A key aspect in monitoring MPLS VPN services from the Service Provider's point of view is to ensure that every MPLS VPN maintains proper Provider Edge (PE) router membership. PE membership refers to the specific PE routers which have a Virtual Routing & Forwarding (VRF) instance set up to provide PE to Customer Edge (CE) routing for a customer site, and routing connectivity via the MPLS VPN to other sites connected to other PEs that are part of the VPN. PE membership is important to monitor because if a PE that is a member of a VPN becomes disassociated, then the customer sites connected to that PE will no longer have routing reachability to the other sites in the VPN, effectively cutting them off. In addition, if a PE is added to a VPN mistakenly, that could mean that the VPN is inadvertently being mixed with another customer's network, compromising the privacy of both customers' networks. MPLS VPN-aware routing analytics monitors PE membership and other key routing integrity metrics to provide greater service assurance.

Packet Design's VPN Explorer delivers per MPLS VPN layer 3 and routing reachability and PE membership baselining, monitoring and analysis, as well as core network IGP/BGP route analysis and modeling. VPN Explorer helps Service Providers and large enterprises deploying their own MPLS VPN core network to effectively manage the complex, virtualized routing deployed to support MPLS VPN services to their customers.

Download the MPLS VPN Route Analysis and other white papers here

© 2007 Packet Design Inc., All Rights Reserved - Privacy Policy