MPLS-VRF integration: forwarding capabilities of BGP/MPLS IP VPN in GNU/Linux

Abstract

This paper presents an implementation of the BGP/MPLS IP VPN functionalities for GNU/Linux. First, we briefly review the operation mode described in the IETF RFC 4364 and show the characteristics that are supported by this implementation. Afterwards, we provide some implementation details of the forwarding plane for the kernel 2.6.18.1. This implementation includes the integration of the MPLS- and VRF-for-Linux projects. Finally, we present some example scenarios to validate our implementation in different cases, and show the corresponding commands for the ingress and egress PE routers. This work establishes a first approach for testing BGP/MPLS IP VPN technology in GNU/Linux testbeds and supports the basic functionalities for a future implementation of the signaling plane.