Help us improve your experience.

Let us know what you think.

Do you have time for a two-minute survey?

 
 

Inline Multlink Services

Inline MLPPP for WAN Interfaces Overview

Inline Multilink PPP (MLPPP), Multilink Frame Relay (FRF.16), and Multilink Frame Relay End-to-End (FRF.15) for time-division multiplexing (TDM) WAN interfaces provide bundling services through the Packet Forwarding Engine without requiring a PIC or Dense Port Concentrator (DPC).

Traditionally, bundling services are used to bundle multiple low-speed links to create a higher bandwidth pipe. This combined bandwidth is available to traffic from all links and supports link fragmentation and interleaving (LFI) on the bundle, reducing high priority packet transmission delay.

This support includes multiple links on the same bundle as well as multiclass extension for MLPPP. Through this service you can enable bundling services without additional DPC slots to support Service DPC and free up the slots for other MICs.

Note:

MLPPP is not supported on MX Series Virtual Chassis.

Starting in Junos OS Release 15.1, you can configure inline MLPPP interfaces on MX80, MX104, MX240, MX480, and MX960 routers with Channelized E1/T1 Circuit Emulation MICs. A maximum of up to eight inline MLPPP interface bundles are supported on Channelized E1/T1 Circuit Emulation MICs, similar to the support for inline MLPPP bundles on other MICs with which they are compatible.

Configuring inline MLPPP for WAN interfaces benefits the following services:

  • CE-PE link for Layer 3 VPN and DIA service with public switched telephone networks (PSTN)-based access networks.

  • PE-P link when PSTN is used for MPLS networks.

This feature is used by the following service providers:

  • Service providers that use PSTN to offer Layer 3 VPN and DIA service with PSTN-based access networks to medium or large business customers.

  • Service providers with SONET-based core networks.

The following figure illustrates the scope of this feature:

Figure 1: Inline MLPPP for WAN InterfacesInline MLPPP for WAN Interfaces

For connecting many smaller sites in VPNs, bundling the TDM circuits together with MLPPP/MLFR technology is the only way to offer higher bandwidth and link redundancy.

MLPPP enables you to bundle multiple PPP links into a single multilink bundle, and MLFR enables you to bundle multiple Frame Relay data-link connection identifiers (DLCIs) into a single multilink bundle. Multilink bundles provide additional bandwidth, load balancing, and redundancy by aggregating low-speed links, such as T1, E1, and serial links.

MLPPP is a protocol for aggregating multiple constituent links into one larger PPP bundle. MLFR allows you to aggregate multiple Frame Relay links by inverse multiplexing. MLPPP and MLFR provide service options between low-speed T1 and E1 services. In addition to providing additional bandwidth, bundling multiple links can add a level of fault tolerance to your dedicated access service. Because you can implement bundling across multiple interfaces, you can protect users against loss of access when a single interface fails.

To configure inline MLPPP for WAN interfaces, see:

Enabling Inline LSQ Services

Inline Multilink PPP (MLPPP), Multilink Frame Relay (FRF.16), and Multilink Frame Relay End-to-End (FRF.15) for time-division multiplexing (TDM) WAN interfaces provide bundling services through the Packet Forwarding Engine without requiring a PIC or Dense Port Concentrator (DPC).

Traditionally, bundling services are used to bundle multiple low-speed links to create a higher bandwidth pipe. This combined bandwidth is available to traffic from all links and supports link fragmentation and interleaving (LFI) on the bundle, reducing high priority packet transmission delay.

This support includes multiple links on the same bundle as well as multiclass extension for MLPPP. Through this service you can enable bundling services without additional DPC slots to support Service DPC and free up the slots for other MICs.

The inline LSQ logical interface (referred to as lsq-) is a virtual service logical interface that resides on the Packet Forwarding Engine to provide Layer 2 bundling services that do not need a service PIC. The naming convention is lsq-slot/pic/0.

Note:

Click here for a compatibility matrix of MICs currently supported by MPC1, MPC2, MPC3, MPC6, MPC8, and MPC9 on MX240, MX480, MX960, MX2008, MX2010, MX2020, and MX10003 routers.

A Type1 MPC has only one logical unit (LU); therefore only one LSQ logical interface can be created. When configuring a Type1 MPC, use PIC slot 0. Type2 MPC has two LUs; therefore two LSQ logical interfaces can be created. When configuring a Type2 MPC, use PIC slot 0 and slot 2.

