Contents

Configuring basic MPLS ················································································· 1

Overview ···························································································································································· 1
Basic concepts ··········································································································································· 1
MPLS network architecture ························································································································ 2
LSP establishment ····································································································································· 3
MPLS forwarding········································································································································ 4
PHP ···························································································································································· 4
Protocols and standards ···························································································································· 5
Configuration restrictions and guidelines ··········································································································· 5
MPLS configuration task list ······························································································································· 5
Enabling MPLS ·················································································································································· 5
Setting MPLS MTU ············································································································································ 6
Specifying the label type advertised by the egress ···························································································· 7
Configuring TTL propagation ····························································································································· 7
Enabling sending of MPLS TTL-expired messages ··························································································· 9
Enabling MPLS label forwarding statistics ········································································································· 9
Enabling SNMP notifications for MPLS ·············································································································· 9
Displaying and maintaining MPLS ··················································································································· 10

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Configuring basic MPLS
Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) provides connection-oriented label switching over
connectionless IP backbone networks. It integrates both the flexibility of IP routing and the simplicity
of Layer 2 switching.

Overview
MPLS has the following features:
• High speed and efficiency—MPLS uses short- and fixed-length labels to forward packets,
avoiding complicated routing table lookups.
• Multiprotocol support—MPLS resides between the link layer and the network layer. It can
work over various link layer protocols to provide connection-oriented services for various
network layer protocols (for example, IPv4, IPv6, and IPX).
• Good scalability—The connection-oriented switching and multilayer label stack features
enable MPLS to deliver various extended services, such as VPN, traffic engineering, and QoS.

Basic concepts
FEC
MPLS groups packets with the same characteristics (such as packets with the same destination or
service class) into a forwarding equivalence class (FEC). Packets of the same FEC are handled in
the same way on an MPLS network.
Label
A label uniquely identifies an FEC and has local significance.
Figure 1 Format of a label

A label is encapsulated between the Layer 2 header and Layer 3 header of a packet. It is four bytes
long and consists of the following fields:
• Label—20-bit label value.
• TC—3-bit traffic class, used for QoS. It is also called Exp.
• S—1-bit bottom of stack flag. A label stack can contain multiple labels. The label nearest to the
Layer 2 header is called the top label, and the label nearest to the Layer 3 header is called the
bottom label. The S field is set to 1 if the label is the bottom label and set to 0 if not.
• TTL—8-bit time to live field used for MPLS loop prevention.
LSR
A router that performs MPLS forwarding is a label switching router (LSR).

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LSP
A label switched path (LSP) is the path along which packets of an FEC travel through an MPLS
network.
An LSP is a unidirectional packet forwarding path. Two neighboring LSRs are called the upstream
LSR and downstream LSR along the direction of an LSP. As shown in Figure 2, LSR B is the
downstream LSR of LSR A, and LSR A is the upstream LSR of LSR B.
Figure 2 Label switched path

LFIB
The Label Forwarding Information Base (LFIB) on an MPLS network functions like the Forwarding
Information Base (FIB) on an IP network. When an LSR receives a labeled packet, it searches the
LFIB to obtain information for forwarding the packet. The information includes the label operation
type, the outgoing label value, and the next hop.
Control plane and forwarding plane
An MPLS node consists of a control plane and a forwarding plane.
• Control plane—Assigns labels, distributes FEC-label mappings to neighbor LSRs, creates the
LFIB, and establishes and removes LSPs.
• Forwarding plane—Forwards packets according to the LFIB.

MPLS network architecture

Figure 3 MPLS network architecture

An MPLS network has the following types of LSRs:

• Ingress LSR—Ingress LSR of packets. It labels packets entering into the MPLS network.
• Transit LSR—Intermediate LSRs in the MPLS network. The transit LSRs on an LSP forward
packets to the egress LSR according to labels.

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 • Egress LSR—Egress LSR of packets. It removes labels from packets and forwards the
packets to their destination networks.

