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MPLS LDP Label Filtering Example

Once you enable MPLS on the interfaces between the routers and LDP neighbor adjacencies have been formed, a label will be advertised for each network. With LDP however we can configure filters to decide what networks should get a label and which ones shouldn’t be tagged. I’ll use the following topology to demonstrate this:

Above we have 3 routers and each router has 2 loopback interfaces so that we have plenty of networks to play with. Before we enable MPLS we’ll configure OSPF so that all networks are advertised:

R1,R2,R3:
(config)#router ospf 1
(config-router)#network 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.255 area 0

We’ll do this the easy way and activate OSPF on all interfaces. Now let’s enable MPLS on the FastEthernet interfaces:

R1(config)#interface fastEthernet 0/0
R1(config-if)#mpls ip

R2(config)#interface fastEthernet 0/0
R2(config-if)#mpls ip
R2(config-if)#exit
R2(config)#interface fastEthernet 0/1
R2(config-if)#mpls ip

R3(config)#interface fastEthernet 0/0
R3(config-if)#mpls ip

Let’s check if we have LDP neighbors:

R2#show mpls ldp neighbor | include Peer
    Peer LDP Ident: 11.11.11.11:0; Local LDP Ident 22.22.22.22:0
    Peer LDP Ident: 33.33.33.33:0; Local LDP Ident 22.22.22.22:0

So far so good, now let’s take a look at the LDP labels that have been generated:

R1#show mpls forwarding-table 
Local  Outgoing    Prefix            Bytes tag  Outgoing   Next Hop    
tag    tag or VC   or Tunnel Id      switched   interface              
16     Pop tag     2.2.2.2/32        0          Fa0/0      192.168.12.2 
17     17          33.33.33.33/32    0          Fa0/0      192.168.12.2 
18     18          3.3.3.3/32        0          Fa0/0      192.168.12.2 
19     Pop tag     22.22.22.22/32    0          Fa0/0      192.168.12.2 
20     Pop tag     192.168.23.0/24   0          Fa0/0      192.168.12.2

R2#show mpls forwarding-table 
Local  Outgoing    Prefix            Bytes tag  Outgoing   Next Hop    
tag    tag or VC   or Tunnel Id      switched   interface              
16     Pop tag     1.1.1.1/32        0          Fa0/0      192.168.12.1 
17     Pop tag     33.33.33.33/32    0          Fa0/1      192.168.23.3 
18     Pop tag     3.3.3.3/32        0          Fa0/1      192.168.23.3 
19     Pop tag     11.11.11.11/32    0          Fa0/0      192.168.12.1

R3#show mpls forwarding-table 
Local  Outgoing    Prefix            Bytes tag  Outgoing   Next Hop    
tag    tag or VC   or Tunnel Id      switched   interface              
16     Pop tag     192.168.12.0/24   0          Fa0/0      192.168.23.2 
17     16          1.1.1.1/32        0          Fa0/0      192.168.23.2 
18     Pop tag     2.2.2.2/32        0          Fa0/0      192.168.23.2 
19     Pop tag     22.22.22.22/32    0          Fa0/0      192.168.23.2 
20     19          11.11.11.11/32    0          Fa0/0      192.168.23.2

For all networks a label has been generated by LDP. Now let’s configure filtering so that we only generate labels for the loopback 0 interfaces. This is how you do it:

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Tags: LDP

Forum Replies

system says:

For r1 why is 3.3.3.3 untagged?
Similar for r3 why is 1.1.1.1 untagged?
ReneMolenaar says:

That’s what this tutorial is about…filtering tags so not all prefixes get a tag. R2 only sends a tag for 2.2.2.2 /32 to R1 and R3, not for 1.1.1.1/32 or 3.3.3.3/32.
ReneMolenaar says:
TDP is the old Cisco equivalent protocol for LDP. LDP is an IETF standard. On older IOS versions, TDP is the default. Nowadays LDP is the default. There is a command to change the protocol:
```
R1(config)#mpls label protocol ?
  ldp  Use LDP (default)
  tdp  Use TDP
```
Zaman.rubd says:

Hi Rene,

I am little bit confused that where we can use the label filtering in Production network .I am looking for scenario where we deploy it . Thx

br//zaman
ReneMolenaar says:

Hi Zaman,

Think of an MPLS VPN network where we have PE and CE routers. The PE routers only require an LSP (Label Switched Path) between their loopback interfaces and the /32 IP address that is configured on these loopback interfaces. These are the IP addresses that are used for the next hops in BGP.

By default, LDP creates and advertises a label for each and every prefix that is learned. This increases memory usage but also the number of advertisements between peers. If you only advertise labels for the LSPs that you need, you reduce convergence time and memory usage.

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