Datacenter Interconnect at Layer 2 using Ethernet over MPLS

 Data Center  Add comments
Feb 172013
 

In traditional physically looped L2 switched networks, the redundancy is removed by the STP algorithm. There we use the PVST or MST to tune that some link are not blocked for a specified VLAN. In a long run this will be a huge administrative burden.

To achieve forwarding over all links in the core, is to use some protocol which has the knowledge of the whole topology and the active links. Examples would be Fabric Path (FP) from Cisco, or the open standard Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL). We could also use the old good MPLS also to achieve this; specifically we will be encapsulating L2 Ethernet frames into MPLS

In the below topology we have H1 and H2 belonging to VLAN 2, which are supposed to communicate over the EoMPLS backbone. All of the packets send from VLAN 2 will be encapsulated inside the MPLS payload. At the end we have 2 logical wires or Pseudo-wire between the 2 switches.

topology

For MPLS to work at all we have to take the following points into account:

  • Ensure L3 reachability via static routing or dynamic routing.
  • Enable MPLS on the interfaces.
  • Loopback interfaces on routers to specify the MPLS Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) router-id.
  • CEF switching must be enabled for MPLS to work (default enabled).

R1:
mpls ldp router-id Loopback0
 
interface FastEthernet1/1
 description Link to R2
 ip address 10.0.12.1 255.255.255.0
 ip ospf 1 area 0
 mpls ip
 
interface loopback 0
 ip address 1.1.1.1 255.255.255.255
 ip ospf 1 area 0

 

Ethernet over MPLS could be configured in Port mode or VLAN mode. We will be using VLAN mode as many 802.1q tagged VLAN’s could transit a single link. This means the links from the switches to MPLS core must be in Trunking mode and tagging VLAN ID for frames belonging to respective VLAN’s.

SW1:
interface FastEthernet1/0
 description Link to R1
 switchport mode trunk

 

Now on the MPLS core router R1, we have to create a sub-interface which will be accepting tagged frames form VLAN 2. The xconnect command will then logically combine the VLAN ID with a logical Wire using the MPLS encapsulation. In our case we use the logical wire (Virtual Circuit) number 2

R1:
interface FastEthernet1/0
 description Link to SW1
 no ip address
!
interface FastEthernet1/0.2
 encapsulation dot1Q 2
 xconnect 2.2.2.2 2 encapsulation mpls

 

Now we can verify the configuration.

R1#sh mpls l2transport vc 2 detail
Local interface: Fa1/0.2 up, line protocol up, Eth VLAN 2 up
Destination address: 2.2.2.2, VC ID: 2, VC status: up
Output interface: Fa1/1, imposed label stack {16}
Preferred path: not configured
Default path: active
Next hop: 10.0.12.2
Create time: 00:25:04, last status change time: 00:24:16
Signaling protocol: LDP, peer 2.2.2.2:0 up
MPLS VC labels: local 16, remote 16
Group ID: local 0, remote 0
MTU: local 1500, remote 1500
Remote interface description:
Sequencing: receive disabled, send disabled
VC statistics:
packet totals: receive 990, send 1719
byte totals:   receive 116638, send 204028
packet drops:  receive 0, seq error 0, send 0

 

we can see that the VLAN ID 2 is up. The destination of the virtual circuit is 2.2.2.2. The VC has an ID of 2. When we send a ping from H1 towards H2, the debug output shows the packet transverse.

R1#deb mpls packet
Packet debugging is on
*Feb 17 17:16:24.618: MPLS turbo: Fa1/1: rx: Len 140 Stack {16 0 255} CW {0 0 0}

 

The length of the packet is 140 Bytes. This includes the actual ICMP data of 72 Bytes + 8 Byte ICMP header + 20 bytes of IP header + 18 bytes of L2 header including the 802.1q VLAN ID + 8 bytes for MPLS and control header + 14 bytes Ethernet header.

No.     Time         Source                Destination           Protocol Length Info
10 22:17:56.884 10.0.0.2              10.0.0.1              ICMP     140    Echo (ping) request  id=0x0000, seq=1/256, ttl=255
 
Frame 10: 140 bytes on wire (1120 bits), 140 bytes captured (1120 bits)
Ethernet II, Src: ca:01:2d:2c:00:1d (ca:01:2d:2c:00:1d), Dst: ca:00:2c:5c:00:1d (ca:00:2c:5c:00:1d)
MultiProtocol Label Switching Header, Label: 16, Exp: 0, S: 1, TTL: 255
PW Ethernet Control Word
Ethernet II, Src: cc:0c:11:40:00:00 (cc:0c:11:40:00:00), Dst: cc:0b:11:40:00:00 (cc:0b:11:40:00:00)
802.1Q Virtual LAN, PRI: 0, CFI: 0, ID: 2
Internet Protocol Version 4, Src: 10.0.0.2 (10.0.0.2), Dst: 10.0.0.1 (10.0.0.1)
Internet Control Message Protocol

 

All of the packets are encapsulated in MPLS packets. There are 2 logical connections between SW1 and SW2, one will still be blocked via STP. This link could be used as a backup link. We can see from the above capture, that the VLAN ID is 2.