What is the preferred CE to PE routing protocol?

[p.charalambous]

we are planning to connect our network with an MPLS backbone. What is the preferred routing protocol to use between our CE and the provider PE? I heard that all routing protocols are supported (OSPF,IS-IS, RIP EIGRP) is that correct?

Also, if we use VRF-lite on our CE router, is there anything to consider (in terms of routing etc)

Thank you very much

[Harold Ritter]

It depends. I would say that there is no one preferred RP between the CE and PE although most SP would like you to use either static or BGP.

ISIS is currently not fully supported as a CE to PE RP since it is lacking standarization on how to carry ISIS specific attributes via BGP.

VRF-lite is supported for most RP, including RP.

Hope this helps,

[p.charalambous]

thank you very much for the reply.

Is VRF lite supported on other platforms except 4500 ? In Cisco site I don't see any references for other platforms. Some other comment I would like to add is that IS-IS also has some Traffic Enginnering problems, and usually OSPF is prefered as an IGP for an MPLS network.

Thank you.

[Harold Ritter]

There is a variety of platform on which we support multi-vrf (vrf-lite). Please refer to the Feature Navigator off CCO for more information.

http://tools.cisco.com/ITDIT/CFN/jsp/index.jsp

I have large ISP running TE on an ISIS network very successfully. Can you elaborate on what issues you came across.

Thanks,

[p.charalambous]

I just saw a cisco document (MPLS overview) saying that IS-IS needs updating to support TE extensions, compared with OSPF

[Harold Ritter]

MPLS TE has been supported by ISIS for more than 4 years. Therefore, I don't see any problem using this combination.

Hope this helps,

[Luc De Ghein]

The preferred routing protocol is the one that is already running on the CE routers.

But BGP is the most deployed, with OSPF second.

Luc