Mark,
Please see inline.
in-line...
>>>i heard there is a way to run MPLS for layer3 VPN(2547) >>>service without needing to run label switching in the >>>core(LDP/TDP/RSVP) but straight IP (aka iMPLS). > > ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-townsley-l2tpv3-mpls-0 1.txt > > See also Mark's talk from the last NANOG > > http://nanog.org/mtg-0402/townsley.html
That requires to run L2TP. An alternative is to run GRE (or even plain IP). The latter (GRE) is implemented by quite a few vendors (and is known to be interoperable among multiple vendors).
The only multi-vendor interoperable mode of GRE that I am aware of requires manual provisioning of point-to-point GRE tunnels between MPLS networks and to each and every IP-only reachable PE.
I guess you are *not* aware of the Redback implementation of 2547 over GRE, as this implementation is (a) available today, (b) interoperable with other implementations of 2547 over GRE, and (c) does *not* require manual provisioning of point-to-point GRE tunnels between MPLS networks and to each and every IP-only reachable PE.
And, just for the record, (stating the obvious) I don't work for Redback.
Are you referring to draft-raggarwa-ppvpn-tunnel-encap-sig-03.txt? (Just guessing as the principal author used to work for Redback). Thanks for the update, I was in fact not aware that companies other than Redback had implemented it. You didn't name those companies, but I will happily stand corrected here.
No, I was *not* referring to draft-raggarwa-ppvpn-tunnel-encap-sig-03.txt. Redback's implementation that does not require manual provisioning of point-to-point GRE tunnels between MPLS networks and to each and every IP-only reachable PE is *purely* an implementation matter, and does *not* require any new communities and/or attributes.
In any case, the point I was trying to make was that there is more than one way to do "MPLS over GRE" and that they are not all necessarily interoperable as you seemed to imply in your message. You have helped to make that quite clear.
The BGP extension defined in the draft below allows "iMPLS" for 2547 VPN support without requiring any manually provisioned tunnels (and works for "mGRE" or L2TPv3).
http://www.watersprings.org/pub/id/draft-nalawade-kapoor-tunnel-safi-01.txt
The question to ask is whether the extension you mentioned above is truly necessary for supporting 2547 over GRE. The Redback implementation I mentioned above is an existence proof that the extension is *not* necessary for 2547 over GRE that does *not* involve manually provisioned GRE tunnels.
Both draft-nalawade-kapoor-tunnel-safi-01.txt and draft-raggarwa-ppvpn-tunnel-encap-sig-03.txt use BGP to advertise capabilities for carrying MPLS-labeled packets over various encapsulation types. Proof of
And *neither* of these are requires in order to avoid manual provisioning of point-to-point GRE tunnels. Yakov.