1/17/2017

MultichassisLinkAggregationGroupKnowledgeBase

Knowledge
Base

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LinkAggregation

MultichassisLinkAggregationGroup

MCLAGisaproprietarysolutionwhichallowslinkaggregation
betweenmultipledevices(chassis).Thisarticlefocuseson
AlcatelLucent(ALU)solutionofMCLAG.TheCEdeviceis
completelyunawarethatitsEthernetlinksthatbelongtothe
sameLAG(EtherchannelinCisco)areconnectedtotwo(ALU
supportsupto4devicesinMCLAG)seperatePEdevices.Thetwo
PErouterseachhaveoneLAGconnectedtothesameCEdevice.
Atatime,onlyonePErouter'sLAGportsareactiveandcarrying
traffic.TheotherPErouter'sLAGportsarestandbyandonly
becomeactivewhenfailureisdetectedintheactivelinks.ThePE
routersperformelectiontodecidetheactiveandstandbyrouter.

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Attachments

Infigure1,fromCE'sperspective,all4portsbelongingtoaLAG

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areconnectedtoasingleserviceproviderdevice.All4portsare
active,butonly2portsareUPatatimetheother2portsarein
DOWNstate.OnthePErouters,aregularLAGisconfigured
facingtheCEdevice,andMCLAGisconfiguredtodefinetheMC
LAGpeerandLACPparameters.TheMCLAGcontrolprotocol
informationisexchangedbetweenPErouters.Thisexchange
resultsinactive/standbyselection,andensuresonlyonePE
router'sportsareactiveandcarryingtraffic.MCLAGcontrol
protocolrunsonlybetweenMCLAGpeers.TheprotocolusesUDP
packets(destinationport1025)andcanuseMD5for
authentication.Itisusedasakeepalivetoensurepeerdeviceis
active.ItisalsousedtosynchronizeLAGparameters.MCLAG
peersarenotrequiredtobedirectlyconnectedtoeachother.
Also,ifMCLAGpeerisnotfound,bothdevicesbecomeactive.
Thus,theCEdevicesbringsupalllinksfortheLAG.

ToallowaLAGtobeestablishedtodifferentremotedevices,
thesedevicesmustappeartobeasingledevicebypresenting
thesameinformation.Thus,bothPErouterssendanexactly
same{AdminKey,SystemID,SystemPriority}tripletinthe
LACPPDU.

LinkAggregationControlProtocolLACP(IEEE802.3ad)detects
multiplelinksavailablebetweentwodevicesandconfiguresthem
touseasanaggregatebandwidth.Thetwosidesdetectthe
availabilityoftheothersidebysendingLACPPDUs.Oneendis
anActor,whiletheotherendisthePartner.LACPPDUsare
sentataregularinstancetomulticastMACaddress
01:80:C2:00:00:02.DuringLACPnegotiation,thetriplet{Admin
Key,SystemID,SystemPriority}identifiestheLAGinstance.
So,foraLAG,allparticipatingportsonthatdevicemusthavethe
sametripletvalue.

LACPhastwomodesActiveandPassive.InActivemode,the
portssendoutLACPPDUstoseekPartnersafterthephysicallink
comesUP.InPassivemode,theportssendoutLACPPDUsonly
inresponsetoreceptionofLACPPDUsfromremoteside.When
LAGismanuallyconfigured,itistheresponsibilityoftheoperator
toensurethattheconfigurationissameonbothendpoints.The
capabilitiesoftheportswithinaLAGmustbeconsistenti.e
speed/duplexmustmatchonallports,autonegotiationmustbe
disabledwhenLACPisused.

Thereare2reasonstoimplementLAGa)toimprovelink
reliabilityi.e.ifoneofthelinksintheLAGgoesdown,theLAGis
stilloperationallyUP.b)toexpandthebandwidthi.e.the
availablebandwidthinLAGisthesummationofthebandwidthof
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allLAGmemberlinks.

Tokeeptrafficflowinsequence,trafficisdistributedoverthe
linksintheLAGusingahashingalgorithmcalledperflowbased
hashingalgorithm.Hashingisanoperationoftransformingan
inputintoafixedvalueorkey.InEthernetLAG,thehashinput
canbeeithersource/destinationMACaddresses,or
source/destinationIPaddresses,orboth.EvenLayer4header
canbeaddedtothehashingalgorithmcriteria.Thisresultsinthe
idoftheegressporttowhichtheflowissent.

Configuration

TheCEdeviceisconfiguredwitharegularLAGcontaining4ports
showninfigure1.

CE:LAGConfiguration
A:CE#configurelag1
A:CE>config>lag#port1/2/1
A:CE>config>lag#port1/2/2
A:CE>config>lag#port1/2/3
A:CE>config>lag#port1/2/4
A:CE>config>lag#lacpactiveadministrativekey32768
A:CE>config>lag#noshutdown

OnthePEdevices,twotypesofconfigurationisrequired
regularLAG,andMCLAG.NotethatAdminKey(LACPkey),
SystemIDandSystemPriorityvaluesmustbesameonbothPE
routersforaparticularLAG.