Configure each LSQ logical interface with one loopback stream. This stream can be shaped like a regular stream, and is shared with other inline interfaces, such as the inline services (SI) interface.

To support FRF.16 bundles, create logical interfaces with the naming convention lsq-slot/pic/0:bundle_id, where bundle_id can range from 0 to 254. You can configure logical interfaces created on the main LSQ logical interface as MLPPP or FRF.16.

Because SI and LSQ logical interfaces might share the same stream, and there could be multiple LSQ logical interfaces on that stream, any logical interface-related shaping is configured at the Layer 2 node instead of the Layer 1 node. As a result, when SI is enabled, instead of limiting the stream bandwidth to 1Gb or 10Gb based on the configuration, only the Layer 2 queue allocated for the SI interface is shaped at 1Gb or 10Gb.

For MLPPP and FRF.15, each LSQ logical interface is shaped based on the total bundle bandwidth (sum of member link bandwidths with control packet flow overhead) by configuring one unique Layer 3 node per bundle. Similarly, each FRF.16 logical interface is shaped based on total bundle bandwidth by configuring one unique Layer 2 node per bundle. FRF16 logical interface data-link connection identifiers (DLCIs) are mapped to Layer 3 nodes.

To enable inline LSQ services and create the lsq- logical interface for the specified PIC, specify the multi-link-layer-2-inline and mlfr-uni-nni-bundles-inline configuration statements.

Note:

On MX80 and MX104 routers that have a single Packet Forwarding Engine, you can configure the LSQ logical interface only on FPC 0 and PIC 0. The channelized card must be in slot FPC 0/0 for the corresponding bundle to work.

For example, to enable inline service for PIC 0 on a Type1 MPC on slot 1:

As a result, logical interfaces lsq-1/0/0, and lsq-1/0/0:0 are created. The number of inline multilink frame relay user-to-network interface (UNI) and network-to-network interface (NNI) bundles is set to 1.

For example, to enable inline service for both PIC 0 and PIC 2 on Type2 MPC installed in slot 5:

As a result, logical interfaces lsq-5/0/0, lsq-5/0/0:0, lsq-5/0/0:1, lsq-5/2/0, lsq-5/2/0:0, and lsq-5/2/0:1 are created. The number of inline multilink frame relay user-to-network interface (UNI) and network-to-network interface (NNI) bundles is set to 1.

Note:

The PIC number here is only used as an anchor to choose the correct LU to bind the inline LSQ interface. The bundling services are operational as long as the Packet Forwarding Engine to which it is bound is operational, even if the logical PIC is offline.

Configuring LSQ Interfaces as NxT1 or NxE1 Bundles Using MLPPP

To configure an NxT1 bundle using MLPPP, you aggregate N different T1 links into a bundle. The NxT1 bundle is called a logical interface, because it can represent, for example, a routing adjacency. To aggregate T1 links into a an MLPPP bundle, include the bundle statement at the [edit interfaces t1-fpc/pic/port unit logical-unit-number family mlppp] hierarchy level:

Note:

Link services IQ interfaces support both T1 and E1 physical interfaces. These instructions apply to T1 interfaces, but the configuration for E1 interfaces is similar.

To configure the link services IQ interface properties, include the following statements at the [edit interfaces lsq-fpc/pic/port unit logical-unit-number] hierarchy level:

Note:

ACX Series routers do not support drop-timeout and link-layer-overhead properties.

The logical link services IQ interface represents the MLPPP bundle. For the MLPPP bundle, there are four associated queues on M Series routers and eight associated queues on M320 and T Series routers. A scheduler removes packets from the queues according to a scheduling policy. Typically, you designate one queue to have strict priority, and the remaining queues are serviced in proportion to weights you configure.

For MLPPP, assign a single scheduler map to the link services IQ interface (lsq) and to each constituent link. The default schedulers for M Series and T Series routers, which assign 95, 0, 0, and 5 percent bandwidth for the transmission rate and buffer size of queues 0, 1, 2, and 3, are not adequate when you configure LFI or multiclass traffic. Therefore, for MLPPP, you should configure a single scheduler with nonzero percent transmission rates and buffer sizes for queues 0 through 3, and assign this scheduler to the link services IQ interface (lsq) and to each constituent link, as shown in Example: Configuring an LSQ Interface as an NxT1 Bundle Using MLPPP.

