Service Provider and Self-Deployed MPLS in the real world

I'm reading about MPLS in the Diane Teare book, but where do people use these WAN technologies in the real world? I see several different examples she offers of people using MPLS to connect remote offices.

Where have you seen it used in the real world and what service providers offer it?

Anybody know anyone using Self-Deployed MPLS?

Just trying to get a handle on the situation where you would prefer this over other methods and how much of a cost difference it would be.

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darkerosxx

Answered my own question with wikipedia, but I'd still like to see if anyone's heard of it being implemented anywhere:

MPLS deployment

MPLS is currently in use in large "IP Only" networks, and is standardized by IETF in RFC 3031.

In practice, MPLS is mainly used to forward IP datagrams and Ethernet traffic. Major applications of MPLS are Telecommunications traffic engineering and MPLS VPN.

astorrs

Yes my client has implemented it for about half of their 3000 sites worldwide. About 600/800 in North America. Both AT&T and Sprint in the US offer it - although there are significant differences in their implementations.

networker050184

Most large service providers today offer an MPLS VPN service. Its used by companies with multiple sites that want to be interconnected privately. It also allows companies to maintain their private IP scheme which allows a relatively seamless integration on the customer part.

dtlokee

It depends on what you mean by "self deployed". In most cases MPLS is run by the provider and the customer does not have anything to do with it other than sharing routing information. This is not really "deploying MPLS". I have many customers that use this type of service. The other interpretation of you question would involve an enterprise network using MPLS internally. This is not common. Most enterprise networks don't have a need to run a BGP free core because their routing tables are large. I have used MPLS to create a L2 tunnel between sites over an IP network, and some traffic engineering but those were corner cases and most likely were not the best practice. Simple fact is running MPLS internally is going to increase the overhead and complexity = more difficult to support an more likely to break.

malcybood

Typically companies that utilise a Service Provider MPLS can access the MPLS "cloud" via many different access methods. This is what makes MPLS so flexible, for example you could have the following technologies, terminating into an MPLS cloud

Metro Ethernet presented over fiber
Frame Relay
ATM
ADSL
SDSL
Dial Up

These different methods of access would be utilised in the loop between the customer site Customer Premesis Equipment (CPE) and the Premesis Equipment (PE) access point of the provider MPLS.

eBGP is typically used for the routing protocol between MPLS connected sites, which is then re-distributed into an IGP such as OSPF in the LAN side. so to paint a picture a site to site traffic flow between 2 MPLS based sites on the same service provider network would work as follows

Exit Remote Site A (CPE) - Access method i.e. Frame Relay - Enter MPLS Cloud (PE) - MPLS label switches traffic traffic across IPVPN - Exit MPLS Cloud (PE) - Access Method i.e. Metro Ethernet - Enter Remote Site B (CPE)

The above method is especially useful for network topologies that have a large proportion of "intersite" traffic that do not require to traverse a head office core router like would be required in a legacy hub and spoke frame relay network.

Other benefits of MPLS are the levels of Class of Service available for low-latency applications. Cisco have a good selection MPLS papers on their website, can be a bit dry but I found the design ones pretty interesting when I had to research the technology prior to our switch to a new MPLS

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk436/tk428/tsd_technology_support_protocol_home.html

In regard to private MPLS yeah it's possible, but to be honest I've never seen a privately deployed MPLS other than in an ISP. The extra network complexity and operational overhead probably is not in most companies best interest unless they are an actual ISP,

Maybe goverment MI5, FBI or DOD would do it for data protection as opposed to out-sourcing to a 3rd party, but somebody who works in that sector could probably answer that one better than me!

darkerosxx

Very cool, thanks everybody for your thoughts.

malcybood

Just one thing to add to the access methods above that I forgot to mention but is super cool, is 3G directly into MPLS....It is still in development I think but it's definitely on the way!

dtlokee

malcybood wrote:

Just one thing to add to the access methods above that I forgot to mention but is super cool, is 3G directly into MPLS....It is still in development I think but it's definitely on the way!

Yeah verizon told us this service will be available in t Q1 of 2009. We are using 3G as a backup to an MPLS cloud currently but with overlay IPSec VPNs for now.

darkerosxx

I'm studying that part in CCDA, but she didn't include anything about 3G!!!

malcybood

dtlokee wrote:

malcybood wrote:

Just one thing to add to the access methods above that I forgot to mention but is super cool, is 3G directly into MPLS....It is still in development I think but it's definitely on the way!

Yeah verizon told us this service will be available in t Q1 of 2009. We are using 3G as a backup to an MPLS cloud currently but with overlay IPSec VPNs for now.

Same here we use Sarian 3G devices as an interim measure until we can deploy an ADSL or MPLS link with a checkpoint IPSec client - Site VPN

http://www.sarian.co.uk/wireless.htm It's the 4110 model we use. If in a 3G area you get between 300k - 2MB link speed.....averages around 800k I think!

When we negotiated the MPLS deal a 3G card in the Cisco ISR routers was an option but the Sarian's work better in our industry due to sites going up / down at quite a high rate, flexibility is key and these devices are around the same size as a 4 port netgear hub / switch plug in the power, wait for it to pick up a signal and off you go.

I'll be interested to see how this develops over the next 12 - 18 months, 3G into the MPLS and how the widely it is taken up......and how expensive the data download cost is when for this service is when it's launched

malcybood

darkerosxx wrote:

I'm studying that part in CCDA, but she didn't include anything about 3G!!!

3G directly into MPLS is a technology in development so it will not be in the CCDA literature. The provider I dealt with on it is expecting it to be taken out of beta into the commercial environment in 2009 like dtlokee mentioned verizon are doing

dtlokee

THe funny part about our deployment, the speed of the 3G interface is faster than the MPLS circuit it is deployed to back up.

malcybood

dtlokee wrote:

THe funny part about our deployment, the speed of the 3G interface is faster than the MPLS circuit it is deployed to back up.

Really?

What's the MPLS circuit bandwidth up/down and access technology you're using?

dtlokee

384k or 512k frame-relay. not CIR, we're only using 6 or 8 DS0's on the T1 but it's more than enough for the traffic on the network.