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Example: Interconnecting a Layer 2 VPN with a Layer 3 VPN

This example provides a step-by-step procedure and commands for interconnecting and verifying a Layer 2 VPN with a Layer 3 VPN. It contains the following sections:

Requirements

This example uses the following hardware and software components:

  • Junos OS Release 9.3 or later

  • Five MX Series routers

  • Three M Series routers

  • Two T Series routers

Overview and Topology

A Layer 2 VPN is a type of virtual private network (VPN) that uses MPLS labels to transport data. The communication occurs between the provider edge (PE) routers.

Layer 2 VPNs use BGP as the signaling protocol and, consequently, have a simpler design and require less provisioning overhead than traditional VPNs over Layer 2 circuits. BGP signaling also enables autodiscovery of Layer 2 VPN peers. Layer 2 VPNs can have either a full-mesh or a hub-and-spoke topology. The tunneling mechanism in the core network is, typically, MPLS. However, Layer 2 VPNs can also use other tunneling protocols, such as GRE.

Layer 3 VPNs are based on RFC 2547bis, BGP/MPLS IP VPNs. RFC 2547bis defines a mechanism by which service providers can use their IP backbones to provide VPN services to their customers. A Layer 3 VPN is a set of sites that share common routing information and whose connectivity is controlled by a collection of policies. The sites that make up a Layer 3 VPN are connected over a provider’s existing public Internet backbone. RFC 2547bis VPNs are also known as BGP/MPLS VPNs because BGP is used to distribute VPN routing information across the provider’s backbone, and MPLS is used to forward VPN traffic across the backbone to remote VPN sites.

Customer networks, because they are private, can use either public addresses or private addresses, as defined in RFC 1918, Address Allocation for Private Internets. When customer networks that use private addresses connect to the public Internet infrastructure, the private addresses might overlap with the same private addresses used by other network users. MPLS/BGP VPNs solve this problem by adding a route distinguisher. A route distinguisher is a VPN identifier prefix that is added to each address from a particular VPN site, thereby creating an address that is unique both within the VPN and within the Internet.

In addition, each VPN has its own VPN-specific routing table that contains the routing information for that VPN only. To separate a VPN’s routes from routes in the public Internet or those in other VPNs, the PE router creates a separate routing table for each VPN called a VPN routing and forwarding (VRF) table. The PE router creates one VRF table for each VPN that has a connection to a customer edge (CE) router. Any customer or site that belongs to the VPN can access only the routes in the VRF tables for that VPN. Every VRF table has one or more extended community attributes associated with it that identify the route as belonging to a specific collection of routers. One of these, the route target attribute, identifies a collection of sites (VRF tables) to which a PE router distributes routes. The PE router uses the route target to constrain the import of remote routes into its VRF tables.

When an ingress PE router receives routes advertised from a directly connected CE router, it checks the received route against the VRF export policy for that VPN.

  • If it matches, the route is converted to VPN-IPv4 format—that is, the route distinguisher is added to the route. The PE router then announces the route in VPN-IPv4 format to the remote PE routers. It also attaches a route target to each route learned from the directly connected sites. The route target attached to the route is based on the value of the VRF table’s configured export target policy. The routes are then distributed using IBGP sessions, which are configured in the provider’s core network.

  • If the route from the CE router does not match, it is not exported to other PE routers, but it can still be used locally for routing, for example, if two CE routers in the same VPN are directly connected to the same PE router.

When an egress PE router receives a route, it checks it against the import policy on the IBGP session between the PE routers. If it is accepted, the router places the route into its bgp.l3vpn.0 table. At the same time, the router checks the route against the VRF import policy for the VPN. If it matches, the route distinguisher is removed from the route and the route is placed into the VRF table (the routing-instance-name.inet.0 table) in IPv4 format.

Topology

Figure 1 shows the physical topology of a Layer 2 VPN-to-Layer 3 VPN interconnection.

Figure 1: Physical Topology of a Layer 2 VPN Terminating into a Layer 3 VPNPhysical Topology of a Layer 2 VPN Terminating into a Layer 3 VPN

The logical topology of a Layer 2 VPN-to-Layer 3 VPN interconnection is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Logical Topology of a Layer 2 VPN Terminating into a Layer 3 VPNLogical Topology of a Layer 2 VPN Terminating into a Layer 3 VPN

The following definitions describe the meaning of the device abbreviations used in Figure 1 and Figure 2.

  • Customer edge (CE) device—A device at the customer premises that provides access to the service provider’s VPN over a data link to one or more provider edge (PE) routers.

    Typically the CE device is an IP router that establishes an adjacency with its directly connected PE routers. After the adjacency is established, the CE router advertises the site’s local VPN routes to the PE router and learns remote VPN routes from the PE router.

