The 7210 SAS-K 2F6C4T and 7210 SAS-K 3SFP+ 8C can only be configured as a T-PE node and not as an S-PE node.
The following sections describe the end-to-end solution with BGP PW-routing, assuming appropriate platforms are used for various functions.
Dynamic Multi-Segment Pseudowire (MS-PW) routing enables a complete MS-PW to be established, while only requiring per-pseudowire configuration on the T-PEs. No per-pseudowire configuration is required on the S-PEs. End-to-end signaling of the MS-PW is achieved using T-LDP, while multi-protocol BGP is used to advertise the T-PEs, allowing dynamic routing of the MS-PW through the intervening network of S-PEs. Dynamic MS-PWs are described in IETF draft-ietf-pwe3-dynamic-ms-pw-13.txt.
The following figure shows the operation of dynamic MS-PWs.
The FEC 129 AII Type 2 structure depicted in the following figure is used to identify each individual pseudowire endpoint.
A 4-byte global ID followed by a 4-byte prefix and a 4-byte attachment circuit ID are used to provide for hierarchical, independent allocation of addresses on a per service provider network basis. The first 8 bytes (global ID + prefix) may be used to identify each individual T-PE or S-PE as a loopback Layer 2 address.
This new AII type is mapped into the MS-PW BGP NLRI (a new BGP AFI of Layer 2 VPN, and SAFI for network layer reachability information for dynamic MS-PWs. As soon as a new T- PE is configured with a local prefix address of global id:prefix, pseudowire routing will proceed to advertise this new address to all the other T- PEs and S-PEs in the network, as shown in the following figure.
In step 1, a new T-PE (T-PE2) is configured with a local prefix.
Next, in steps 2 to 5, MP-BGP will use the NLRI for the MS-PW routing SAFI to advertise the location of the new T-PE to all the other PEs in the network. Alternatively, static routes may be configured on a per T-PE/S-PE basis to accommodate non-BGP PEs in the solution.
As a result, pseudowire routing tables for all the S-PEs and remote T-PEs are populated with the next hop to be used to reach T-PE2.
VLL services can then be established, as shown in the following figure.
In step 1 and 1', the T-PEs are configured with the local and remote endpoint information, Source AII (SAII), Target AII (TAII). On the 7210 SAS, the AIIs are locally configured for each spoke-SDP, according to the model shown in Figure: Mapping of AII to SAP. Therefore, the 7210 SAS provides for a flexible mapping of AII to SAP. That is, the values used for the AII are through local configuration, and it is the context of the spoke-SDP that binds it to a specific SAP.
Before T-LDP signaling starts, the two T-PEs determine an active and passive relationship using the highest AII (comparing the configured SAII and TAII) or the configured precedence. Next, the active T-PE (in the IETF draft this is referred to as the source T-PE or ST-PE) checks the PW routing table to determine the next signaling hop for the configured TAII, using the longest match between the TAII and the entries in the PW routing table.
This signaling hop is then used to choose the T-LDP session to the chosen next-hop S-PE. Signaling proceeds through each subsequent S-PE using similar matching procedures to determine the next signaling hop. Otherwise, if a subsequent S-PE does not support dynamic MS-PW routing, and therefore uses a statically configured PW segment, the signaling of individual segments follows the procedures already implemented in the PW switching feature.
BGP can install a PW AII route in the PW routing table with ECMP next hops. However, when LDP needs to signal a PW with matching TAII, it will choose only one next hop from the available ECMP next hops. PW routing supports up to four ECMP paths for each destination.
The signaling of the forward path ends when the PE matches the TAII in the label mapping message with the SAII of a spoke-SDP bound to a local SAP. The signaling in the reverse direction can now be initiated, which follows the entries installed in the forward path. The PW routing tables are not consulted for the reverse path. This ensures that the reverse direction of the PW follows exactly the same set of S-PEs as the forward direction.
This solution can be used in either a MAN-WAN environment or in an inter-AS/inter-provider environment, as shown in the following figure.
Data plane forwarding at the S-PEs uses pseudowire service label switching, as per the pseudowire switching feature.