making the transition to multiprotocol label switching mpls

Thinking About Making the Transition to MPLS Why Consider Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)? Many organizations are considering a move from Frame Relay and ATM to Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)-based network services. MPLS •Diversity Via IP Routing – Simplified Disaster Recovery and inherent redundancy •Ease of Network Expansion VPNs provide the privacy and security of a Frame Relay or ATM network, yet they allow the inherent any-to-any connectivity and •High Speed Access Support – Up to OC192 routing flexibility typical of an IP network. It’s the best of both worlds. In addition, MPLS VPNs provide three other important elements: •Access Technology Agnostic – Frame Relay, ATM, PPP over DS0-OC48; Ethernet, DSL, etc. 1. Quality of Service (QoS) levels that are critical to application convergence and they also support voice, video and data on one network. •IP Class of Service •Provider-Based IP VPN – No requirement for CPE-based tunneling and encryption equipment/software/ overhead nor PKI management 2. An MPLS VPN is a natural platform for dynamic disaster recovery. Based on IP routing, it’s simple to support multiple data centers in a load sharing or primary/backup scenario. •Easy to Support Plug-ins – Video and Voice Gateways, Remote Access, Network-Based Firewall 3. MPLS VPNs simplify the data center architecture. Unlike with Frame Relay and ATM, you are not constrained by managing many point-to-point direct connections to remote sites. Migration Considerations to Think About •Complexity MPLS Layer 3 VPNs are based on RFC2547bis. This standard defines mechanisms to keep individual VPNs completely private and separate •Critical applications performance from each other. While the data traverses a shared infrastructure, customers can be assured that their VPNs are maintained and monitored as separate entities, much like a Frame Relay or ATM network. •Traffic management •Security in peer-to-peer model The following summarizes the benefits of an MPLS VPN: •Design of routing architecture •Any-to-Any IP Connectivity – Optimal Routing without PVCs •Improved Latency – Avoid tandem routing through a hub (offload hub router) Migration Considerations toThink About The advantages of MPLS are compelling. In the course of migrating to MPLS, organizations should consider the impact of both the network •Any IP Address Scheme – Intranets and extranets migration itself and the ease of operating and managing in the new environment. •Circuit Consolidation – Eliminate aggregation layer, if Layer 3 VPN, for all sites research shows that among its customers who are considering migration from Frame Relay or ATM, the primary consideration is •Cost-Effective – More cost-effective than Layer 2 services especially as connectivity requirements increase increased complexity. This complexity issue itself then breaks down intofour primary drivers, each of vital importance to keeping business operations running smoothly. The four drivers include: Supported by this foundation, your current applications should run as well – or better – on your new MPLS network, and your new •Critical applications performance applications should perform exactly as designed. •Traffic management •Security in a peer-to-peer model QoS techniques and network performance monitoring tools will ensure that you maintain consistency of application performance, and that you’ve got insight and reports to trouble-shoot problems quickly. •Design of the routing architecture The remainder of this paper examines these topics and discusses how toaddress them in your migration plan. Setting parameters on the required performance metrics with associated SLAs generally requires that you purchase a specific CoS to serve the traffic. To separate out and define this traffic with a policy so Assuring That Your Critical Applications Perform Well Designing networks for quality of service deployment is a high stakes exercise. It is particularly important for Voice over IP (VoIP) applications. that the MPLS VPN service can identify it, your network needs to be instrumented to achieve visibility across the entire domain, from the smallest branch to the largest data center. You can choose from the following tools: In traditional data applications, the protocols and applications themselves can be pretty forgiving. Some of the features of a frame •A system purchased as an appliance by the enterprise network, such as traffic management and protocol features like TCP sliding windows, are simpler on an MPLS network because the traffic •WAN-access router software with QoS capabilities bundled in management headaches are moved into the network. •Premises-based equipment purchased as part of a managed network service from the MPLS VPN service provider In more sensitive applications such as VoIP and IP Telephony, there is often no ability to tolerate oversubscription, and the voice traffic •A network-based managed service offered by the MPLS VPN service provider volumes (call volumes) can be fairly unpredictable. This puts additional burdens on network planning personnel. These tools enable you (or an outside expert that you hire) to first baseline your applications by monitoring the bandwidth each “It’s a new world out there with voice traffic,” says Tom Siracusa, Director Labs, VPN Strategy. “You have to be pretty precise in consumes, their behavior and requirements. Then, you can use the tools to classify traffic based on user group, application, metric your analysis of the traffic you