LSP establishment
LSPs include static and dynamic LSPs.
• Static LSP—To establish a static LSP, you must configure an LFIB entry on each LSR along the
LSP. Establishing static LSPs consumes fewer resources than establishing dynamic LSPs, but
static LSPs cannot automatically adapt to network topology changes. Therefore, static LSPs
are suitable for small-scale networks with simple, stable topologies.
• Dynamic LSP—Established by a label distribution protocol (also called an MPLS signaling
protocol). A label distribution protocol classifies FECs, distributes FEC-label mappings, and
establishes and maintains LSPs. Label distribution protocols include protocols designed
specifically for label distribution, such as the Label Distribution Protocol (LDP), and protocols
extended to support label distribution, such as MP-BGP and RSVP-TE.
In this document, the term "label distribution protocols" refers to all protocols for label distribution.
The term "LDP" refers to the RFC 5036 LDP.
A dynamic LSP is established in the following steps:
1. A downstream LSR classifies FECs according to destination addresses.
2. The downstream LSR assigns a label for each FEC, and distributes the FEC-label binding to its
upstream LSR.
3. The upstream LSR establishes an LFIB entry for the FEC according to the binding information.
After all LSRs along the LSP establish an LFIB entry for the FEC, a dynamic LSP is established for
the packets of this FEC.
Figure 4 Dynamic LSP establishment

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MPLS forwarding
Figure 5 MPLS forwarding

As shown in Figure 5, a packet is forwarded over the MPLS network as follows:

1. Device B (the ingress LSR) receives a packet with no label. Then, it performs the following
operations:
a. Identifies the FIB entry that matches the destination address of the packet.
b. Adds the outgoing label (40, in this example) to the packet.
c. Forwards the labeled packet out of the interface Ten-GigabitEthernet 1/1/2 to the next hop
LSR Device C.
2. When receiving the labeled packet, Device C processes the packet as follows:
a. Identifies the LFIB entry that has an incoming label of 40.
b. Uses the outgoing label 50 of the entry to replace label 40 in the packet.
c. Forwards the labeled packet out of the outgoing interface Ten-GigabitEthernet 1/1/2 to the
next hop LSR Device D.
3. When receiving the labeled packet, Device D (the egress LSR) processes the packet as
follows:
a. Identifies the LFIB entry that has an incoming label of 50.
b. Removes the label from the packet.
c. Forwards the packet out of the outgoing interface Ten-GigabitEthernet 1/1/2 to the next hop
LSR Device E.
If the LFIB entry records no outgoing interface or next hop information, Device D performs the
following operations:
a. Identifies the FIB entry by the IP header.
b. Forwards the packet according to the FIB entry.

PHP
An egress node must perform two forwarding table lookups to forward a packet:
• Two LFIB lookups (if the packet has more than one label).

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 • One LFIB lookup and one FIB lookup (if the packet has only one label).
The penultimate hop popping (PHP) feature can pop the label at the penultimate node, so the egress
node only performs one table lookup.
A PHP-capable egress node sends the penultimate node an implicit null label of 3. This label never
appears in the label stack of packets. If an incoming packet matches an LFIB entry containing the
implicit null label, the penultimate node pops the top label and forwards the packet to the egress
node. The egress node directly forwards the packet.
Sometimes, the egress node must use the TC field in the label to perform QoS. To keep the TC
information, you can configure the egress node to send the penultimate node an explicit null label of
0. If an incoming packet matches an LFIB entry containing the explicit null label, the penultimate hop
replaces the top label value with value 0, and forwards the packet to the egress node. The egress
node gets the TC information, pops the label of the packet, and forwards the packet.

Protocols and standards

• RFC 3031, Multiprotocol Label Switching Architecture
• RFC 3032, MPLS Label Stack Encoding
• RFC 5462, Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) Label Stack Entry: "EXP" Field Renamed to
"Traffic Class" Field

Configuration restrictions and guidelines

Follow these guidelines when you configure basic MPLS:
• If the switch acts as an egress, it can de-encapsulate MPLS packets with a maximum of two
labels.
• Basic MPLS is exclusive with EVI and VXLAN.

MPLS configuration task list

Tasks at a glance

(Required.) Enabling MPLS

(Optional.) Setting MPLS MTU

(Optional.) Specifying the label type advertised by the egress

(Optional.) Configuring TTL propagation

(Optional.) Enabling sending of MPLS TTL-expired messages

(Optional.) Enabling MPLS label forwarding statistics

(Optional.) Enabling SNMP notifications for MPLS

Enabling MPLS
Before you enable MPLS, perform the following tasks:
• Configure link layer protocols to ensure connectivity at the link layer.
• Configure IP addresses for interfaces to ensure IP connectivity between neighboring nodes.

