MPLS for Metropolitan Area Networks

447 Pages·2004·3.23 MB·English

by  Nam-Kee Tan

MPLS for
Metropolitan
Area Networks
OTHER AUERBACH PUBLICATIONS
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ISBN: 0-8493-2063-1
The ABCs of TCP/IP
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ISBN: 0-8493-1463-1 Assessment
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ISBN: 0-8493-1270-1
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ISBN: 0-8493-1271-X A Practical Approach to WBEM/CIM
Management
The Complete Project Management
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Office Handbook
ISBN: 0-8493-2306-1
Gerald M. Hill
ISBN: 0-8493-2173-5 A Practical Guide to Security Engineering
and Information Assurance
Enhancing LAN Performance, 4th Edition
Debra Herrmann
Gilbert Held
ISBN: 0-8493-1163-2
ISBN: 0-8493-1942-0
Practical Network Design Techniques,
Information Security Management
2nd Edition: A Complete Guide for WANs
Handbook, 5th Edition
and LANs
Harold F. Tipton and Micki Krause, Editors
Gilbert Held and S. Ravi Jagannathan
ISBN: 0-8493-1997-8
ISBN: 0-8493-2019-4
Information Security Policies and
Real Process Improvement Using the
Procedures: A Practitioner’s Reference
CMMI
2nd Edition
Michael West
Thomas R. Peltier
ISBN: 0-8493-2109-3
ISBN: 0-8493-1958-7
Six Sigma Software Development
Information Security Policies,
Christine B. Tayntor
Procedures, and Standards:
ISBN: 0-8493-1193-4
Guidelines for Effective Information
Security Management Software Architecture Design Patterns
Thomas R. Peltier in Java
ISBN: 0-8493-1137-3 Partha Kuchana
ISBN: 0-8493-2142-5
Information Security Risk Analysis
Thomas R. Peltier Software Configuration Management
ISBN: 0-8493-0880-1 Jessica Keyes
ISBN: 0-8493-1976-5
Information Technology for
Manufacturing: Reducing Costs and A Technical Guide to IPSec Virtual Private
Expanding Capabilities Networks
Kevin Aki, John Clemons, and Mark Cubine James S. Tiller
ISBN: 1-57444-359-3 ISBN: 0-8493-0876-3
Interpreting the CMMI: A Process Telecommunications Cost Management
Improvement Approach Brian DiMarsico, Thomas Phelps IV,
Margaret Kulpa and Kurt Johnson and William A. Yarberry, Jr.
ISBN: 0-8493-1654-5 ISBN: 0-8493-1101-2
AUERBACH PUBLICATIONS
www.auerbach-publications.com
To Order Call: 1-800-272-7737 • Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [email protected]
OTHER AUERBACH PUBLICATIONS
The ABCs of IP Addressing IS Management Handbook,
Gilbert Held 8th Edition
ISBN: 0-8493-1144-6 Carol V. Brown and Heikki Topi
ISBN: 0-8493-1595-6
The ABCs of LDAP: How to Install, Run,
and Administer LDAP Services ISO 9000:2000 for Software and
Reinhard Voglmaier Systems Providers
ISBN: 0-8493-1346-5 Robert Bamford and William Deibler, III
ISBN: 0-8493-2063-1
The ABCs of TCP/IP
Gilbert Held Managing a Network Vulnerability
ISBN: 0-8493-1463-1 Assessment
Thomas R. Peltier and Justin Peltier
Building a Wireless Office
ISBN: 0-8493-1270-1
Gilbert Held
ISBN: 0-8493-1271-X A Practical Approach to WBEM/CIM
Management
The Complete Project Management
Chris Hobbs
Office Handbook
ISBN: 0-8493-2306-1
Gerald M. Hill
ISBN: 0-8493-2173-5 A Practical Guide to Security Engineering
and Information Assurance
Enhancing LAN Performance, 4th Edition
Debra Herrmann
Gilbert Held
ISBN: 0-8493-1163-2
ISBN: 0-8493-1942-0
Practical Network Design Techniques,
Information Security Management
2nd Edition: A Complete Guide for WANs
Handbook, 5th Edition
and LANs
Harold F. Tipton and Micki Krause, Editors
Gilbert Held and S. Ravi Jagannathan
ISBN: 0-8493-1997-8
ISBN: 0-8493-2019-4
Information Security Policies and
Real Process Improvement Using the
Procedures: A Practitioner’s Reference
CMMI
2nd Edition
Michael West
Thomas R. Peltier
ISBN: 0-8493-2109-3
ISBN: 0-8493-1958-7
Six Sigma Software Development
Information Security Policies,
Christine B. Tayntor
Procedures, and Standards:
ISBN: 0-8493-1193-4
Guidelines for Effective Information
Security Management Software Architecture Design Patterns
Thomas R. Peltier in Java
ISBN: 0-8493-1137-3 Partha Kuchana
ISBN: 0-8493-2142-5
Information Security Risk Analysis
Thomas R. Peltier Software Configuration Management
ISBN: 0-8493-0880-1 Jessica Keyes
ISBN: 0-8493-1976-5
Information Technology for
Manufacturing: Reducing Costs and A Technical Guide to IPSec Virtual Private
Expanding Capabilities Networks
Kevin Aki, John Clemons, and Mark Cubine James S. Tiller
ISBN: 1-57444-359-3 ISBN: 0-8493-0876-3
Interpreting the CMMI: A Process Telecommunications Cost Management
Improvement Approach Brian DiMarsico, Thomas Phelps IV,
Margaret Kulpa and Kurt Johnson and William A. Yarberry, Jr.
ISBN: 0-8493-1654-5 ISBN: 0-8493-1101-2
AUERBACH PUBLICATIONS
www.auerbach-publications.com
To Order Call: 1-800-272-7737 • Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [email protected]
MPLS for
Metropolitan
Area Networks

