Routed VPLS

Routed VPLS

This article is to demonstrate Alcatel-Lucent proprietary solution of Routed VPLS (R-VPLS). It allows a VPLS SAP interface to be configured with a Layer 3 IP address and make the interface route-able. This article will use figure 1 to demonstrate R-VPLS configuration.

Figure 1 shows that two servers (Application Server and Database Server) has two direct connections to two ALU 7450 switches - the 7450s run MC-LAG between them. The servers also run LAG. These two connections are separate connections- each for BLUE and RED VPLS. RT1 and RT2 are connected to each other by LAG-1 (ports 1/2/19 and port 1/2/20), and RT3 and RT4 are also connected to each other by LAG-1 (ports 1/2/19 and 1/2/20).

In this case, the servers ping geographically remote standby servers to monitor availability. If the standby server cannot reach the active server, the standby server tries to take on active status by connecting to the primary database.

R-VPLS is configured on PE routers that allows MC-LAG to be configured on the SAPs facing the servers. MC-LAG and VRRP will be configured to protect against link and PE router failure.

The configuration steps are as follows-

1. Configure MC-LAG on PE routers.

MC-LAG configuration on RT1

A:RT1# configure lag 101

A:RT1>config>lag# info

mode access

port 1/2/10

lacp active administrative-key 32768

no shutdown

exit all

A:RT1# configure lag 102

A:RT1>config>lag# info

mode access

port 1/2/11

lacp active administrative-key 32768

no shutdown

exit all

A:RT1# configure redundancy multi-chassis

A:RT1>config>redundancy>multi-chassis# info

peer 10.0.0.2

mc-lag

lag 101 lacp-key 10 system-id 00:00:00:00:00:01 system-priority 32768

lag 102 lacp-key 10 system-id 00:00:00:00:00:02 system-priority 32768

no shutdown

exit

sync

igmp

igmp-snooping

no shutdown

exit all

A similar MC-LAG configuration applies to RT2 router. Note that the triplet {LACP-Key, System-ID, System Priority} values must match on both PE routers for MC-LAG to function correctly.

MC-LAG configuration on RT2

A:RT2# configure lag 101

A:RT2>config>lag# info

mode access

port 1/2/10

lacp active

no shutdown

exit all

A:RT2# configure lag 102

A:RT2>config>lag# info

mode access

port 1/2/11

lacp active administrative-key 32768

no shutdown

exit all

A:RT2# configure redundancy multi-chassis

A:RT2>config>redundancy>multi-chassis# info

peer 10.0.0.1

mc-lag

lag 101 lacp-key 10 system-id 00:00:00:00:00:01 system-priority 32768

lag 102 lacp-key 10 system-id 00:00:00:00:00:02 system-priority 32768

no shutdown

exit

sync

igmp

igmp-snooping

no shutdown

exit all

RT3 and RT4 configuration is similar to RT1 and RT2 routers, and is not provided here for brevity.

2. Configure SDP on PE routers. This SDP is only configured on directly connected PE routers i.e. between RT1 and RT2, and between RT3 and RT4 routers. The LSP created is used to carry R-VPLS service between RT1 and RT2 that allows MC-LAG and VRRP traffic.

SDP configuration on RT1

A:RT1# configure router mpls

A:RT1>config>router>mpls# info

path PATH_to_RT2 # Loose path to RT2

no shutdown

exit

lsp LSP_to_RT2

to 10.0.0.2

cspf

primary PATH_to_RT2

fast-reroute facility

exit

no shutdown

exit all

A:RT1# configure service sdp 1 mpls create

A:RT1>config>service>sdp# info

far-end 10.0.0.2

description "SDP to RT2"

lsp LSP_to_RT2

signaling tldp

no shutdown

exit all

A similar configuration on RT2 router follows for SDP to RT1 router.

SDP configuration on RT2

A:RT2# configure router mpls

A:RT2>config>router>mpls# info

path PATH_to_RT1

no shutdown

exit

lsp LSP_to_RT1

to 10.0.0.1

cspf

primary PATH_to_RT1

fast-reroute facility

exit

no shutdown

exit all

A:RT2# configure service sdp 1 mpls create

A:RT2>config>service>sdp# info

far-end 10.0.0.1

description "SDP to RT1"

lsp LSP_to_RT1

signaling tldp

no shutdown

exit all

RT3 and RT4 configuration is similar to RT1 and RT2 routers, and is not provided here for brevity.

3. Configure R-VPLS on PE routers.

R-VPLS configuration on RT1

A:RT1# configure service vpls 50

A:RT1>config>service>vpls# info

description "BLUE VPLS"

allow-ip-int-binding # Allow routed VPLS functionality

service-name "BLUE_VPLS"

stp

shutdown

sap lag-101 create

exit

mesh-sdp 1 create

exit

no shutdown

exit all

A:RT1# configure service vpls 51

A:RT1>config>service>vpls# info

description "RED VPLS"

allow-ip-int-binding

service-name "RED_VPLS"

stp

shutdown

sap lag-102 create

exit

mesh-sdp 1 create

exit

no shutdown

exit all

A similar R-VPLS configuration is applied on RT2 router.

R-VPLS configuration on RT2

A:RT2# configure service vpls 50

A:RT2>config>service>vpls# info

description "BLUE VPLS"

allow-ip-int-binding

service-name "BLUE_VPLS"

stp

shutdown

sap lag-101 create

exit

mesh-sdp 1 create

exit

no shutdown

exit all

A:RT2# configure service vpls 51

A:RT2>config>service>vpls# info

description "RED VPLS"

allow-ip-int-binding

service-name "RED_VPLS"

stp

shutdown

sap lag-102 create

exit

mesh-sdp 1 create

exit

no shutdown

exit all

This R-VPLS instance (R-VPLS service-name) can be used in a VPRN or IES service using the command vpls "BLUE_VPLS" or vpls "RED_VPLS". This allows the interface to become route-able.