I work for a small business with only two locations, main and branch. We are in the midst of setting up MPLS connection to link them together. As requested by the carrier, we provided two pairs of /30 addresses to be used on the CE and PE equipment in each location. Also, they recommended OSPF as the routing protocol so we had to determine the area numbers to be used.
A network drawing is attached and here is the summary of the network topology we came up with:
Site 1 (Main)
Local LAN --- (Area 1) --- CPE Device --- (Area 101) --- CE --- PE --- MPLS Cloud
- Area 1: Local LAN & LAN interface of the CPE device
- Area 101: Segment between CPE and CE, using a pair of /30 addresses
Site 2 (Branch)
Local LAN --- (Area 2) --- CPE Device --- (Area 102) --- CE --- PE --- MPLS Cloud
- Area 2: Local LAN & LAN interface of the CPE device
- Area 102: Segment between CPE and CE, using a pair of /30 addresses
Each location has its own Internet connection from a different provider. At first, I thought the carrier will have Area 0 set up on their backbone but just learnt that that was not the case. Therefore, I will have to change the area numbers in order for OSPF to work properly.
Should I change Area 1 of Site 1 to Area 0? Or should I suggest to the carrier to change both Area 101 & 102 to ZERO?
What other options do I have? Which one will best suit my purpose? I am not familiar with OSPF. Your suggestion and advice will be very much appreciated.