Note:

For M320 and T Series routers, the default scheduler transmission rate and buffer size percentages for queues 0 through 7 are 95, 0, 0, 5, 0, 0, 0, and 0 percent.

If the member link belonging to one MLPP, MLFR, or MFR bundle interface is moved to another bundle interface, or the links are swapped between two bundle interfaces, a commit is required between the delete and add operations to ensure that the configuration is applied correctly.

If the bundle has more than one link, you must include the per-unit-scheduler statement at the [edit interfaces lsq-fpc/pic/port] hierarchy level:

To configure and apply the scheduling policy, include the following statements at the [edit class-of-service] hierarchy level:

For link services IQ interfaces, a strict-high-priority queue might starve the other three queues because traffic in a strict-high priority queue is transmitted before any other queue is serviced. This implementation is unlike the standard Junos CoS implementation in which a strict-high-priority queue does round-robin with high-priority queues, as described in the Class of Service User Guide (Routers and EX9200 Switches).

After the scheduler removes a packet from a queue, a certain action is taken. The action depends on whether the packet came from a multilink encapsulated queue (fragmented and sequenced) or a nonencapsulated queue (hashed with no fragmentation). Each queue can be designated as either multilink encapsulated or nonencapsulated, independently of the other. By default, traffic in all forwarding classes is multilink encapsulated. To configure packet fragmentation handling on a queue, include the fragmentation-maps statement at the [edit class-of-service] hierarchy level:

For NxT1 bundles using MLPPP, the byte-wise load balancing used in multilink-encapsulated queues is superior to the flow-wise load balancing used in nonencapsulated queues. All other considerations are equal. Therefore, we recommend that you configure all queues to be multilink encapsulated. You do this by including the fragment-threshold statement in the configuration. If you choose to set traffic on a queue to be nonencapsulated rather than multilink encapsulated, include the no-fragmentation statement in the fragmentation map. You use the multilink-class statement to map a forwarding class into a multiclass MLPPP (MCML). . For more information about fragmentation maps, see Configuring CoS Fragmentation by Forwarding Class on LSQ Interfaces.

When a packet is removed from a multilink-encapsulated queue, the software gives the packet an MLPPP header. The MLPPP header contains a sequence number field, which is filled with the next available sequence number from a counter. The software then places the packet on one of the N different T1 links. The link is chosen on a packet-by-packet basis to balance the load across the various T1 links.

If the packet exceeds the minimum link MTU, or if a queue has a fragment threshold configured at the [edit class-of-service fragmentation-maps map-name forwarding-class class-name] hierarchy level, the software splits the packet into two or more fragments, which are assigned consecutive multilink sequence numbers. The outgoing link for each fragment is selected independently of all other fragments.

If you do not include the fragment-threshold statement in the fragmentation map, the fragmentation threshold you set at the [edit interfaces interface-name unit logical-unit-number] hierarchy level is the default for all forwarding classes. If you do not set a maximum fragment size anywhere in the configuration, packets are fragmented if they exceed the smallest MTU of all the links in the bundle.

Even if you do not set a maximum fragment size anywhere in the configuration, you can configure the maximum received reconstructed unit (MRRU) by including the mrru statement at the [edit interfaces lsq-fpc/pic/port unit logical-unit-number] hierarchy level. The MRRU is similar to the MTU, but is specific to link services interfaces. By default the MRRU size is 1500 bytes, and you can configure it to be from 1500 through 4500 bytes. For more information, see Configuring MRRU on Multilink and Link Services Logical Interfaces.

When a packet is removed from a nonencapsulated queue, it is transmitted with a plain PPP header. Because there is no MLPPP header, there is no sequence number information. Therefore, the software must take special measures to avoid packet reordering. To avoid packet reordering, the software places the packet on one of the N different T1 links. The link is determined by hashing the values in the header. For IP, the software computes the hash based on source address, destination address, and IP protocol. For MPLS, the software computes the hash based on up to five MPLS labels, or four MPLS labels and the IP header.

For UDP and TCP the software computes the hash based on the source and destination ports, as well as source and destination IP addresses. This guarantees that all packets belonging to the same TCP/UDP flow always pass through the same T1 link, and therefore cannot be reordered. However, it does not guarantee that the load on the various T1 links is balanced. If there are many flows, the load is usually balanced.

