Introduction to MPLS Technology

The Comware® Operating System, H3C's integrated-technologies platform for IP-based products, offers exceptional MPLS capability with support for MPLS Traffic Engineering (MPLS TE) and Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) technology. MPLS combines the connectionless control of IP with the connection-oriented forwarding of asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), providing advantages to enterprise and metropolitan area networks (MANs).

MPLS

MPLS is a technology that is driving the future of IP networks. MPLS encapsulates network layer packets with short and fixed-length labels using Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) signaling to set up label switch paths (LSPs).

• Bandwidth optimization, strict quality of service (QoS) guarantees for expediting mission-critical traffic and the ability to quickly re-route traffic following network failures ensures network efficiency and resiliency.
• Scalable Layer 2 or Layer 3 VPNs throughout the network increase network efficiency in services that support MPLS technology.

MPLS TE

MPLS TE advertises information about available network resources by using the extension of a link state-based interior gateway protocol (IGP) such as Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) or Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS) and calculating the path for a tunnel to use based on the tunnel resource requirements and available bandwidth resources.

• Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) and Constraint-based Routed Label Distribution Protocol (CR-LDP) help deploy and maintain tunnels across the network backbone, optimizing bandwidth performance and network availability.
• Strict QoS guarantees for expediting mission-critical traffic and the ability to quickly re-route traffic following network failures optimizes throughput.
• MPLS and MLPS TE support is available in H3C® enterprise routers such as the SR6600, MSR 50, MSR 30 and MSR 20 families.

VPLS

VPLS delivers point-to-multipoint Layer 2 VPN services over public networks.

• Geographically-dispersed sites can interconnect and communicate over MANs or WANs as if they were on the same LAN, promoting network resiliency and response time.
• When combined with Ethernet, VPLS transforms the MAN into a large Ethernet switch that is simpler to deploy, maintain and operate compared to more traditional MPLS-based IP-VPNs, resulting in cost savings and operational efficiency while delivering all of the advantages of a true VPN network.

VPLS support is available in H3C premium enterprise switches, including the S12500, S9500, S7500E and S5800 families.