have today, and fairly granular in your plans. For example, you need to understand the number of concurrent requirements or other criteria and prioritize them through the network accordingly. You can automatically set policies to guarantee minimum voice calls expected over a given WAN link. It’s not like TCP/IP and bulk file transfers, where sliding windows and retransmissions can take care of things in the background.” levels of bandwidth for mission-critical, delay-sensitive traffic and limit bandwidth to other applications, such as certain peer-to-peer traffic. The first step to assure your applications perform exactly as your business requires is a thorough traffic analysis, resulting in a baseline Traffic Classification of your current traffic patterns. Fortunately, a range of hardware and software tools are available to help with that traffic analysis. One IP Packets option is to instrument your current network and build your applications’ profiles from there. Another option is to bring in IP Packets IP Packets professional services to put equipment on your network on a temporary basis to gather a snapshot that can be used for detailed planning. The other side of the planning process is to take the traffic information (by application or application class) and then build the Traffic Manager MPLS traffic profiles, based on the number of classes of service you have available. This is more complicated than the PVC designs from Frame Relay in that you may be considering full mesh designs with real-time traffic, such as voice, that is not very tolerant. IP Packet Top Priority Queue Whichever option you select, the critical output is an accurate profile of your existing traffic and an accurate model of your new applications. IP Packet Middle Priority Queue These profiles are the fundamental data set for constructing the Class of Service (CoS) regimen in your new network. IP Packet Low Priority Queue Improving Traffic Management for Application Performance A good network design is the foundation for good traffic management, Traffic Management tools recognize CoS data on incoming packets, and assign the highest built upon the solid traffic analysis discussed earlier in this paper. priority to the most demanding applications. Achieving Security in a Peer-to-Peer Model MPLS VPNs tend to stir up security concerns, particularly given the openness of operating in a peer-to-peer model. These concerns can Regardless of the type of VPN service you use – Frame Relay, Internet- based IP VPN, MPLS-based VPN – it is advisable to have both a largely be put into two categories: network-based and an endpoint security architecture. Intrusion prevention systems can be installed directly on WAN access routers or 1. Is an MPLS VPN really private? in the form of standalone WAN-edge appliances to scan traffic for malicious signatures before granting access. Dynamic access to the 2. Do the meshed characteristics of an MPLS VPN necessitate that I change my security architecture? latest signatures is available from router and appliance vendors or antivirus companies. The following topics will be discussed: MPLS VPN privacy, distributed network-based and endpoint security, traffic management and routing If you prefer to outsource the management of your endpoint security, scanning and remediation capabilities are also available in service form. architecture design. Security in an Enterprise MPLS Network MPLS VPN Privacy The MPLS VPN IETF standard defines mechanisms to keep each VPN completely private and separate from other VPNs. While the data traverses a shared infrastructure, enterprises can be assured that their network is maintained and monitored as a separate entity. Much like Extranet Customers their Frame Relay and ATM network service counterparts, MPLS services behave as a segregated “tunnel” through a shared infrastructure. Internet The Public Potential Scope for IP-Based Rather than provisioning PVCs and Data Link Connection Identifiers (DLCIs), your service provider will build virtual routing and forwarding Applications, such as VoIP (VRF) tables to create customer separation. A VRF is created by the carrier for each individual VPN. Each VRF consists of an IP routing table, a derived forwarding table, a set of interfaces that use the forwarding table, and a set of rules and routing protocols that determine Intranet Employees what goes into the forwarding table. A VRF containing this set of data exists for each VPN site attached to each carrier’s Premises Edge (PE), The traditional boundaries of web-based applications are breaking down, mandating a distributed approach to security. keeping each VPN connected to each PE completely segregated. Distributed Network-Based and Endpoint Security Traditionally, most enterprises have kept very strong separation between their private intranets, their Internet access and their extranet connections to partners and suppliers. Over time, this separation is Reducing Complexity Through Routing Architecture Design Another issue on the subject of complexity is routing. MPLS VPN services support either eBGP or static routes between the CE and PE. beginning to diminish. This is because businesses need certain applications, such as VoIP, to seamlessly span all three. Meanwhile, mobile workers are using their Most business customers are familiar with interior gateway protocols, such as Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) and Cisco Enhanced Interior Router Gateway Protocol (EIRGP). work laptops for connections to public networks. In such a dynamic environment, centralized