The N different T1 interfaces link to another router, which can be from Juniper Networks or another vendor. The router at the far end gathers packets from all the T1 links. If a packet has an MLPPP header, the sequence number field is used to put the packet back into sequence number order. If the packet has a plain PPP header, the software accepts the packet in the order in which it arrives and makes no attempt to reassemble or reorder the packet.

Example: Configuring an LSQ Interface as an NxT1 Bundle Using MLPPP

Configuring LSQ Interfaces as NxT1 or NxE1 Bundles Using FRF.16

To configure an NxT1 bundle using FRF.16, you aggregate N different T1 links into a bundle. The NxT1 bundle carries a potentially large number of Frame Relay PVCs, identified by their DLCIs. Each DLCI is called a logical interface, because it can represent, for example, a routing adjacency.

To aggregate T1 links into an FRF.16 bundle, include the mlfr-uni-nni-bundles statement at the [edit chassis fpc slot-number pic slot-number] hierarchy level and include the bundle statement at the [edit interfaces t1-fpc/pic/port unit logical-unit-number family mlfr-uni-nni] hierarchy level:

Note:

Link services IQ interfaces support both T1 and E1 physical interfaces. These instructions apply to T1 interfaces, but the configuration for E1 interfaces is similar.

To configure the link services IQ interface properties, include the following statements at the [edit interfaces lsq- fpc/pic/port:channel] hierarchy level:

The link services IQ channel represents the FRF.16 bundle. Four queues are associated with each DLCI. A scheduler removes packets from the queues according to a scheduling policy. On the link services IQ interface, you typically designate one queue to have strict priority. The remaining queues are serviced in proportion to weights you configure.

For link services IQ interfaces, a strict-high-priority queue might starve the other three queues because traffic in a strict-high-priority queue is transmitted before any other queue is serviced. This implementation is unlike the standard Junos CoS implementation in which a strict-high-priority queue does round-robin with high-priority queues, as described in the Class of Service User Guide (Routers and EX9200 Switches).

If the bundle has more than one link, you must include the per-unit-scheduler statement at the [edit interfaces lsq-fpc/pic/port:channel] hierarchy level:

For FRF.16, you can assign a single scheduler map to the link services IQ interface (lsq) and to each link services IQ DLCI, or you can assign different scheduler maps to the various DLCIs of the bundle, as shown in Example: Configuring an LSQ Interface as an NxT1 Bundle Using FRF.16.

For the constituent links of an FRF.16 bundle, you do not need to configure a custom scheduler. Because LFI and multiclass are not supported for FRF.16, the traffic from each constituent link is transmitted from queue 0. This means you should allow most of the bandwidth to be used by queue 0. For M Series and T Series routers, the default schedulers’ transmission rate and buffer size percentages for queues 0 through 3 are 95, 0, 0, and 5 percent. These default schedulers send all user traffic to queue 0 and all network-control traffic to queue 3, and therefore are well suited to the behavior of FRF.16. If desired, you can configure a custom scheduler that explicitly replicates the 95, 0, 0, and 5 percent queuing behavior, and apply it to the constituent links.

Note:

For M320 and T Series routers, the default scheduler transmission rate and buffer size percentages for queues 0 through 7 are 95, 0, 0, 5, 0, 0, 0, and 0 percent.

If the member link belonging to one MLPP, MLFR, or MFR bundle interface is moved to another bundle interface, or the links are swapped between two bundle interfaces, a commit is required between the delete and add operations to ensure that the configuration is applied correctly.

To configure and apply the scheduling policy, include the following statements at the [edit class-of-service] hierarchy level:

To configure packet fragmentation handling on a queue, include the fragmentation-maps statement at the [edit class-of-service] hierarchy level:

For FRF.16 traffic, only multilink encapsulated (fragmented and sequenced) queues are supported. This is the default queuing behavior for all forwarding classes. FRF.16 does not allow for nonencapsulated traffic because the protocol requires that all packets carry the fragmentation header. If a large packet is split into multiple fragments, the fragments must have consecutive sequential numbers. Therefore, you cannot include the no-fragmentation statement at the [edit class-of-service fragmentation-maps map-name forwarding-class class-name] hierarchy level for FRF.16 traffic. For FRF.16, if you want to carry voice or any other latency-sensitive traffic, you should not use slow links. At T1 speeds and above, the serialization delay is small enough so that you do not need to use explicit LFI.