PE1:MCLAGConfiguration
A:PE1#configurelag1
A:PE1>config>lag#modeaccess!MCLAGinALUrequiresLAGto
beinAccessmodeonly
A:PE1>config>lag#port1/2/1
A:PE1>config>lag#port1/2/2
A:PE1>config>lag#lacpactiveadministrativekey32768
A:PE1>config>lag#noshutdown

A:PE1#configureredundancymultichassis
A:PE1>config>redundancy>multichassis#peer10.0.0.2!PE2
(MCLAGpeer)
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A:PE1>config>redundancy>multichassis#mclag
A:PE1>config>redundancy>multichassis>mclag#lag1lacpkey10
systemid00:00:00:12:12:12systempriority32768!TheseLACP
parametersmustmatchonMCLAGpeers
A:PE1>config>redundancy>multichassis>mclag#noshutdown
A:PE1>config>redundancy>multichassis>mclag#exit
A:PE1>config>redundancy>multichassis#noshutdown
A:PE1>config>redundancy>multichassis#exit

PE2:MCLAGConfiguration
A:PE2#configurelag1
A:PE2>config>lag#modeaccess
A:PE2>config>lag#port1/2/3
A:PE2>config>lag#port1/2/4
A:PE2>config>lag#lacpactiveadministrativekey32768
A:PE2>config>lag#noshutdown

A:PE2#configureredundancymultichassis
A:PE2>config>redundancy>multichassis#peer10.0.0.1
A:PE2>config>redundancy>multichassis#mclag
A:PE2>config>redundancy>multichassis>mclag#lag1lacpkey10
systemid00:00:00:12:12:12systempriority32768
A:PE2>config>redundancy>multichassis>mclag#noshutdown
A:PE2>config>redundancy>multichassis>mclag#exit
A:PE2>config>redundancy>multichassis#noshutdown
A:PE2>config>redundancy>multichassis#exit

UsefollowingcommandstocheckthestatusofLAGandMCLAG
showport
showlag<id>[detail]
showredundancymultichassisall
showredundancymultichassismclagpeer
<peer_ip_address>

MCLAGwithVPLS

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Figure2showsaverycommonapplicationofMCLAG.TheMC
LAGisusedasanaccessintotheVPLSservice.Thisoperation
providesasingleactiveconnectionintotheVPLSservicefromthe
DSLAMs,withredundantstandbyconnections.ForeachMCLAG,
onlytworegularLAGsareinvolvedintwoPEroutersanyPE
routercanhavemultipleLAGsrunningtheMCLAGprotocolto
anotherPErouter,ortodifferentPErouters.SotheMCLAG
peeringisalwayspointtopointbetweentwoPErouters.TheMC
LAGconfigurationforthisisasfollows

A:PE1#configureredundancymultichassis
A:PE1>config>redundancy>multichassis#info
peer10.0.0.2
mclag
lag1lacpkey10systemid
00:00:00:00:00:11remotelag1systempriority32768
lag2lacpkey10systemid
00:00:00:00:00:22remotelag2systempriority32768
noshutdown
exit
noshutdown
exit

AllMCLAGgroupspeeringwiththesamerouteraredefined
underthesamepeer.Ifthereismorethanonegroup,the
remotelagIDmustbeprovidedtoallowthepeerrouterto
distinguishamongthegroups.

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Infigure2,redundancycanbeimplementedfromthecoretothe
edge.TheVPLScorenetworkusesfullymeshedpseudowires
betweenPErouters.Resiliencyandfailoverconvergencecanbe
improvedbyusingRSVPTELSPswithFRR.Intheaggregation
layerinHVPLS,CEdevicescanbedualhomedtoPEroutersby
primary/standbyspokePWs.RSVPTELSPswithFRRcanalsobe
used.Intheedgelayer,theCEdevicescanbedualhomedtoSP
devicesusingMCLAG.

Infigure2again,ifbothlinksofLAG1connectedtoPE1router
fails,PE2(originalstandbyrouter)takesoverastheactiverouter
roleoftheMCLAGandstartstocarrytrafficoverthelinkswhich
wereoriginallyinDOWNstate.Thisistheexpectedbehaviour.
Additionally,thePE1router,whichhasthefailure,willnotify
remotePErouterswithanLDPAddressWithdrawmessageso
thattheycanunlearnallMACaddresseslearnedforthatVPLS
service.

MCLAGhasfollowingbenefits:
MCLAGistransparenttoCEdevices.Itisonly
implementedonPEroutersandpeeringoccursbetweenPE
routers.
CEdevicesarenotrequiredtobeMPLSaware.MCLAGis
implementedontheaccessportthathastheSAP(port
facingtheCEdevice).
WithMCLAG,redundancyandlooppreventionareachieved
withoutusingSTP.MCLAGalsohasquickerconvergenceas
comparedtoSTP.

Comments

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