  • Provider edge (PE) device—A device, or set of devices, at the edge of the provider network that presents the provider's view of the customer site.

    PE routers exchange routing information with CE routers. PE routers are aware of the VPNs that connect through them, and PE routers maintain VPN state. A PE router is only required to maintain VPN routes for those VPNs to which it is directly attached. After learning local VPN routes from CE routers, a PE router exchanges VPN routing information with other PE routers using IBGP. Finally, when using MPLS to forward VPN data traffic across the provider’s backbone, the ingress PE router functions as the ingress label-switching router (LSR) and the egress PE router functions as the egress LSR.

  • Provider (P) device—A device that operates inside the provider's core network and does not directly interface to any CE.

    Although the P device is a key part of implementing VPNs for the service provider’s customers and may provide routing for many provider-operated tunnels that belong to different VPNs, it is not itself VPN-aware and does not maintain VPN state. Its principal role is allowing the service provider to scale its VPN offerings, for example, by acting as an aggregation point for multiple PE routers.

    P routers function as MPLS transit LSRs when forwarding VPN data traffic between PE routers. P routers are required only to maintain routes to the provider’s PE routers; they are not required to maintain specific VPN routing information for each customer site.

Configuration

To interconnect a Layer 2 VPN with a Layer 3 VPN, perform these tasks:

Configuring the Base Protocols and Interfaces

Step-by-Step Procedure

  1. On each PE and P router, configure OSPF with traffic engineering extensions on all interfaces. Disable OSPF on the fxp0.0 interface.

  2. On all the core routers, enable MPLS on all interfaces. Disable MPLS on the fxp0.0 interface.

  3. On all the core routers, create an internal BGP peer group and specify the route reflector address (192.0.2.7) as the neighbor. Also enable BGP to carry Layer 2 VPLS network layer reachability information (NLRI) messages for this peer group by including the signaling statement at the [edit protocols bgp group group-name family l2vpn] hierarchy level.

  4. On Router PE3, create an internal BGP peer group and specify the route reflector IP address (192.0.2.7) as the neighbor. Enable BGP to carry Layer 2 VPLS NLRI messages for this peer group and enable the processing of VPN-IPv4 addresses by including the unicast statement at the [edit protocols bgp group group-name family inet-vpn] hierarchy level.

  5. For the Layer 3 VPN domain on Router PE3 and Router PE5, enable RSVP on all interfaces. Disable RSVP on the fxp0.0 interface.

  6. On Router PE3 and Router PE5, create label-switched paths (LSPs) to the route reflector and the other PE routers. The following example shows the configuration on Router PE5.

  7. On Routers PE1, PE2, PE3, and PE5, configure the core interfaces with an IPv4 address and enable the MPLS address family. The following example shows the configuration of the xe-0/1/0 interface on Router PE2.

  8. On Router PE2 and Router PE3, configure LDP for the Layer 2 VPN MPLS signaling protocol for all interfaces. Disable LDP on the fxp0.0 interface. (RSVP can also be used.)

  9. On the route reflector, create an internal BGP peer group and specify the PE routers IP addresses as the neighbors.

  10. On the route reflector, configure MPLS LSPs towards Routers PE3 and PE5 to resolve the BGP next hops from inet.3 routing table.

Configuring the VPN Interfaces

Step-by-Step Procedure

Router PE2 is one end of the Layer 2 VPN. Router PE3 is performing the Layer 2 VPN stitching between the Layer 2 VPN and the Layer 3 VPN. Router PE3 uses the logical tunnel interface (lt interface) configured with different logical interface units applied under two different Layer 2 VPN instances. The packet is looped though the lt interface configured on Router PE3. The configuration of Router PE5 contains the PE-CE interface.

  1. On Router PE2, configure the ge-1/0/2 interface encapsulation. Include the encapsulation statement and specify the ethernet-ccc option (vlan-ccc encapsulation is also supported) at the [edit interfaces ge-1/0/2] hierarchy level. The encapsulation should be the same in a whole Layer 2 VPN domain (Routers PE2 and PE3). Also, configure interface lo0.

  2. On Router PE2, configure the routing instance at the [edit routing-instances] hierarchy level. Also, configure the Layer 2 VPN protocol at the [edit routing-instances routing-instances-name protocols] hierarchy level. Configure the remote site ID as 3. Site ID 3 represents Router PE3 (Hub-PE). The Layer 2 VPN is using LDP as the signaling protocol. Be aware that in the following example, both the routing instance and the protocol are named l2vpn.

