Provider Ethernet Jan 2006

VLAN Cross Connect COM FN A SB SE

Philippe Klein, Nurit Sprecher

Communications
Provider Ethernet - Network Challenges
ƒ Business and residential customers require an SLA with guaranteed bandwidth,
jitter and delay (which cannot be provided end-to-end by legacy Ethernet bridging)
ƒ Network resiliency with ~50ms recovery
ƒ Huge number of MAC addresses in a single Ethernet domain
ƒ Scalable VLAN networks to provide dedicated VLAN per customer in wholesale
solutions
ƒ Networks and services must be secured
ƒ Networks should be kept simple to minimize CAPEX

Voice

IP/MPLS

Metro Aggregation
ISPs

ASPs

2 - Communications
VLAN Cross Connect – Taking Ethernet One Step Further

ƒ Connection-oriented technique
ƒ Enables traffic engineering & fast recovery
ƒ Resolves MAC scalability
Can scale up to millions
ƒ Resolves VLAN scalability
of subscribers per port
ƒ Inherent subscriber identification based on standard
ƒ Resolves security issues Ethernet frame format
ƒ Keeps the network simple

Voice

IP/MPLS
VLAN Cross Connect

ISPs

ASPs

3 - Communications
VLAN Cross Connect Concept

ƒ Standard VLAN Bridging: Switching based on MAC addresses and

VLANs
ƒ VLAN Cross Connect: Cross Connect according to the ingress port
and the VLAN-XC Tag, regardless of the MAC addresses

Ingress L2 packet

MAC DA MAC SA VLAN Tag

Tag Etype/Len Data FCS
Ingress
Ingress
Ingress
Port
Port
Port ii
MAC DA MAC SA VLAN-XC
VLAN-XC Tag Etype/Len Data FCS

ƒ VLAN Cross Connect co-exists with standard VLAN bridging, even on the same port
ƒ VLAN Cross Connect eliminates MAC learning per VLAN
ƒ VLAN Cross Connect enables up to 16M connections per port

4 - Communications
The Concept of VLAN Cross Connect (cont.)

VLAN Cross
Ingress Connect VLAN Cross
Port Connect
1 5
1 5
2 6

1 5
Port 1 5
2 6
3 7
3 7
2 6 2 6 4 8
4 8
3 7 3 7

4 8 4 8
Egress
VLAN XC Tag Port
VLAN XC Tag
VLAN XC Tag 1 5

1 5 2 6

2 6 3 7

3 7 4 8

4 8

End to End VLAN XC Connection

5 - Communications
 VLAN Cross Connect Network Reference Model

PE-Node PE-Node

P-Nodes

PE-Node PE-Node

ƒ Provider Edge Nodes (PE-Nodes) reside at the boundary of the

provider network and create/terminate VLAN-XC connections
ƒ Provider Internal Nodes (P-Nodes) perform VLAN Cross Connect
switching

6 - Communications
 VLAN Cross Connect Network Topology
Provider Bridged Network

customer interface
provider core network
equipment equipment

CE PE-Node P-Node P-Node PE-Node

Component Component Component Component
Bridge Bridge Bridge Bridge
CE component component component component
Provider Provider
Edge Node Node

PE-Node P-Node P-Node PE-Node

Component Component Component Component
CE
Bridge Bridge Bridge Bridge
component component component component

ƒ Provider Edge Nodes (PE-Nodes) reside at the boundary of the

provider network and create/terminate VLAN-XC connections
ƒ Provider Internal Nodes (P-Nodes) perform VLAN Cross Connect
switching

7 - Communications
 Hybrid VLAN Cross Connect & Bridging Network

Provider Ethernet network incorporating both bridging & VLAN Cross

Connect methods to apply the optimum method per service:
ƒ Bridging for residential multicast services & basic Ethernet transparent
LAN services
Service Method
IPTV Bridging
Business VPN MPtMP (E-LAN) Bridging
Network management Bridging