When a packet is removed from a multilink-encapsulated queue, the software gives the packet an FRF.16 header. The FRF.16 header contains a sequence number field, which is filled with the next available sequence number from a counter. The software then places the packet on one of the N different T1 links. The link is chosen on a packet-by-packet basis to balance the load across the various T1 links.

If the packet exceeds the minimum link MTU, or if a queue has a fragment threshold configured at the [edit class-of-service fragmentation-maps map-name forwarding-class class-name] hierarchy level, the software splits the packet into two or more fragments, which are assigned consecutive multilink sequence numbers. The outgoing link for each fragment is selected independently of all other fragments.

If you do not include the fragment-threshold statement in the fragmentation map, the fragmentation threshold you set at the [edit interfaces interface-name unit logical-unit-number] or [edit interfaces interface-name mlfr-uni-nni-bundle-options] hierarchy level is the default for all forwarding classes. If you do not set a maximum fragment size anywhere in the configuration, packets are fragmented if they exceed the smallest MTU of all the links in the bundle.

Even if you do not set a maximum fragment size anywhere in the configuration, you can configure the maximum received reconstructed unit (MRRU) by including the mrru statement at the [edit interfaces lsq-fpc/pic/port unit logical-unit-number] or [edit interfaces interface-name mlfr-uni-nni-bundle-options] hierarchy level. The MRRU is similar to the MTU but is specific to link services interfaces. By default, the MRRU size is 1500 bytes, and you can configure it to be from 1500 through 4500 bytes. For more information, see Configuring MRRU on Multilink and Link Services Logical Interfaces.

The N different T1 interfaces link to another router, which can be from Juniper Networks or another vendor. The router at the far end gathers packets from all the T1 links. Because each packet has an FRF.16 header, the sequence number field is used to put the packet back into sequence number order.

Example: Configuring an LSQ Interface as an NxT1 Bundle Using FRF.16

Configure an NxT1 bundle using FRF.16 with multiple CoS scheduler maps:

Configuring LSQ Interfaces as NxT1 or NxE1 Bundles Using FRF.15

This example configures an NxT1 bundle using FRF.15 on a link services IQ interface. FRF.15 is similar to FRF.12, as described in Configuring LSQ Interfaces for Single Fractional T1 or E1 Interfaces Using FRF.12. The difference is that FRF.15 supports multiple physical links in a bundle, whereas FRF.12 supports only one physical link per bundle. For the Junos OS implementation of FRF.15, you can configure one DLCI per physical link.

Note:

Link services IQ interfaces support both T1 and E1 physical interfaces. This example refers to T1 interfaces, but the configuration for E1 interfaces is similar.

Configuring LSQ Interfaces for Single Fractional T1 or E1 Interfaces Using MLPPP and LFI

When you configure a single fractional T1 interface, it is called a logical interface, because it can represent, for example, a routing adjacency.

The logical link services IQ interface represents the MLPPP bundle. Four queues are associated with the logical interface. A scheduler removes packets from the queues according to a scheduling policy. Typically, you designate one queue to have strict priority, and the remaining queues are serviced in proportion to weights you configure.

To configure a single fractional T1 interface using MLPPP and LFI, you associate one DS0 (fractional T1) interface with a link services IQ interface. To associate a fractional T1 interface with a link services IQ interface, include the bundle statement at the [edit interfaces ds-fpc/pic/port:channel unit logical-unit-number family mlppp] hierarchy level:

Note:

Link services IQ interfaces support both T1 and E1 physical interfaces. These instructions apply to T1 interfaces, but the configuration for E1 interfaces is similar.

To configure the link services IQ interface properties, include the following statements at the [edit interfaces lsq-fpc/pic/port unit logical-unit-number] hierarchy level:

For MLPPP, assign a single scheduler map to the link services IQ (lsq) interface and to each constituent link. The default schedulers for M Series and T Series routers, which assign 95, 0, 0, and 5 percent bandwidth for the transmission rate and buffer size of queues 0, 1, 2, and 3, are not adequate when you configure LFI or multiclass traffic. Therefore, for MLPPP, you should configure a single scheduler with nonzero percent transmission rates and buffer sizes for queues 0 through 3, and assign this scheduler to the link services IQ (lsq) interface and to each constituent link and to each constituent link, as shown in Example: Configuring an LSQ Interface for a Fractional T1 Interface Using MLPPP and LFI.