security starts to become obsolete. The inherent mesh of an MPLS network exacerbates this concern. When using an MPLS-based service, however, your WAN access routers will be operating at the IP layer, peering at Layer 3 with the carrier’s MPLS edge routers. Traditional security models, though, tend to parallel the centralized, hub-and-spoke configuration of Frame Relay networks. Left as is, The best protocol for peering with the carrier’s MPLS network is external Border Gateway Protocol (eBGP) to exchange route this could be problematic. For example, a security appliance at a centralized site filters traffic coming only through the “front door” reachability information among different routing domains. While using BGP requires that the enterprise network manager learns a little about of the enterprise. However, with direct site-to-site MPLS links, a virus/ worm outbreak at a remote site could spread to many sites before the BGP, learning enough for using an MPLS service is not at all difficult. appliance were to discover it and start taking remedial action. In addition, your carrier should provide field experts who can offer basic advice on setting up your premises equipment. Alternatively, a Therefore, shifting to a distributed security model is critical. Included in this shift will be the use of the network as one of the key security managed service would shift all responsibility for BGP configuration into the hands of the provider. elements in the total environment, taking advantage of the network’s ability to monitor activity across a vast number of endpoints, enabling it to spot and correlate anomalies at the earliest stage of emergence. The Strong Benefits of Using External Border Gateway Protocol (eBGP) Conclusion Enterprises that moved from private line to Frame Relay networks over the last 10-15 years initially had many of the same concerns we hear •Allows load balancing across many MPLS network topologies using BGP associated with MPLS today. The primary motivator was cost savings, which they did realize. They also discovered that the application performance, the security and the network management issues were all manageable and indeed are now the gold-standard to which they •Supports several different redundancy options for carrying primary and backup routes are comparing this next migration. •Treats the Carrier Backbone with non-zero cost to optimize routing for all routes, including “backdoor” routes The benefits of operating in a fully converged, meshed architecture will quickly overtake any of the perceived concerns and, undoubtedly, •Supports Outbound Route Filtering (ORF) which allows a CE to dynamically signal a PE to only advertise certain route prefixes to it MPLS VPNs will be the de facto standard to which the next major technology innovation is compared. •Offers several capabilities to provide enhanced and very specific routing control “The MPLS network is paying off – we’re seeing enhanced employee productivity, easier •Allows route dampening option that aids in route flap protection; BGP does dynamic timer negotiation at BGP session initiation for the keep-alive and hold down timers administration, improved reliability, and measurable improvement in the total cost of ownership.” Andy Daudelin, Vice President, IT Operations •Provides one of the key protocols (MP-BGP) used by all carriers (including ) that supports RFC 2547-based MPLS networks •Is the most efficient, scaleable and reliable protocol for handling large numbers of routes and network state changes •Uses a fairly simple decision process when deciding which path to use for a route, minimizing administrative complexity Action Items Solutions Shifting from hub-and-spoke Move to a distributed security model by embedding intrusion prevention scanning in distributed to mesh topology WAN access routers Commingling traffic with other Keep traffic secure by circuit-like partitioning using label-switch paths businesses on IP network Maintaining performance SLAs Buy premium service class for premium traffic; use traffic management tools to mark priority traffic and to monitor SLAs Moving to BGP at the WAN edge Learn new Border Gateway Protocol (ask carrier for help and/or consider managed network service) Justifying costs Utilize one network for voice and data less expensive to run, over time, than two; consider payback of new integrated multicast, VoIP, call center, and presence applications For more information contact an Representative or visit www.business.
In cities, towns and remote locations, mini satellite dishes point attentively to the Southern sky. Emblazoned with names like DirecTv, ExpressVu, DirecWay, Web Conferencing, iNetVu, Linkstar, XM Satellite Radio, Sirius Satellite Radio iDirect their numbers are growing at an amazing rate. Iridium Satellite Phone is the only provider of truly global satellite voice and data solutions with complete coverage of the earth (including oceans, airways and Polar Regions). Get the latest buzz on Free satellite tv systems - including the features and benefits that make them today's ultimate television viewing experience.(Get Dish) Ever wonder why these satellite dish systems are in such great demand? Does high speed internet service or digital television programming via satellite intrigue you?
If you've never heard of Cheap VoIP, get ready to change the way you think about long-distance phone calls. VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is a method for taking analog audio signals and turning them into digital data (IP packets) that can be transmitted over the Internet.