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 • Configure static routes or an IGP protocol to ensure IP connectivity among LSRs.
To enable MPLS:

Step Command Remarks

1. Enter system view. system-view N/A
By default, no LSR ID is configured.
An LSR ID must be unique in an
2. Configure an LSR ID for the MPLS network and in IP address
local node. mpls lsr-id lsr-id
format. As a best practice, use the
IP address of a loopback interface
as an LSR ID.
3. Enter the view of the interface
that needs to perform MPLS interface interface-type
N/A
forwarding. interface-number

4. Enable MPLS on the interface. By default, MPLS is disabled on the

mpls enable
interface.

Setting MPLS MTU

MPLS adds the label stack between the link layer header and network layer header of each packet.
To make sure the size of MPLS labeled packets is smaller than the MTU of an interface, configure an
MPLS MTU on the interface.
MPLS compares each MPLS packet against the interface MPLS MTU. When the packet exceeds the
MPLS MTU:
• If fragmentation is allowed, MPLS performs the following operations:
a. Removes the label stack from the packet.
b. Fragments the IP packet. The length of a fragment is the MPLS MTU minus the length of the
label stack.
c. Adds the label stack to each fragment, and forwards the fragments.
• If fragmentation is not allowed, the LSR drops the packet.
To set an MPLS MTU for an interface:

Step Command Remarks

1. Enter system view. system-view N/A

2. Enter interface view. interface interface-type

N/A
interface-number
3. Set an MPLS MTU for the By default, no MPLS MTU is set
interface. mpls mtu value
on an interface.

The following applies when an interface handles MPLS packets:

• MPLS packets carrying L2VPN or IPv6 packets are always forwarded by an interface, even if
the length of the MPLS packets exceeds the MPLS MTU of the interface.
• If the MPLS MTU of an interface is greater than the MTU of the interface, data forwarding might
fail on the interface.
• If you do not configure the MPLS MTU of an interface, fragmentation of MPLS packets is based
on the MTU of the interface without considering MPLS labels. An MPLS fragment might be
larger than the interface MTU and be dropped.

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Specifying the label type advertised by the egress
In an MPLS network, an egress can advertise the following types of labels:
• Implicit null label with a value of 3.
• Explicit null label with a value of 0.
• Non-null label.
For LSPs established by a label distribution protocol, the label advertised by the egress determines
how the penultimate hop processes a labeled packet.
• If the egress advertises an implicit null label, the penultimate hop directly pops the top label of a
matching packet.
• If the egress advertises an explicit null label, the penultimate hop swaps the top label value of a
matching packet with the explicit null label.
• If the egress advertises a non-null label, the penultimate hop swaps the top label of a matching
packet with the label assigned by the egress.
Configuration guidelines
As a best practice, configure the egress to advertise an implicit null label to the penultimate hop if the
penultimate hop supports PHP. If you want to simplify packet forwarding on the egress but keep
labels to determine QoS policies, configure the egress to advertise an explicit null label to the
penultimate hop. Use non-null labels only in particular scenarios. For example, when OAM is
configured on the egress, the egress can get the OAM function entity status only through non-null
labels.
As a penultimate hop, the device accepts the implicit null label, explicit null label, or non-null label
advertised by the egress device.
For LDP LSPs, the mpls label advertise command triggers LDP to delete the LSPs established
before the command is executed and re-establishes new LSPs.
For BGP LSPs, the mpls label advertise command takes effect only on the BGP LSPs established
after the command is executed. To apply the new setting to BGP LSPs established before the
command is executed, delete the routes corresponding to the BGP LSPs, and then redistribute the
routes.
For CRLSPs established by using RSVP, the mpls label advertise command takes effect only on
the CRLSPs established after the command is executed. To apply the new setting to CRLSPs
established before the command is executed, delete the CRLSPs and re-establish them.
Configuration procedure
To specify the type of label that the egress node will advertise to the penultimate hop:

Step Command Remarks

1. Enter system view. system-view N/A
2. Specify the label type mpls label advertise By default, an egress advertises
advertised by the egress to { explicit-null | implicit-null | an implicit null label to the
the penultimate hop. non-null } penultimate hop.

