must be configured with MPLS so that it can interpret MPLS headers and perform the MPLS operations required to pass traffic through the network. An LSP can include four types of LSRs:
To forward traffic through an MPLS network, MPLS routers encapsulate packets and assign and manage headers known as labels. The routers use the labels to index the MPLS forwarding tables that determine how packets are routed through the network.
When a network's inbound router receives traffic, it inserts an MPLS label between the IP packet and the appropriate Layer 2 header for the physical link. The label contains an index value that identifies a next-hop address for the particular LSP. When the next-hop transit router receives the packet, it uses the index in the MPLS label to determine the next-hop address for the packet and forwards the packet to the next router in the LSP.
As each packet travels through the transit network, every router along the way performs a lookup on the MPLS label and forwards the packet accordingly. When the outbound router receives a packet, it examines the header to determine that it is the final router in the LSP. The outbound router then removes the MPLS header, performs a regular IP route lookup, and forwards the packet with its IP header to the next-hop address.
Each LSR along an LSP is responsible for examining the MPLS label, determining the LSP next hop, and performing the required label operations. LSRs can perform five label operations:
When it receives the packet, the inbound router performs an IP route lookup on the packet. Because the route lookup yields an LSP next hop, the inbound router performs a label push on the packet, and then forwards the packet to the LSP next hop.
When a transit router receives the packet, it performs an MPLS forwarding table lookup. The lookup yields the LSP next hop and the path index of the link between the transit router and the next router in the LSP.
If multiple LSPs terminate at the same outbound router, the router performs MPLS label operations for all outbound traffic on the LSPs. To share the operations among multiple routers, most LSPs use penultimate hop popping (PHP).
The multiple push operation is used with label stacking, which is beyond the scope of this guide.
The swap and push operation is used with label stacking, which is beyond the scope of this guide.
Multiple LSPs terminating at a single outbound router load the router with MPLS label operations for all their outbound traffic. Penultimate hop popping (PHP) transfers the operation from the outbound router to penultimate routers.
With PHP, the penultimate router is responsible for popping the MPLS label and forwarding the traffic to the outbound router. The outbound router then performs an IP route lookup and forwards the traffic. For example, if four LSPs terminate at the same outbound router and each has a different penultimate router, label operations are shared across four routers.
An MPLS LSP is established by one of two methods: static LSPs and dynamic LSPs.
Like a static route, a static LSP requires each router along the path to be configured explicitly. You must manually configure the path and its associated label values. Static LSPs require less processing by the LSRs because no signaling protocol is used. However, because paths are statically configured, they cannot adapt to network conditions. Topology changes and network outages can create black holes in the LSP that exist until you manually reconfigure the LSP.
Dynamic LSPs use signaling protocols to establish themselves and propagate LSP information to other LSRs in the network. You configure the inbound router with LSP information that is transmitted throughout the network when you enable the signaling protocols across the LSRs. Because the LSRs must exchange and process signaling packets and instructions, dynamic LSPs consume more resources than static LSPs. However, dynamic LSPs can avoid the network black holes of static LSPs by detecting topology changes and outages and propagating them throughout the network.
Traffic engineering facilitates efficient and reliable network operations while simultaneously optimizing network resources and traffic performance. Traffic engineering provides the ability to move traffic flow away from the shortest path selected by the interior gateway protocol (IGP) to a potentially less congested physical path across a network. To support traffic engineering, besides source routing, the network must do the following:
MPLS traffic engineering uses the following components:
J-series Services Routers also support traffic engineering across different OSPF regions. For more details, see the JUNOS MPLS Applications Configuration Guide.
A point-to-multipoint MPLS LSP is an RSVP-signaled LSP with a single source and multiple destinations. By taking advantage of the MPLS packet replication capability of the network, point-to-multipoint LSPs avoid unnecessary packet replication at the inbound (ingress) router. Packet replication takes place only when packets are forwarded to two or more different destinations requiring different network paths.
This process is illustrated in Figure 86. Router PE1 is configured with a point-to-multipoint LSP to Routers PE2, PE3, and PE4. When Router PE1 sends a packet on the point-to-multipoint LSP to Routers P1 and P2, Router P1 replicates the packet and forwards it to Routers PE2 and PE3. Router P2 sends the packet to Router PE4.
Figure 86: Point-to-Multipoint LSPs
The following are some of the properties of point-to-multipoint LSPs:
To set up a point-to-multipoint LSP, you configure the primary LSP from the ingress router and the branch LSPs that carry traffic to the egress routers. In addition to the conventional LSP configuration, you specify a path name on the primary LSP and this same path name on each branch LSP.
By default, the branch LSPs are dynamically signaled by means of CSPF and require no configuration. You can alternatively configure the branch LSPs as a static path.
For more information and configuration instructions, see the JUNOS MPLS Applications Configuration Guide.