Nam-Kee Tan
AUERBACH PUBLICATIONS
A CRC Press Company
Boca Raton London New York Washington, D.C.
Dedication
To my precious, Chai Tee

Preface
INTRODUCTION
The demand for bandwidth in metropolitan area networks (MANs) and the
increased availability of fiber has created a new breed of service provid-
ers—the metro service providers (MSPs). The high-speed networks
deployed by the MSPs allow them to distribute new services such as IP vir-
tual private network (VPN), virtual private LAN services (VPLS), Voice-
over-IP (VoIP), data warehousing (off-site storage), and Web hosting within
metro areas, thus enabling service delivery closer to the customers—the
metro subscribers. Because MSPs are offering customers native data ser-
vices using Ethernet rather than leased lines or time division multiplexing
(TDM) circuits, customers are attracted to these services by the flexibility
offered, the low cost of bandwidth, and the fact that these services can be
quickly provisioned with ease.
Nevertheless, the MSPs still face a number of inevitable challenges.
These include integrating new services with existing ones, maintaining the
same quality-of-service (QoS) level along with guaranteed bandwidth as in
TDM circuits, and providing reliable and responsive networks. The solu-
tion to all these stringent requirements is Multi-Protocol Label Switching
(MPLS). MPLS is coming into vogue as the technology of choice to con-
verge disparate networks and its services into a unified network core. On
top of this MPLS network, value-added capabilities such as traffic engineer-
ing, network protection, any-to-any connectivity, user differentiation, ser-
vice differentiation, and bandwidth/QoS guarantee can be delivered with-
out a glitch. Put simply, MPLS has become the “Swiss Army Knife” of
networks, including MANs.
This book addresses the above-mentioned challenges with solutions
provided by key MPLS features such as MPLS traffic engineering, MPLS
fast reroute, MPLS VPNs, and MPLS QoS. Examples and case studies are
used extensively and progressively to illustrate the conceptual aspect of
these solutions. This approach facilitates learning by example, which fur-
ther enhances the ability of the reader to relate and apply what he or she
has learned in the examples and case studies to his or her own network
environment.
vii
MPLS for Metropolitan Area Networks
INTENDED AUDIENCE
This book is most relevant to network engineers, architects, and managers
who need to propose, design, implement, operate, administer, or maintain
value-added metro network services with MPLS. Besides catering to inter-
networking professionals who are interested in knowing more about imple-
menting sophisticated metro network services with MPLS, this book is also
appropriate for sales and account managers who are required to justify
and propose a foolproof MPLS-based metro solution to their customers.
In order for the audience to gain a better understanding of the various
MPLS features discussed in this book, they are expected to have some
basic knowledge of MPLS technology, VLAN concepts, end-to-end QoS
deployment, and a good grasp of advanced routing protocols such as OSPF,
Integrated ISIS, and BGP. These prerequisites are preferred but not manda-
tory, because the book will attempt to tackle these areas progressively
through each chapter.
ORGANIZATION OF THIS BOOK
Part 1: Metropolitan Area Networks and MPLS
• Chapter 1 provides a brief overview on the current business pros-
pects and challenges that MSPs are facing. It emphasizes the various
service aspects and requirements that need to be incorporated into
the present-day MANs so that new revenue opportunities can be
realized.
• Chapter 2 gives a concise primer on MPLS and explains how MPLS
