CE perspective questions

[jimirwin]

Hello,

Please pardon my entry-level knowledge of how these things work...

I am the customer. A basic representation of the network is:

CEa-----PE-----PE-----CEc

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|

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CEb-----PE-----PE-----CEd

All CE locations are my sites. CEa and CEb are part of the same OSPF area 0 as they are directly connected by a leased line.

The provider tells me that all the configuration I need to make this work is the following:

On each CE router, configure the frame circuit with provided IP / dlci, then

router bgp 1

neighbor x.x.x.x remote-as 65000

no auto-summary

So my CE routers do not know of any mpls or vrf, they are simply running ospf internally and peering with bgp 65000 (the provider). From what I understand, this is called PE-based or Peer-VPN.

Prior to the implementation, which is scheduled in 2 weeks, all locations are connected by frame-relay and all are in the same ospf area 0.

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Again, pardoning my ignorance, but that can't be all there is to it. I know I will need redistribution between bgp and ospf, but are there other questions I need to ask of the provider?

Thank you,

Jim

[Harold Ritter]

The redistribution as you mentioned is the only thing missing in this picture. In most cases CE configuration are pretty straitghtforward.

Hope this helps,

[mmolina2]

Something to keep your eye on:

If you plan on using the same BGP AS for all of your sites (pretty common), make sure your MPLS VPN provider configures "as-path override" on the PE's ! If they don't, your sites will not see eachother's prefixes. Or worse, they will prefer your non-MPLS VPN links over the provider's MPLS backbone if you are also advertising these routes via OSPF. Good luck !

[Harold Ritter]

I'd like to think that the SP is able to handle that part. Otherwise, you're in for a bigger surprise ;o)