Data Center Interconnect Part-1

Data Center Interconnect - MPLS over GRE

There are multiple implementations options available for connecting two data centres. This first part will discuss the implementation of Layer-3 interconnect using a private MPLS VPN backbone. This solution requires a single GRE tunnel between a pair of edge routers in the data centres. This GRE tunnel runs LDP over the GRE tunnel. The VRF routes are exchanged using MP-BGP.

All MPLS traffic is GRE encapsulated.

The edge routers connect to the service provider, which provides connectivity between the edge routers. The edge routers create a GRE tunnel and runs LDP over it.

GRE Tunnel Configuration

Edge Router 1-

interface Tunnel10

ip unnumbered FastEthernet0/0

mpls ip

tunnel source FastEthernet0/0

tunnel destination 192.168.255.14

!

Edge Router 2-

interface Tunnel10

ip unnumbered FastEthernet0/0

mpls ip

tunnel source FastEthernet0/0

tunnel destination 192.168.255.6

!

Each edge routers have the following VRFs-

VRFs on Edge Routers

ip vrf APP

rd 1:100

route-target export 1:100

route-target import 1:100

!

ip vrf DB

rd 1:101

route-target export 1:101

route-target import 1:101

!

And lastly, the edge routers run MP-BGP between them to exchange VRF routes.

BGP Configuration on Edge Router

router bgp 65001

no synchronization

bgp log-neighbor-changes

neighbor 2.2.2.2 remote-as 65001

neighbor 2.2.2.2 update-source Loopback0

no auto-summary

!

address-family vpnv4

neighbor 2.2.2.2 activate

neighbor 2.2.2.2 send-community extended

exit-address-family

!

address-family ipv4 vrf APP

no synchronization

redistribute connected

exit-address-family

!

address-family ipv4 vrf DB

no synchronization

redistribute connected

exit-address-family

The following output shows LDP neighbor relationship over GRE tunnel.

LDP Neighbor

R1# show mpls ldp neighbor

Peer LDP Ident: 192.168.255.14:0; Local LDP Ident 192.168.255.6:0

TCP connection: 192.168.255.14.26907 - 192.168.255.6.646

State: Oper; Msgs sent/rcvd: 78/78; Downstream

Up time: 00:59:13

LDP discovery sources:

Tunnel10, Src IP addr: 192.168.255.14

Addresses bound to peer LDP Ident:

192.168.255.14 2.2.2.2

The following output shows VRF routes exchanged over GRE tunnel.

BGP VPNv4 Routes

R1# show ip bgp vpnv4 all

BGP table version is 7, local router ID is 1.1.1.1

Status codes: s suppressed, d damped, h history, * valid, > best, i - internal,

r RIB-failure, S Stale, m multipath, b backup-path, x best-external

Origin codes: i - IGP, e - EGP, ? - incomplete

Network Next Hop Metric LocPrf Weight Path

Route Distinguisher: 1:100 (default for vrf APP)

*> 10.100.1.0/24 0.0.0.0 0 32768 ?

*>i10.100.2.0/24 2.2.2.2 0 100 0 ?

Route Distinguisher: 1:101 (default for vrf DB)

*> 10.200.1.0/24 0.0.0.0 0 32768 ?

*>i10.200.2.0/24 2.2.2.2 0 100 0 ?