This topic is to discuss the following lesson:
Thank you René for include this topics , im in Service Provider Side and this topics are so usefull for me , please we need EVPN topics or segment routing topics!
Hello Dante
We’re glad you find this topic helpful! If you have more topics that you’re interested in seeing, such as the EVPN topic you mentioned, please feel free to use the Member Ideas page below. You may find that others have suggested the same topics as you, and you can add your voice to theirs.
I hope this has been helpful!
Laz
Hello Rene / Network lessons,
We are going to install a new MPLS circuit to connect the client locations. The client is asking to test the MPLS circuit to make sure its working fine and we are receiving the expected bandwidth. The client requirement is that they will not have their routers/equipment to test it. We will have to test it on the MPLS service provider equipment.
How can we accomplish this? I guess we can use iperf command to test the speeds of a circuit right? But then how to test it if we do not have our equipment? Can we connect our laptop/PC directly to the termination point where the ISP ends its MPLS circuit? How do we connect it, using RJ45 cable or console?
Please reply. I need to know this fast. Thanks in advance.
Hello Viral
Hmm, that’s a strange request. When testing the capabilities of an MPLS circuit, ideally, you need the customer equipment (CE) in place. This is because the performance of the MPLS circuit directly depends upon the configuration and setup of that equipment as well. Otherwise, you are just testing the capabilities of the ISP’s network internally, which doesn’t have much meaning for the customer.
MPLS is not like a DSL or cable connection, where you perform a simple speed test to see what kinds of speeds you reach. It must be fully up and running, interconnecting your remote sites to perform any meaningful tests. What does the customer want to achieve by doing the test? Do they just want to make sure that the expected speeds are being reached?
If they persist, the only thing you can do is put in a temporary CE router, configure it, and run the tests they want. You can’t connect a laptop directly to the circuit since there is routing that is taking place between the CE and PE routers as well.
I hope this has been helpful!
Laz
Hello Laz,
Yes the customer wants to test the capabilities of ISP’s network internally before we connect it to the production router/switch at the day of migration. They want to make sure that circuit is working fine and we are getting expected bandwidth.
I agree that there will be routing between CE and PE. But we get a /30 subnet from MPLS provider as Layer 2 directly connected right? So is there a way i can connect the optical fiber terminating at DMARC point, connect it to some RJ45 converter(not sure if there is one) and connect that to my laptop to run iperf tests? Can we do that?
If not, which other way we can test the MPLS circuit to make sure we are getting the speed/bandwidth we are paying for and no pkt loss/jitter, etc? Can we run iperf tests from a
Cisco router/switch? I can check if they can provide, but doesnt look like as of now.
I just searched, there is something called fiber optic-to-Ethernet converter box. So we can use that to connect to our laptop? We can give a /30 ip address to our laptop and gateway set as ISP’s /30 IP. Since MPLS circuit is layer 2, ISP gateway IP will be able to reach other sites on the MPLS circuit right? And we can do our iperf test on our laptop end-to-end. Does that make sense, or I am running ahead of myself?
Or what best you suggest please?
Hello Viral
Getting a media converter to physically terminate a laptop on the MPLS circuit coming into the site is doable of course, but that is not the difficult part. You will likely not be able to obtain any network connectivity, since an MPLS circuit requires that you connect a router that is capable of exchanging routes with the MPLS infrastructure.
Technically speaking, you may be able to connect a laptop and configure it with an IP address of the underlying ISP infrastructure, but you would need the ISP to help you with that. I don’t think that’s feasible because first, it would not really test the capabilities of the specific service the customer has subscribed to, and secondly, no ISP would agree to that because it represents a security issue as the ISP would not want you to gain access to its underlay network.
If you want to perform any meaningful tests, I suggest you obtain (even borrow) a router that can play the role of the CE and set it up as you would for their production network. I don’t know what access you have to equipment, but that would be ideal. Otherwise, I suggest you let the ISP know of the customer’s requirements and have them suggest a solution. In the end, it is the customer that wants to determine if the ISP is living up to their agreed-upon network thresholds, correct? Let us know how you get along…
I hope this has been helpful!
Laz
Hello Laz,
Firstly, the link above you shared regarding member idea doesn’t work, as I strongly vote to have evpn lesson on this platform too,
secondly, why in this Leeson you didn’t describe mpls TE first why/when we need it? instead we jumped to the config directly.
Thanks for your usual efforts.
Hello Ahmedlmad
Thanks for your feedback, it’s always helpful. I took a look at the link and indeed you are correct. I have informed Rene to take a look and fix that.
Secondly, I understand your concern about a lesson that describes MPLS TE as a concept. I will let Rene know about your suggestion as well.
Thanks for your feedback!
Laz
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Hi @ahmedamrici ,
Sorry for the late reply. I’ll be adding an introduction lesson soon. My plan was to create most configuration lessons first, then wrap them up with an introduction lesson that has links to all the configuration lessons. I understand it’s a bit difficult right now to follow some of the configuration examples as you miss some context.
Rene
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Hello Rene,
Thanks that is great news, will wait with bated breath, as you always make subjects look easier to understand.
Regards
Ahmed
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Hello Rene,
Why would you enable LDP on all interfaces if you’ve already configured MPLS-TE? I believe this step might not be necessary.
Hi Lazarus,
Thank you for your response. MPLS-TE doesn’t rely on LDP for label distribution as they are distinct technologies. MPLS-TE uses RSVP-TE for both label distribution and path setup. You can quickly test this in the lab by removing mpls ip config. and LSP will work normally.
Thanks,
Hello Ahmed
You’re absolutely correct, thank you for clarifying this point. My apologies for the misleading information. Your original question asked why we would need to enable LDP on all interfaces if we’ve already configured MPLS-TE. The lesson begins with a conventional or “regular” MPLS deployment, which by definition will have LDP enabled on all interfaces using the mpls ip command. The goal of the lesson is to convert that regular deployment to an MPLS-TE deployment. Strictly speaking, we could have removed the mpls ip command from the related interfaces to reinforce that this capability is unnecessary for MPLS-TE.
I hope this has been helpful!
Laz