STP on EoMPLS

[francisco_1]

I am planning to connect two datacenters over EoMPLS (Ethernet over MPLS). The MPLS will terminate on a catalyst 6500 with SUP 720 engines. The idea is to have some servers in a clustering mode at each datacenters so they need to be in the same vlan. I am briding two vlans over the MPLS between the datacenters, one for heartbeat and the other to carry VIP for the clustering application.

I know Bridging will be done over routed interfaces.

How will spanning-tree and mac address switching works over EoMPLS? Will the 6500's share STP instances for the two vlan's?

[mheusing]

Hi,

EoMPLS is avalable in two modes: port mode any VLAN mode. In the latter individual VLANs are interconnected. In your case port mode might be preferable. This basically works like a "Cat5 cable simulator". This means all frames from one port will be transported to the other port any vice versa - like a cable. This will include BPDUs, broadcasts and other frames.

With EoMPLS the provider equipment will not learn any MAC address from your side.

In summary you can basically do whatever you want in port mode when it comes to port usage - connect a router, a host or a switch. To be sure, however, you should contact the service provider and let him explain what he offers, what is possible and what not. Sometimes not every technical possibility will be offered as a SP product.

Hope this helps! Please use the rating system.

Regards, Martin