ƒ VLAN Cross Connect for business-critical services with associated SLAs

High Speed Internet Service VLAN-XC
Business VPN PtP (E-Line) VLAN-XC
Business & Residential Voice Services VLAN-XC
Residential Video-on-Demand VLAN-XC
Wholesale services VLAN-XC

8 - Communications
 Hybrid Network Benefits

ƒ Traffic Engineering
ƒ VLAN Cross Connect allows end-to-end TE for services with associated SLAs
ƒ Fast Recovery
ƒ ~50ms recovery for VLAN Cross Connect services
ƒ Significantly reduces the recovery time for bridging services due to small FDB (yields
from correct service partitioning between VLAN Cross Connect and bridging methods)
ƒ MAC Scalability Traffic Engineering
ƒ VLAN Cross Connect allows end-to-end TE for services with associated SLAs
ƒ Fast Recovery
ƒ ~50ms recovery for VLAN
ƒ VLAN Cross Connect for services that consume a large number of MAC addresses
ƒ Small FDB (used for bridging services) due to the insignificance of MAC addresses in
the VLAN Cross Connect
ƒ VLAN Scalability
ƒ VLAN Cross Connect identifiers have local port scope
ƒ Up to 24-bit wide VLAN Cross Connect identifier
ƒ Bridging VLAN identifiers have global scope

9 - Communications
 Hybrid Network Benefits (cont.)

ƒ User Isolation
ƒ In the VLAN Cross Connect , users are inherently isolated by the end-to-end
connection
ƒ In Bridging, user isolation requires additional methods such as PVLAN, Port Isolation,
etc
ƒ User Identification
ƒ In the VLAN Cross Connect , users are natively identified along the provisioned end-to-
end connection
ƒ Protection against MAC spoofing and MAC attacks
ƒ MAC Address insignificant in VLAN Cross Connect switching
ƒ MAC Learning inhibited for VLAN Cross Connect

10 - Communications
 Bridging / VLAN Cross Connect Selector

VID of the frame’s outer VLAN tag acts as method selector

Frame’s Outer
802.1Q /ah Tagged Frame 802.1Q VLAN TAG
MAC DA MAC SA TPID TCI Etype/Len Data FCS

CFI
PCP VID
Selector

Bridging Method VLAN-XC Method

+ +
Ingress
CFI

MAC DA PCP VID PCP VXC-ID

Port

11 - Communications
 VLAN Cross Connect & Bridging Hybrid Network

VLAN Cross Connect and bridging services coexist in the same provider
network

Hybrid Provider Hybrid Provider

Edge Node Node
VLAN-XC VLAN-XC VLAN-XC
VLAN-XC
Selector
Selector
Selector Service

Bridge
S S S

Bridging
Bridge Service Bridge Bridge

Bridge

12 - Communications
 VLAN Cross Connect Frame Semantic

ƒ VLAN Cross Connect identifier has local port scope

ƒ Frame format as defined in IEEE 802.1Q
ƒ VLAN Cross Connect tagged frame allows up to 4K VLANs per port

VLAN Cross Connect tagged frame

VXC-TAG

MAC
MAC DA
DA MAC
MAC SA
SA TPID
TPID TCI
TCI

12-bit VLAN Cross Connect ID:

CFI
CFI

PCP
PCP VXC-ID
VXC-ID
up to 4k VLANs per port

13 - Communications
 VLAN Cross Connect Frame Semantic (cont.)

ƒ Extended VLAN Cross Connect

ƒ Frame format as defined in IEEE 802.1ad
ƒ VLAN Cross Connect tagged frame allows up to 16M VLANs per port

Extended VLAN Cross Connect tagged frame

EVXC-TAG

MAC
MAC DA
DA MAC
MAC SA
SA TPID
TPID TCI
TCI TPID
TPID TCI
TCI
CFI

CFI
CFI

CFI
PCP
PCP VID
VID PCP
PCP VID
VID

24-bit VLAN Cross Connect ID: EVXC-ID

up to 16M VLANs per port

14 - Communications
VLAN Cross Connect
Process Example In Port Ingress
VLAN
1 10
2 10
3 30
3 40
4 40
4 50
Out Port Egress
VLAN
7 110
5 120
5 130
6 130
7 140
Bridging according to 50
MAC DA & VLAN ID