  3. On Router PE5, configure the Gigabit Ethernet interface for the PE-CE link ge-2/0/0 and configure the lo0 interface.

  4. On Router PE5, configure the Layer 3 VPN routing instance (L3VPN) at the [edit routing-instances] hierarchy level. Also configure BGP at the [edit routing-instances L3VPN protocols] hierarchy level.

  5. In an MX Series router, such as Router PE3, you must create the tunnel services interface to be used for tunnel services. To create the tunnel service interface, include the bandwidth statement and specify the amount of bandwidth to reserve for tunnel services in gigabits per second at the [edit chassis fpc slot-number pic slot-number tunnel-services] hierarchy level.

  6. On Router PE3, configure the Gigabit Ethernet interface.

    Include the address statement at the [edit interfaces ge-1/0/1.0 family inet] hierarchy level and specify 198.51.100.9/24 as the IP address.

  7. On Router PE3, configure the lt-1/1/10.0 logical tunnel interface at the [edit interfaces lt-1/1/10 unit 0] hierarchy level. Router PE3 is the router that is stitching the Layer 2 VPN to the Layer 3 VPN using the logical tunnel interface. The configuration of the peer unit interfaces is what makes the interconnection.

    To configure the interface, include the encapsulation statement and specify the ethernet-ccc option. Include the peer-unit statement and specify the logical interface unit 1 as the peer tunnel interface. Include the family statement and specify the ccc option.

  8. On Router PE3, configure the lt-1/1/10.1 logical tunnel interface at the [edit interfaces lt-1/1/10 unit 1] hierarchy level.

    To configure the interface, include the encapsulation statement and specify the ethernet option. Include the peer-unit statement and specify the logical interface unit 0 as the peer tunnel interface. Include the family statement and specify the inet option. Include the address statement at the [edit interfaces lt-1/1/10 unit 0] hierarchy level and specify 198.51.100.7/24 as the IPv4 address.

  9. On Router PE3, add the lt interface unit 1 to the routing instance at the [edit routing-instances L3VPN] hierarchy level. Configure the instance type as vrf with lt peer-unit 1 as a PE-CE interface to terminate the Layer 2 VPN on Router PE2 into the Layer 3 VPN on Router PE3.

  10. On Router PE3, add the lt interface unit 0 to the routing instance at the [edit routing-instances protocols l2vpn] hierarchy level. Also configure the same vrf target for the Layer 2 VPN and Layer 3 VPN routing instances, so that the routes can be leaked between the instances. The example configuration in the previous step shows the vrf target for the L3VPN routing instance. The following example shows the vrf target for the l2vpn routing instance.

  11. On Router PE3, configure the policy-statement statement to export the routes learned from the directly connected lt interface unit 1 to all the CE routers for connectivity, if needed.

Results

The following output shows the full configuration of Router PE2:

Router PE2

The following output shows the final configuration of Router PE5:

Router PE5

The following output shows the final configuration of Router PE3:

Router PE3

Verification

Verify the Layer 2 VPN-to-Layer 3 VPN interconnection:

Verifying Router PE2 VPN Interface

Purpose

Check that the Layer 2 VPN is up and working at the Router PE2 interface and that all the routes are there.

Action

  1. Use the show l2vpn connections command to verify that the connection site ID is 3 for Router PE3 and that the status is Up.

  2. Use the show route table command to verify that the Layer 2 VPN route is present and that there is a next hop of 10.10.5.2 through the xe-0/2/0.0 interface. The following output verifies that the Layer 2 VPN routes are present in the l2vpn.l2vpn.0 table. Similar output should be displayed for Router PE3.

  3. Verify that Router PE2 has a Layer 2 VPN MPLS label pointing to the LDP label to Router PE3 in both directions (PUSH and POP).

Meaning

The l2vpn routing instance is up at interface ge-1/0/2 and the Layer 2 VPN route is shown in table l2vpn.l2vpn.0. Table mpls.0 shows the Layer 2 VPN routes used to forward the traffic using an LDP label.

Verifying Router PE3 VPN Interface

Purpose

Check that the Layer 2 VPN connection from Router PE2 and Router PE3 is Up and working.

Action

  1. Verify that the BGP session with the route reflector for the family l2vpn-signaling and the family inet-vpn is established.

  2. The following output verifies the Layer 2 VPN route and the label associated with it.

  3. The following output show the L2VPN MPLS.0 route in the mpls.0 route table.

  4. Use the show route table mpls.0 command with the detail option to see the BGP attributes of the route such as next-hop type and label operations.

Verifying End-to-End connectivity from Router CE2 to Router CE5 and Router CE3

Purpose

Check the connectivity between Routers CE2, CE3, and CE5.

Action

  1. Ping the Router CE3 IP address from Router CE2.

  2. Ping the Router CE5 IP address from Router CE2.