MPLS, LSP, and service tunnel configuration

Overview

After your routing protocols have been configured, the next steps are to establish the network’s data forwarding transport infrastructure that will eventually be used to carry services across the entire network. MPLS paths, LSPS, and service tunnels need to be created and configured to achieve this.

The XML API interface uses the mpls package for the configuration and provisioning of MPLS paths and LSPs on managed routers and it uses the svt package to configure service tunnels. See the XML API Reference for more information about these packages.

MPLS

MPLS is a data-carrying mechanism that uses one or more routing protocols to forward packets. MPLS can be used as the underlying transport mechanism for service tunnels. For MPLS to be used as such, an MPLS mesh and an LSP mesh must be created before the tunnel is created.

LSP

An LSP is a path through an MPLS network that is set up based on criteria in a forwarding equivalency class, or FEC. LSPs are unidirectional; they enable the label switching of a packet through an MPLS network from one endpoint to another. Bidirectional communication through an MPLS network requires the configuration of an LSP in the opposite direction.

Service tunnels

A service tunnel is an entity used to uni-directionally direct traffic from one device to another device. The service tunnel is provisioned to use a specific encapsulation method, such as GRE or MPLS, and the services are then mapped to the service tunnel. The most common type of tunnel used in the NFM-P is a service distribution point binding. Service tunnels originate on an SDP on a source NE and terminate at a destination NE.

Note: See “MPLS” and “Service tunnels” in the NSP NFM-P Classic Management User Guide for more information about MPLS, LSPs, and service tunnels.