Cross Connect VID = 120

VID = 10
1 5
VID = 130

VID = 10 VID = 130

2 6
VID = 50
VID = 30 VID = 110
3 7
VID = 40 VID = 140
VID = 40
4 8
Bridge
VID = 50 VID = 50

15 - Communications
 VLAN Cross Connect Service Model

ƒ At the boundary of the VLAN-XC domain, the VID of the outer tag
(C-TAG or S-TAG) can be used to associate the frame with a particular
VLAN-XC connection.
ƒ If required, the outer tag (C-TAG or S-TAG) is preserved and
transparently transported within the VLAN-XC domain.

16 - Communications
VLAN Cross Connect Example (with CE-VLAN Preservation)

VLAN
VLAN Cross
Cross Connect
Connect Connection
Connection

PE-Node P-Node P-Node PE-Node

L2
L2 Frame
Frame L2
L2 Frame
Frame L2
L2 Frame
Frame L2
L2 Frame
Frame L2
L2 Frame
Frame
3 6 2 8 4 12 6 9

MAC DA MAC DA MAC DA MAC DA MAC DA

MAC SA MAC SA MAC SA MAC SA MAC SA
CE-VLAN VXC=1024 VXC=236 VXC=2623 CE-VLAN
CE-VLAN CE-VLAN CE-VLAN

Optional
Optional
CE-TAG
CE-TAG
Preservation
Preservation

17 - Communications
Extended VLAN Cross Connect Example

VLAN
VLAN Cross
Cross Connect
Connect Connection
Connection

PE-Node P-Node P-Node PE-Node

L2
L2 Frame
Frame L2
L2 Frame
Frame L2
L2 Frame
Frame L2
L2 Frame
Frame L2
L2 Frame
Frame
3 6 2 8 4 12 6 9

MAC
MAC DA
DA MAC
MAC DA
DA MAC
MAC DA
DA MAC
MAC DA
DA MAC
MAC DA
DA
MAC
MAC SA
SA MAC
MAC SA
SA MAC
MAC SA
SA MAC
MAC SA
SA MAC
MAC SA
SA
CE-VLAN
CE-VLAN EVXC= EVXC= EVXC= CE-VLAN
CE-VLAN
12045 645 15320

CE-VLAN
CE-VLAN CE-VLAN
CE-VLAN CE-VLAN
CE-VLAN

18 - Communications
 VLAN Cross Connect Services for Ingress Untagged
Frames

All-to-one bundling for untagged frames:

ƒ All frames received on a particular ingress port are associated with a
single connection over the provider network

All-to-one
All-to-one bundling
bundling up
up to
to 4K
4K VLANs
VLANs
per
per port
port
PE-Node
MAC
MAC Etype/Len
Etype/Len 1 5 MAC
MAC VXC=113
VXC=113 Etype/Len
Etype/Len
MAC
MAC Etype/Len
Etype/Len

2 6 MAC VXC=4012
MAC VXC=4012 Etype/Len
Etype/Len
MAC VXC=4012
MAC VXC=4012 Etype/Len
Etype/Len
MAC
MAC Etype/Len
Etype/Len 3 7

MAC
MAC Etype/Len
Etype/Len 4 8 MAC
MAC EVXC = 15025 Etype/Len
Etype/Len

up
up to
to 16M
16M VLANs
VLANs per
per
port
port in
in extended
extended mode
mode

19 - Communications
 VLAN Cross Connect Services for Ingress Tagged
Frames
Service multiplexing with no ingress outer V-TAG preservation:
ƒ Multiple outer VLANs received on a particular ingress port can be associated with
multiple connections over the provider network.
ƒ Outer VLAN tag is not preserved over the network (but may be retrieved from the
penultimate VLAN Cross Connect identifier received by the egress PE-Node)
4K
4K ** (up
(up to
to 4K
4K
Service
Service VLANs
VLANs perper port)
port)
Multiplexing
Multiplexing PE-Node
1 5 MAC
MAC VXC=113
VXC=113 Etype/Len
Etype/Len