Note:

For M320 and T Series routers, the default scheduler transmission rate and buffer size percentages for queues 0 through 7 are 95, 0, 0, 5, 0, 0, 0, and 0 percent.

To configure and apply the scheduling policy, include the following statements at the [edit class-of-service] hierarchy level:

For link services IQ interfaces, a strict-high-priority queue might starve all the other queues because traffic in a strict-high priority queue is transmitted before any other queue is serviced. This implementation is unlike the standard Junos CoS implementation in which a strict-high-priority queue receives infinite credits and does round-robin with high-priority queues, as described in the Class of Service User Guide (Routers and EX9200 Switches).

After the scheduler removes a packet from a queue, a certain action is taken. The action depends on whether the packet came from a multilink encapsulated queue (fragmented and sequenced) or a nonencapsulated queue (hashed with no fragmentation). Each queue can be designated as either multilink encapsulated or nonencapsulated, independently of the other. By default, traffic in all forwarding classes is multilink encapsulated. To configure packet fragmentation handling on a queue, include the fragmentation-maps statement at the [edit class-of-service] hierarchy level:

If you require the queue to transmit small packets with low latency, configure the queue to be nonencapsulated by including the no-fragmentation statement. If you require the queue to transmit large packets with normal latency, configure the queue to be multilink encapsulated by including the fragment-threshold statement. If you require the queue to transmit large packets with low latency, we recommend using a faster link and configuring the queue to be nonencapsulated. For more information about fragmentation maps, see Configuring CoS Fragmentation by Forwarding Class on LSQ Interfaces.

When a packet is removed from a multilink-encapsulated queue, it is fragmented. If the packet exceeds the minimum link MTU, or if a queue has a fragment threshold configured at the [edit class-of-service fragmentation-maps map-name forwarding-class class-name] hierarchy level, the software splits the packet into two or more fragments, which are assigned consecutive multilink sequence numbers.

If you do not include the fragment-threshold statement in the fragmentation map, the fragmentation threshold you set at the [edit interfaces interface-name unit logical-unit-number] hierarchy level is the default for all forwarding classes. If you do not set a maximum fragment size anywhere in the configuration, packets are fragmented if they exceed the smallest MTU of all the links in the bundle.

Even if you do not set a maximum fragment size anywhere in the configuration, you can configure the maximum received reconstructed unit (MRRU) by including the mrru statement at the [edit interfaces lsq-fpc/pic/port unit logical-unit-number] hierarchy level. The MRRU is similar to the MTU, but is specific to link services interfaces. By default the MRRU size is 1500 bytes, and you can configure it to be from 1500 through 4500 bytes. For more information, see Configuring MRRU on Multilink and Link Services Logical Interfaces.

When a packet is removed from a multilink-encapsulated queue, the software gives the packet an MLPPP header. The MLPPP header contains a sequence number field, which is filled with the next available sequence number from a counter. The software then places the packet on the fractional T1 link. Traffic from another queue might be interleaved between two fragments of the packet.

When a packet is removed from a nonencapsulated queue, it is transmitted with a plain PPP header. The packet is then placed on the fractional T1 link as soon as possible. If necessary, the packet is placed between the fragments of a packet from another queue.

The fractional T1 interface links to another router, which can be from Juniper Networks or another vendor. The router at the far end gathers packets from the fractional T1 link. If a packet has an MLPPP header, the software assumes the packet is a fragment of a larger packet, and the fragment number field is used to reassemble the larger packet. If the packet has a plain PPP header, the software accepts the packet in the order in which it arrives, and the software makes no attempt to reassemble or reorder the packet.

Example: Configuring an LSQ Interface for a Fractional T1 Interface Using MLPPP and LFI

Configure a single fractional T1 logical interface:

Configuring LSQ Interfaces for Single Fractional T1 or E1 Interfaces Using FRF.12

To configure a single fractional T1 interface using FRF.16, you associate a DS0 interface with a link services IQ (lsq) interface. When you configure a single fractional T1, the fractional T1 carries a potentially large number of Frame Relay PVCs identified by their DLCIs. Each DLCI is called a logical interface, because it can represent, for example, a routing adjacency. To associate the DS0 interface with a link services IQ interface, include the bundle statement at the [edit interfaces ds-fpc/pic/port:channel unit logical-unit-number family mlfr-end-to-end] hierarchy level:

Note:

Link services IQ interfaces support both T1 and E1 physical interfaces. These instructions apply to T1 interfaces, but the configuration for E1 interfaces is similar.