applications such as traffic engineering, label switched path (LSP)
reliability, virtual leased line (VLL) services, virtual private LAN
services (VPLS), IP VPNs, and classes of service (CoS) can be
deployed in MANs.
Part 2: Traffic Engineering Aspects of Metropolitan Area Networks
• Chapter 3 focuses first on the fundamental concepts of traffic engi-
neering (TE). After that, it explains the causes and effects of network
congestions and the hyperaggregation phenomenon. TE is then
introduced as the most effective way to counter network congestion
and to gain total network control. This is followed by a comparison
between tactical TE and strategic TE. The chapter next discusses
the applicability of the IP/ATM overlay model and MPLS in relation
to TE. The concluding section describes the three primary tasks that
are involved during the information distribution and path selection
phases of MPLS-TE.
• Chapter 4 describes the various common trunk attributes that are
used to define and modulate the behavioral characteristics of traffic
viii
Preface
trunks for MPLS-TE purposes. These attributes include traffic param-
eters, policing attributes, priority attributes, preemption attributes,
resilience attributes, generic path selection attributes, and dynamic
path maintenance parameters.
• Chapter 5 gives concise coverage on constraint-based routing (CBR),
which is responsible for information distribution and path selection
during the MPLS-TE process. It first discusses the limitations of
traditional topology-driven IGPs such as OSPF and Integrated ISIS,
which lack the awareness of constraints such as resource availability
and traffic characteristics during path calculation. The TE exten-
sions to these routing protocols, which include link resource
attributes such as maximum bandwidth, maximum reservable band-
width, unreserved bandwidth, and administrative group (resource
class or link color), are brought in to address the limitations and to
convert these conventional routing protocols into CBR protocols.
The chapter further describes the operational model of CBR and the
constrained shortest-path-first (CSPF) algorithm and wraps up with
two CSPF path selection examples.
• Chapter 6 presents comprehensive coverage on the Resource Res-
ervation Protocol with TE extension (RSVP-TE). It examines the mes-
sages and objects of RSVP-TE and explains how RSVP-TE constructs
explicitly routed LSP tunnels, distributes label bindings, supports
resource reservations along an LSP tunnel, and tracks the physical
route traversed by the LSP tunnel. The chapter further illustrates
the path setup operation of RSVP-TE, along with its admission con-
trol and preemption capabilities. It then covers the various alterna-
tives to forward traffic across an established LSP tunnel. The chapter
later describes how RSVP-TE supports the concept of make-before-
break when reoptimizing or rerouting an existing LSP tunnel. The
concluding section looks at how RSVP-TE overcomes the scalability,
latency, and reliability issues posed by the soft-state model of stan-
dard RSVP.
• Chapter 7 incorporates what has been covered in chapters 3 to 6
into a series of case studies so that the readers can relate what they
have learned so far to their MAN environments. The four case stud-
ies discussed thoroughly in this chapter all focus on the two impor-
tant aspects of TE—traffic control and resource optimization. Case
study 7.1 looks at hop-by-hop routed LSPs, case study 7.2 illustrates
the setup of explicitly routed LSPs with loose explicit routes, case
study 7.3 demonstrates how CBR can be used to manipulate the
desired bandwidth, and case study 7.4 shows how link affinities can
be used to construct session attribute filters.
ix