MAC
MAC VID=12
VID=12 Etype/Len
Etype/Len 2 6 MAC
MAC EVXC = 15025 Etype/Len
Etype/Len
MAC
MAC VID=234
VID=234 Etype/Len
Etype/Len
3 7 MAC VXC=4012
MAC VXC=4012 Etype/Len
Etype/Len
4K
4K ** (up
(up to
to 16M
16M
VLANs
VLANs per port) in
per port) in
MAC
MAC VID=1011
VID=1011 Etype/Len
Etype/Len 4 8
extended
extended mode
mode

20 - Communications
 VLAN Cross Connect Services for Ingress Tagged
Frames (cont.)
On the same ingress port:
ƒ Bundling: Multiple outer VLANs can be associated with a single connection over
the provider network.
ƒ Multiplexing: Multiple outer VLANs can be associated with multiple connections
over the provider network.
ƒ CE-VLAN preservation with both methods

Bundling
PE-Node
Bundling
1 5 MAC
MAC VXC=113
VXC=113 VID=12
VID=12 Etype/Len
Etype/Len
MAC
MAC VXC=113
VXC=113 VID=625
VID=625 Etype/Len
Etype/Len
MAC
MAC VID=12
VID=12 Etype/Len
Etype/Len
MAC
MAC VID=234
VID=234 Etype/Len
Etype/Len
2 6 MAC
MAC EVXC = 15025 VID=1011
VID=1011 Etype/Len
Etype/Len
MAC
MAC VID=625
VID=625 Etype/Len
Etype/Len
3 7 MAC VXC=4012
MAC VXC=4012 VID=234
VID=234 Etype/Len
Etype/Len
Multiplexing
Multiplexing 4K
4K ** (up
(up to
to 16M
16M
MAC
MAC VID=1011
VID=1011 Etype/Len
Etype/Len 4 8 VLANs
VLANs perper port)
port) in
in
extended mode
extended mode

21 - Communications
 VLAN Cross Connect Traffic Engineering

VLAN Cross Connect enables traffic engineering:

ƒ Can be implemented using a domain-wide provisioning tool
ƒ GMPLS control plane once standardized

E-line between two business customer sites

Site B

Site A

Selected bridged path for traffic between Site A and Site B

Traffic-engineered path with guaranteed QoS 22 - Communications
 VLAN Cross Connect Network Resiliency
ƒ 1:1 Global Protection with extra traffic
ƒ Pre-provisioned backup paths using network-wide provisioning tools
ƒ Sub-50ms recovery
ƒ Revertive or non-revertive mode
ƒ GMPLS resiliency mechanisms (including Fast Reroute) could be applied once
GMPLS for Ethernet is standardized

Protected XC

1:1

Backup XC

23 - Communications
 Scalability
ƒ VLAN Cross Connect can be naturally extended to work with hierarchical
domains using tunneling
ƒ Uses standard VLAN stacking

EVXC
EVXC EVXC
EVXC
MAC
MAC TAG
TAG TAG
TAG
EVXC
EVXC EVXC
EVXC
MAC
MAC TAG
TAG TAG
TAG

MAC
EVXC
EVXC Level n+1 MAC
EVXC
EVXC
MAC TAG MAC TAG
TAG TAG

EVXC
EVXC EVXC
EVXC
MAC
MAC MAC
MAC
TAG
TAG TAG
TAG
PE-Nodes

PE-Nodes

Level n
Level n

24 - Communications
 Point-to-Multipoint Services

ƒ VLAN Cross Connect can be naturally extended to provide

point-to-multipoint services
ƒ Subject to a forthcoming contribution

25 - Communications
 Thank You!
Philippe Klein philippe.klein@seabridgenetworks.com
Nurit Sprecher nurit.sprecher@seabridgenetworks.com
Communications