MPLS with a T1 handoff -- How do I configure my edge devices

[olighec]

Hello all,

We have been running a remote office with an IPSec VPN over the Internet for some times, and we are now swinging them to an MPLS connection due to latency problems with voice and remote desktop connections.

I have ordered the MPLS connection from our ISP, but the sales folks are not very familiar with the technology (it is a new product for them) so they couldn't answer all of my questions.

My question is, I have our home office on a Class B 10.100.0.0/16 and our remote office on a Class B 10.101.0.0/16. How should I configure the edge device at each site so that routing works between the two sites? The sales people asked me for a local and remote network with default gateways for each and suggested I create a VLAN for each, but I don't think they are correct as that would suggest a Layer 2 link such as Ethernet, instead of a T1 link like I will be getting. I would think they would give me a WAN IP address for both sides and then I would set that as my gateway for the other side network. Am I not understanding correctly?

Is anyone familiar with configuring the edge routers for a MPLS connection with a T1 handoff and can help me understand it a little better?

Thanks,

Chris

[Collin Clark]

Who is your provider? Generally speaking most MPLS is layer 3. You will get a /30 address from the ISP for your serial connection. You then use BGP (some use an IGP) to peer with your provider to route your networks across theirs.

[olighec]

The provider is XO Communications. What you are saying makes more sense to me. I will try to find out more from them as to what I will need to do on my side.

Thanks,

Chris

[Joseph W. Doherty]

There are different ways of providing MPLS to customers. Besides L3, MPLS can also be used to provide L2 connections which might account for the ISP sales people mention of VLANs. You'll need to ask your ISP for someone who does understand their MPLS offerings. You should also ask about what QoS features they offer, which will be important for obtaining the best voice and remote desktop performance.

[olighec]

Luckily, they were able to tell me of their QoS features. They have 4 levels of service and gave me the DSCP tags for each. I am still unsure about how to tag the traffic, but that should be fairly easy to learn.

As far as L2 MPLS, that is what I originally thought I was getting since they were originally going to deliver it via an Ethernet link, but we later found out that anything under 10MBps gets delivered as a serial link, so it changed to a T1 handoff rather than Ethernet. I didn't think you could make a T1 port a member of a VLAN, can you? I was under the impression that T1 was strictly a L3 link.

Thanks,

Chris