The MPLS-OPS Archive

[Irwin Lazar <ILazar@tbg.com>]

Hi All,

I am currently working with a large enterprise that runs an IP backbone network to connect sites around the world.  The backbone consists of approximately 8 locations.  The locations are connected via ATM OC-3, which is leased from a service provider.  They do not own the ATM switches or the fiber, but they do own and manage the backbone routers at each location.  Connectivity between sites is provided via OSPF.

 

They are looking at the possibility of using MPLS to create closed user groups to allow them to tunnel traffic across their backbone for specific locations that connect to various backbone nodes. The goal is that traffic for these sites would be isolated from the rest of the of their network. 

 

They would also like to prioritize these MPLS tunnels, and they also want to prioritize certain types of IP traffic that run over the same links, but isn't part of the MPLS cloud.

 

Questions:
- is it possible to have MPLS closed user groups for specific sites, while the LSR's also operate as traditional routers to carry non-MPLS traffic?

- is it possible to implement prioritization as described above?

- would it make sense for them to go to an all MPLS network, with MPLS LSP's being used for all backbone connectivity (I'm assuming that they would need to provision LSP's on top of the ATM PVC's between each backbone node, which I'm not sure makes a lot of sense)

- would an IP-VPN using a hardware or software be a better solution?

- are there other options out there (such as virtual routers) that might make more sense?

 

Thanks in advance,

Irwin