To configure the link services IQ interface properties, include the following statements at the [edit interfaces lsq-fpc/pic/port unit logical-unit-number] hierarchy level:

The logical link services IQ interface represents the FRF.12 bundle. Four queues are associated with each logical interface. A scheduler removes packets from the queues according to a scheduling policy. Typically, you designate one queue to have strict priority, and the remaining queues are serviced in proportion to weights you configure.

For FRF.12, assign a single scheduler map to the link services IQ interface (lsq) and to each constituent link. For M Series and T Series routers, the default schedulers, which assign 95, 0, 0, and 5 percent bandwidth for the transmission rate and buffer size of queues 0, 1, 2, and 3, are not adequate when you configure LFI or multiclass traffic. Therefore, for FRF.12, you should configure schedulers with nonzero percent transmission rates and buffer sizes for queues 0 through 3, and assign them to the link services IQ interface (lsq) and to each constituent link, as shown in Examples: Configuring an LSQ Interface for a Fractional T1 Interface Using FRF.12.

Note:

For M320 and T Series routers, the default scheduler transmission rate and buffer size percentages for queues 0 through 7 are 95, 0, 0, 5, 0, 0, 0, and 0 percent.

To configure and apply the scheduling policy, include the following statements at the [edit class-of-service] hierarchy level:

For link services IQ interfaces, a strict-high-priority queue might starve the other three queues because traffic in a strict-high-priority queue is transmitted before any other queue is serviced. This implementation is unlike the standard Junos CoS implementation in which a strict-high-priority queue does round-robin with high-priority queues, as described in the Class of Service User Guide (Routers and EX9200 Switches).

After the scheduler removes a packet from a queue, a certain action is taken. The action depends on whether the packet came from a multilink encapsulated queue (fragmented and sequenced) or a nonencapsulated queue (hashed with no fragmentation). Each queue can be designated as either multilink encapsulated or nonencapsulated, independently of the other. By default, traffic in all forwarding classes is multilink encapsulated. To configure packet fragmentation handling on a queue, include the fragmentation-maps statement at the [edit class-of-service] hierarchy level:

If you require the queue to transmit small packets with low latency, configure the queue to be nonencapsulated by including the no-fragmentation statement. If you require the queue to transmit large packets with normal latency, configure the queue to be multilink encapsulated by including the fragment-threshold statement. If you require the queue to transmit large packets with low latency, we recommend using a faster link and configuring the queue to be nonencapsulated. For more information about fragmentation maps, see Configuring CoS Fragmentation by Forwarding Class on LSQ Interfaces.

When a packet is removed from a multilink-encapsulated queue, it is fragmented. If the packet exceeds the minimum link MTU, or if a queue has a fragment threshold configured at the [edit class-of-service fragmentation-maps map-name forwarding-class class-name] hierarchy level, the software splits the packet into two or more fragments, which are assigned consecutive multilink sequence numbers.

If you do not include the fragment-threshold statement in the fragmentation map, the fragmentation threshold you set at the [edit interfaces interface-name unit logical-unit-number] hierarchy level is the default for all forwarding classes. If you do not set a maximum fragment size anywhere in the configuration, packets are fragmented if they exceed the smallest MTU of all the links in the bundle.

Even if you do not set a maximum fragment size anywhere in the configuration, you can configure the maximum received reconstructed unit (MRRU) by including the mrru statement at the [edit interfaces lsq-fpc/pic/port unit logical-unit-number] hierarchy level. The MRRU is similar to the MTU but is specific to link services interfaces. By default, the MRRU size is 1500 bytes, and you can configure it to be from 1500 through 4500 bytes. For more information, see Configuring MRRU on Multilink and Link Services Logical Interfaces.

When a packet is removed from a multilink-encapsulated queue, the software gives the packet an FRF.12 header. The FRF.12 header contains a sequence number field, which is filled with the next available sequence number from a counter. The software then places the packet on the fractional T1 link. Traffic from another queue might be interleaved between two fragments of the packet.

When a packet is removed from a nonencapsulated queue, it is transmitted with a plain Frame Relay header. The packet is then placed on the fractional T1 link as soon as possible. If necessary, the packet is placed between the fragments of a packet from another queue.