Configuring TTL propagation

When TTL propagation is enabled, the ingress node copies the TTL value of an IP packet to the TTL
field of the label. Each LSR on the LSP decreases the label TTL value by 1. The LSR that pops the
label copies the remaining label TTL value back to the IP TTL of the packet. The IP TTL value can

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reflect how many hops the packet has traversed in the MPLS network. The IP tracert facility can
show the real path along which the packet has traveled.
Figure 6 TTL propagation

When TTL propagation is disabled, the ingress node sets the label TTL to 255. Each LSR on the LSP
decreases the label TTL value by 1. The LSR that pops the label does not change the IP TTL value
when popping the label. Therefore, the MPLS backbone nodes are invisible to user networks, and
the IP tracert facility cannot show the real path in the MPLS network.
Figure 7 Without TTL propagation

Follow these guidelines when you configure TTL propagation:

• As a best practice, set the same TTL processing mode on all LSRs of an LSP.
• To enable TTL propagation for a VPN, you must enable it on all PE devices in the VPN. Then,
you can get the same traceroute result (hop count) from those PEs.
To enable TTL propagation:

Step Command Remarks

3. Enter system view. system-view N/A
By default, TTL propagation is enabled only
for public-network packets.
4. Enable TTL mpls ttl propagate { public | This command affects only the propagation
propagation. vpn } between IP TTL and label TTL. Within an
MPLS network, TTL is always copied
between the labels of an MPLS packet.

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Enabling sending of MPLS TTL-expired
messages
This feature enables an LSR to generate an ICMP TTL-expired message upon receiving an MPLS
packet with a TTL of 1. If the MPLS packet has only one label, the LSR sends the ICMP TTL-expired
message back to the source through IP routing. If the MPLS packet has multiple labels, the LSR
sends it along the LSP to the egress, which then sends the message back to the source.
To enable sending of MPLS TTL-expired messages:

Step Command Remarks

1. Enter system view. system-view N/A
2. Enable sending of MPLS
TTL-expired messages. mpls ttl expiration enable By default, this feature is enabled.

Enabling MPLS label forwarding statistics

MPLS label forwarding forwards a labeled packet based on its incoming label.
Perform this task to enable MPLS label forwarding statistics and MPLS statistics reading, so that you
can use the display mpls lsp verbose command to view MPLS label statistics.
To enable MPLS label forwarding statistics:

Step Command Remarks

1. Enter system view. system-view N/A
mpls statistics { all |
2. Enable MPLS label [ vpn-instance vpn-instance-name ] By default, MPLS label
forwarding statistics for { ipv4 ipv4-destination mask-length | forwarding statistics are
specific LSPs. ipv6 ipv6-destination prefix-length } | disabled for all LSPs.
static | te ingress-lsr-id tunnel-id }
3. Enable MPLS label
statistics reading, and set By default, MPLS label statistics
mpls statistics interval interval
the reading interval. reading is disabled.

Enabling SNMP notifications for MPLS

This feature enables MPLS to generate SNMP notifications. The generated SNMP notifications are
sent to the SNMP module.
For more information about SNMP notifications, see Network Management and Monitoring
Configuration Guide.
To enable SNMP notifications for MPLS:

Step Command Remarks

1. Enter system view. system-view N/A
2. Enable SNMP By default, SNMP notifications for
notifications for MPLS. snmp-agent trap enable mpls
MPLS are enabled.

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Displaying and maintaining MPLS
Execute display commands in any view and reset commands in user view.

Task Command

Display MPLS interface information. display mpls interface [ interface-type interface-number ]

Display usage information for MPLS
display mpls label { label-value1 [ to label-value2 ] | all }
labels.
display mpls lsp [ egress | in-label label-value | ingress |
outgoing-interface interface-type interface-number | protocol
Display LSP information. { bgp | ldp | local | rsvp-te | static | static-cr } | transit ]
[ vpn-instance vpn-instance-name ] [ ipv4-dest mask-length |
ipv6 [ ipv6-dest prefix-length ] ] [ verbose ]
Display MPLS Nexthop Information
display mpls nib [ nib-id ]
Base (NIB) information.

Display usage information for NIDs. display mpls nid [ nid-value1 [ to nid-value2 ] ]

Display LSP statistics. display mpls lsp statistics

Display MPLS summary information. display mpls summary

Display ILM entries. display mpls forwarding ilm [ label ] [ slot slot-number ]

Display NHLFE entries. display mpls forwarding nhlfe [ nid ] [ slot slot-number ]

reset mpls statistics { all | [ vpn-instance vpn-instance-name ]

Clear MPLS forwarding statistics for the
{ ipv4 ipv4-destination mask-length | ipv6 ipv6-destination
specified LSPs.
prefix-length } | static | te ingress-lsr-id tunnel-id }

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