Frame Relay a VPN Technology?

Is Frame Relay considered a VPN Technology?

I always thought of VPN a connection over which data is being transfered ecnrypted, but lately I'm understanding, the concept of VPN's, it a bit better, and I know now that encryption is just a addition to a VPN, you don't actually need to.

So when we talk about a private network, Frame Relay wil take your traffic and send it to the providers network, over a shared platform, but because the traffic is using DCLI's, it is kept in it's own traffic "lane" and thus traffic is kept seperated and this in turns qualifies for being called a VPN.

Am I seeing this wrong? Can you also say the same over ATM? Is ATM a VPN technology?

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Comments

networker050184

Yes you are thinking about this correctly. Encryption is not a requirement for something to be a VPN. Anytime a virtual circuit or connection is built across a shared network it is a VPN.

FrankGuthrie

Also, when we take abut MPLS, aren't we always taking about MPLS VPN?? I think yes, because MPLS is a technology/method , just like Frame Relay, to send data over a shared platform, except with MPLS it is done with Labels instead of DLCI's. Is this assumption correct? Or do I need to see MPLS and MPLS VPN as 2 different things?

networker050184

MPLS is a forwarding technology and you can build several types of MPLS VPNs over it. Usually when someone says MPLS VPN they are talking about an L3 MPLS VPN, but you have different types as well like an L2 xcon or VPLS. But yes, basically you can think of MPLS in the same manner as far as creating VPNs through a shared network.

theodoxa

If MPLS is a "VPN" then Frame Relay definitely qualifies.

FrankGuthrie

Thanks guys, You confirmed what I thought.

fredrikjj

I like the colloquial definition - that a vpn has encryption - better. Why not just call virtual circuits, virtual Circuits? You might be private in relation to other circuits, but traffic can, presumably, still be intercepted if someone accesses the circuit itself.

EdTheLad

The VPN definition came about due to sharing a network rather than having a leased line, it had nothing to do with encryption. The funny part is even if someone had a 2Mb leased line it was sharing a line in the core i.e. STM1. So FR, ATM, dial up are all vpn's, the customer had the trust in the provider that their network was secure. Then came the big bad internet and encryption was required, now everybody see's a vpn as being encrypted i.e. private, it's just the underlying medium that's changed.

FrankGuthrie

networker050184 wrote: »

MPLS is a forwarding technology and you can build several types of MPLS VPNs over it. Usually when someone says MPLS VPN they are talking about an L3 MPLS VPN, but you have different types as well like an L2 xcon or VPLS. But yes, basically you can think of MPLS in the same manner as far as creating VPNs through a shared network.

I was reading through this threa and saw your reply aigan and was wonderig what the difference is between an L2 xcon vs. VPLS connection?

shednik

FrankGuthrie wrote: »

I was reading through this threa and saw your reply aigan and was wonderig what the difference is between an L2 xcon vs. VPLS connection?

This is simplifying it but L2 xcons are point to point on a port or sub interface, while VPLS is multipoint on an SVI.

networker050184

To add a little to shednik's reply, an xconn is basically takes every packet that comes in and **** it out the other side. No forwarding decisions etc. VPLS is a bit more dynamic in that it acts like a switched LAN. There is MAC learning, flooding etc.