Supported Platforms
Related Documentation
- MX Series
- Ethernet Terms and Acronyms
- Networking and Internetworking with Bridges and Routers
- Network Addressing at Layer 2 and Layer 3
- Networking at Layer 2: Benefits of Ethernet Frames
- Networking at Layer 2: Challenges of Ethernet MAC Addresses
- Networking at Layer 2: Forwarding VLAN Tagged Frames
- Networking at Layer 2: Forwarding Dual-Tagged Frames
- Networking at Layer 2: Logical Interface Types
- Layer 2 Networking Standards
- Additional Information
- Ethernet Networking Feature Guide for MX Series Routers
A Metro Ethernet Network with MX Series Routers
What would a Metro Ethernet network with Juniper Networks MX Series 3D Universal Edge Router look like? It is very likely that the Metro Ethernet network will place MX Series routers at the edge of a VPLS and MPLS core network.
The VLAN labels in the packet are stacked with MPLS labels, as shown in Figure 1. For a more detailed examination of this type of Metro Ethernet network, see Example: Configuring a Provider VPLS Network with Normalized VLAN Tags.
Figure 1: A Metro Ethernet Network
Another possible configuration, this one without the VPLS and MPLS core, is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: A Metro Ethernet Network with MX Series Routers
In Figure 2, the circled numbers reflect the different formats that the Ethernet frames can take as the frames make their way from a host on one Ethernet switching hub to a host on the other hub. The frame can have two VLAN tags (inner and outer), one tag (only the inner), or no tags at all. The structure of these various Ethernet frames is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: VLAN Tags on a Metro Ethernet Network
As the frame flows from a LAN-based host on one end of Figure 3 to the other, the Ethernet frame can have:
- No VLAN tags—At locations 1 and 5, the Ethernet frames can be native and have no VLAN tags at all (many NIC cards can include configuration of a VLAN identifier, but not all).
- One VLAN tag—At locations 2 and 4, from the VLAN-aware switching hub to the MX Series router, the Ethernet frame has one VLAN tag (if a VLAN tag is not present on arriving frames, a tag is added by the MX Series router).
- Two VLAN tags—At location 3, between two provider bridges, the MX Series routers exchange frames with two VLAN tags. The outer tags are added and removed by the MX Series routers.
Related Documentation
- MX Series
- Ethernet Terms and Acronyms
- Networking and Internetworking with Bridges and Routers
- Network Addressing at Layer 2 and Layer 3
- Networking at Layer 2: Benefits of Ethernet Frames
- Networking at Layer 2: Challenges of Ethernet MAC Addresses
- Networking at Layer 2: Forwarding VLAN Tagged Frames
- Networking at Layer 2: Forwarding Dual-Tagged Frames
- Networking at Layer 2: Logical Interface Types
- Layer 2 Networking Standards
- Additional Information
- Ethernet Networking Feature Guide for MX Series Routers
Published: 2013-07-31
Supported Platforms
Related Documentation
- MX Series
- Ethernet Terms and Acronyms
- Networking and Internetworking with Bridges and Routers
- Network Addressing at Layer 2 and Layer 3
- Networking at Layer 2: Benefits of Ethernet Frames
- Networking at Layer 2: Challenges of Ethernet MAC Addresses
- Networking at Layer 2: Forwarding VLAN Tagged Frames
- Networking at Layer 2: Forwarding Dual-Tagged Frames
- Networking at Layer 2: Logical Interface Types
- Layer 2 Networking Standards
- Additional Information
- Ethernet Networking Feature Guide for MX Series Routers