The fractional T1 interface links to another router, which can be from Juniper Networks or another vendor. The router at the far end gathers packets from the fractional T1 link. If a packet has an FRF.12 header, the software assumes the packet is a fragment of a larger packet, and the fragment number field is used to reassemble the larger packet. If the packet has a plain Frame Relay header, the software accepts the packet in the order in which it arrives, and the software makes no attempt to reassemble or reorder the packet.

A whole packet from a nonencapsulated queue can be placed between fragments of a multilink-encapsulated queue. However, fragments from one multilink-encapsulated queue cannot be interleaved with fragments from another multilink-encapsulated queue. This is the intent of the specification FRF.12, Frame Relay Fragmentation Implementation Agreement. If fragments from two different queues were interleaved, the header fields might not have enough information to separate the fragments.

Examples: Configuring an LSQ Interface for a Fractional T1 Interface Using FRF.12

FRF.12 with Fragmentation and Without LFI

This example shows a 128 KB DS0 interface. There is one traffic stream on ge-0/0/0, which is classified into queue 0 (be). Packets are fragmented in the link services IQ (lsq-) interface according to the threshold configured in the fragmentation map.

FRF.12 with Fragmentation and LFI

This example shows a 512 KB DS0 bundle and four traffic streams on ge-0/0/0 that are classified into four queues. The fragment size is 160 for queue 0, queue 1, and queue 2. The voice stream on queue 3 has LFI configured.

Configuring LSQ Interfaces as T3 or OC3 Bundles Using FRF.12

This example configures a clear-channel T3 or OC3 interface with multiple logical interfaces (DLCIs) on the link. In this scenario, each DLCI represents a customer. DLCIs are shaped at the egress PIC to a particular speed (NxDS0). This allows you to configure LFI using FRF.12 End-to-End Protocol on Frame Relay DLCIs.

To do this, first configure logical interfaces (DLCIs) on the physical interface. Then bundle the DLCIs, so that there is only one DLCI per bundle.

The physical interface must be capable of per-DLCI scheduling, which allows you to attach shaping rates to each DLCI. For more information, see the Junos OS Network Interfaces Library for Routing Devices.

To prevent fragment drops at the egress PIC, you must assign a shaping rate to the link services IQ logical interfaces and to the egress DLCIs. Shaping rates on DLCIs specify how much bandwidth is available for each DLCI. The shaping rate on link services IQ interfaces should match the shaping rate assigned to the DLCI that is associated with the bundle.

Egress interfaces also must have a scheduler map attached. The queue that carries voice should be strict-high-priority, while all other queues should be low-priority. This makes LFI possible.

This example shows voice traffic in the ef queue. The voice traffic is interleaved with bulk data. Alternatively, you can use multiclass MLPPP to carry multiple classes of traffic in different multilink classes.

For more information about how FRF.12 works with links services IQ interfaces, see Configuring LSQ Interfaces for Single Fractional T1 or E1 Interfaces Using FRF.12.

Configuring LSQ Interfaces for ATM2 IQ Interfaces Using MLPPP

This example configures an ATM2 IQ interface with MLPPP bundled with link services IQ interfaces. This allows you to configure LFI on ATM virtual circuits.

For this type of configuration, the ATM2 IQ interface must have LLC encapsulation.

The following ATM PICs are supported in this scenario:

  • 2-port OC-3/STM1 ATM2 IQ

  • 4-port DS3 ATM2 IQ

Virtual circuit multiplexed PPP over AAL5 is not supported. Frame Relay is not supported. Bundling of multiple ATM VCs into a single logical interface is not supported.

Unlike DS3 and OC3 interfaces, there is no need to create a separate scheduler map for the ATM PIC. For ATM, you define CoS components at the [edit interfaces at-fpc/pic/port atm-options] hierarchy level, as described in the Junos OS Network Interfaces Library for Routing Devices.

Note:

Do not configure RED profiles on ATM logical interfaces that are bundled. Drops do not occur at the ATM interface.

In this example, two ATM VCs are configured and bundled into two link services IQ bundles. A fragmentation map is used to interleave voice traffic with other multilink traffic. Because MLPPP is used, each link services IQ bundle can be configured for CRTP.

Change History Table

Feature support is determined by the platform and release you are using. Use Feature Explorer to determine if a feature is supported on your platform.

Release
Description
15.1
Starting in Junos OS Release 15.1, you can configure inline MLPPP interfaces on MX80, MX104, MX240, MX480, and MX960 routers with Channelized E1/T1 Circuit Emulation MICs.