Configuring VPLS Encapsulation on CE-Facing Interfaces

There are several types of VPLS interface encapsulation: Ethernet VPLS, Ethernet VPLS over ATM LLC, Ethernet VPLS over Frame Relay, Ethernet VPLS over PPP, VLAN VPLS, extended VLAN VPLS, and flexible Ethernet services. When one of these encapsulations is applied to an interface, a family type of VPLS is enabled by default. The encapsulation types are:

• ethernet-vpls-fr—Use Ethernet VPLS over Frame Relay in a VPLS setup when a CE device is connected to a PE device over a time division multiplexing (TDM) link. This encapsulation type enables the PE device to terminate the outer layer 2 Frame Relay connection, use the 802.1p bits inside the inner Ethernet header to classify the packets, look at the MAC address from the Ethernet header, and use it to forward the packet into a given VPLS instance.

• ether-vpls-over-atm-llc—Use Ethernet VPLS over ATM LLC encapsulation on ATM2 IQ logical interfaces. Use this encapsulation type to support IEEE 802.1p classification binding on ATM VCs. This encapsulation type enables a VPLS instance to support bridging between Ethernet interfaces and ATM interfaces, as described in RFC 2684, Multiprotocol Encapsulation over ATM Adaptation Layer 5. When you use this encapsulation type, you configure it on logical interfaces only and you cannot configure multipoint interfaces.

• ethernet-vpls-fr—Use in a VPLS setup when a CE device is connected to a PE device over a time division multiplexing (TDM) link. This encapsulation type enables the PE device to terminate the outer layer 2 Frame Relay connection, use the 802.1p bits inside the inner Ethernet header to classify the packets, look at the MAC address from the Ethernet header, and use it to forward the packet into a given VPLS instance.

• ethernet-vpls-ppp—Use in a VPLS setup when a CE device is connected to a PE device over a time division multiplexing (TDM) link. This encapsulation type enables the PE device to terminate the outer layer 2 PPP connection, use the 802.1p bits inside the inner Ethernet header to classify the packets, look at the MAC address from the Ethernet header, and use it to forward the packet into a given VPLS instance.

• extended-vlan-vpls—Use extended VLAN VPLS encapsulation on Ethernet interfaces that have VLAN 802.1Q tagging and VPLS enabled and that must accept packets carrying TPIDs 0x8100, 0x9100, and 0x9901.

  Note:

  The built-in Gigabit Ethernet PIC on the M7i router does not support MPLS.

• ethernet-vpls—Use Ethernet VPLS encapsulation on Ethernet interfaces that have VPLS enabled and must accept packets carrying standard Tag Protocol ID (TPID) values.

• vlan-vpls—Use VLAN VPLS encapsulation on Ethernet interfaces with VLAN tagging enabled. VLAN VPLS encapsulation supports TPID 0x8100 only. You must configure this encapsulation type on both the physical interface and the logical interface.

• flexible-ethernet-services—Use flexible Ethernet services encapsulation when you want to configure multiple per-unit Ethernet encapsulations. This encapsulation type allows you to configure any combination of route, TCC, CCC, and VPLS encapsulations on a single physical port.

Use the following guidelines to configure a VPLS interface:

• For encapsulation type vlan-vpls, VLAN IDs 1 through 511 are reserved for normal Ethernet VLANs, IDs 512 through 1023 are reserved for VPLS VLANs on Fast Ethernet interfaces, and IDs 512 through 4094 are reserved for VPLS VLANs on Gigabit Ethernet interfaces.

• For encapsulation type extended-vlan-vpls, all VLAN IDs from 1 through 1023 are valid for VPLS VLANs on Fast Ethernet interfaces, and all VLAN IDs from 1 through 4094 are valid for VPLS VLANs on Gigabit Ethernet interfaces. VLAN ID 0 is reserved for priority tagging. For encapsulation type flexible-ethernet-services, VLAN IDs from 1 through 511 are no longer reserved for normal VLANs.

• For encapsulation type flexible-ethernet-services, VLAN IDs from 1 through 511 are no longer reserved for normal VLANs.

VPLS Interface Encapsulation for an Ethernet Interface

To configure VPLS interface encapsulation for an Ethernet interface, include the encapsulation statement at the [edit interfaces interface-fpc/pic/port] hierarchy level and select ethernet-vpls, vlan-vpls, extended-vlan-vpls, flexible-ethernet-services or ether-vpls-over-atm-llc as the encapsulation type. If you select the VLAN VPLS encapsulation, also include the vlan-vpls statement at the [edit interfaces ethernet-interface-fpc/pic/port unit unit-number encapsulation] logical interface hierarchy level. When using either VLAN VPLS or extended VLAN VPLS encapsulations, include the vlan-tagging statement at the [edit interfaces ethernet-interface-fpc/pic/port] hierarchy level.

VPLS Interface Encapsulation for an ATM2 IQ Interface

To configure VPLS interface encapsulation for an ATM2 IQ interface, include the encapsulation statement at the [edit interfaces at-fpc/pic/port] hierarchy level and select ether-vpls-over-atm-llc as the encapsulation type. To configure VPLS interface encapsulation for a Gigabit Ethernet IQ interface or Gigabit Ethernet PICs with small form-factor pluggable transceivers (SFPs), include the encapsulation statement at the [edit interfaces ge-fe/pic/port] hierarchy level and select flexible-ethernet-services as the encapsulation type.