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What's the benefit of LDP?

Venison Mogambi
Level 1
Level 1

I've been reading up on MPLS and LDP and, as I understand it, LDP is just another forwarding table that replicates the IGP forwarding table. For example, if you're running OSPF or IS-IS, LDP just takes whatever prefixes are learned via the IGP and builds its own local forwarding table based on the IGP forwarding table. If you're already running an IGP to distribute routes across your core, what's the benefit of running LDP on top of that, when it's just doing the same forwarding that the IGP would normally do? They say MPLS/LDP reduces the processor load on your routers because they don't have to do reference the IP routing table to find the next hop interface, but by using LDP, aren't you adding a duplicate forwarding table (IGP and LDP) for the router to maintain?
I'm just curious to hear peoples' thoughts on this subject...thanks.

1 Accepted Solution

Accepted Solutions

Giuseppe Larosa
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

Hello @Venison Mogambi ,

LDP = Label distribution Protocol

The purpose of LDP is to create local Label bindings for each prefix that can be associated with a label and to advertise the local labels to prefixes bindings to all the neighbors.

As you noted LDP by itself does not provide the capability to go beyond what the IGP in use is doing as it follows the lowest IGP metric to install the label coming from the IGP next-hop.

However, MPLS / LDP provides the foundation block of the MPLS forwarding plane allowing internal devices to perform label switching instead of consulting the IP routing table.

This may look like a small advantage but in the big picture of MPLS and MPLS services like MPLS L3 VPN , EoMPLS, various types of L2 VPN, VPLS till to EVPN this is a building block.

MPLS labels can be stacked = multiple MPLS labels can be applied to a packet before forwarding.

The most external label nearest to the L2 header is also called the IGP label is actually provided either by LDP or by RSVP TE.

The inner label represents a service like a L3 VPN prefix or a EoMPLS pseudowire.

The inner label never changes in the path to the destination PE node and it is meaninguful only there.

The external IGP label changes at each router hop and provides a end to end MPLS path to the destination PE loopback interface.

 

This is the way that LDP and MPLS provide a way to carry traffic (even IPv6 for example) that otherwise cound not be routed by core routers.

This is the real advantage that MPLS and LDP can provide in modern networks, there is no real performance gain in using MPLS.

But MPLS allows to deploy services that do not require awareness for routers in the core.

This provides flexbility and scalability as core routers don't need to have state information about MPLS services.

 

Hope to help

Giuseppe

 

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2 Replies 2

Giuseppe Larosa
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

Hello @Venison Mogambi ,

LDP = Label distribution Protocol

The purpose of LDP is to create local Label bindings for each prefix that can be associated with a label and to advertise the local labels to prefixes bindings to all the neighbors.

As you noted LDP by itself does not provide the capability to go beyond what the IGP in use is doing as it follows the lowest IGP metric to install the label coming from the IGP next-hop.

However, MPLS / LDP provides the foundation block of the MPLS forwarding plane allowing internal devices to perform label switching instead of consulting the IP routing table.

This may look like a small advantage but in the big picture of MPLS and MPLS services like MPLS L3 VPN , EoMPLS, various types of L2 VPN, VPLS till to EVPN this is a building block.

MPLS labels can be stacked = multiple MPLS labels can be applied to a packet before forwarding.

The most external label nearest to the L2 header is also called the IGP label is actually provided either by LDP or by RSVP TE.

The inner label represents a service like a L3 VPN prefix or a EoMPLS pseudowire.

The inner label never changes in the path to the destination PE node and it is meaninguful only there.

The external IGP label changes at each router hop and provides a end to end MPLS path to the destination PE loopback interface.

 

This is the way that LDP and MPLS provide a way to carry traffic (even IPv6 for example) that otherwise cound not be routed by core routers.

This is the real advantage that MPLS and LDP can provide in modern networks, there is no real performance gain in using MPLS.

But MPLS allows to deploy services that do not require awareness for routers in the core.

This provides flexbility and scalability as core routers don't need to have state information about MPLS services.

 

Hope to help

Giuseppe

 

Thanks for the thoughtful response. I'll keep exploring MPLS functionality.

 

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