Load-balance problem using VPLS as transport

[Anatoly_Machekh]

Hi, everyone!

Here is lab network to test balancing on client ports on Extreme Network switches (X460 in lab, but we have the same problem with X670-G2 in production).
We are interested in sharing group 21 (ports 21, 22) on X460-1.

From Agilent (IP tester) IP traffic goes to Lab-M01 to 18 different VRFs (1001-1009 and 2001-2009). Lab-M01 sends out traffic in VRF 1001 through 1009 with one MPLS label, in VRF 2001 through 2009 with two MPLS labels. When we configure X460-1 and X460-2 as simple L2 switches with one vlan from sharing group 21 on X460-1 to sharing group 21 on X460-2, then balancing works.

1 MPLS label:

X460-1.8 # sh port 21,22,28 utilization packets
Port Link Rx Peak Rx Tx Peak Tx
State pkts/sec pkts/sec pkts/sec pkts/sec
================================================================================
21 A 0 1 6632 8034
22 A 0 0 13238 16037
28 A 19857 23909 0 1
================================================================================
2 MPLS labels:

X460-1.10 # sh port 21,22,28 utilization packets
Port Link Rx Peak Rx Tx Peak Tx
State pkts/sec pkts/sec pkts/sec pkts/sec
================================================================================
21 A 2 3 8725 10678
22 A 0 1 13118 13208
28 A 23657 23731 3 3
================================================================================
The problem is that when we configure VPLS on X460-1 and X460-2 to pass the same traffic balancing stops working. All traffic goes to one port (either 21 or 22 depending...).
What can we do to make balancing work with VPLS?

Thanks,
Anatoly

[Anatoly_Machekh]

In our lab test we have one LDP LSP for VPLS. It goes from X460-2 to X460-1. It does not go through sharing group 21 to customer equipment.

X460-1.1 # sho mpls ldp lsp Prefix Adv Label Peer Label Next Hop VLAN
10.0.0.1/32 0x00434 -- -- LB1
10.0.0.2/32 -- 0x00434 172.22.0.2 VLAN_12

[Korsovsky__Kons]

Hi Anatoly,
we had discussion within service case but this is just to share with community.

As Stephane said we can utilize LSP load sharing feature. Here are examples from my lab:

Test 1
Description: single VPLS tunnel without LSP load sharing

Sharing algorithm cannot distribute packets across sharing group member ports because packet headers are almost the same.

Test 2
Description: single VPLS tunnel with LSP load sharing

In this case packets from test-flows are shared between several LSPs and it makes MPLS labels to be different for the different packets from the same VPLS tunnel:
X670G2-48X[L5:U32].14 # show mpls statistics l2vpn

L2VPN Name
Peer IP/LSP Flags RxPackets RxBytes TxPackets TxBytes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VPLS_VPN
10.0.0.35 U 2920 227552 15099705 1298574028
LSP1 + 360 28720 1886864 162270218
LSP2 + 370 29760 1885514 162153946
LSP3 + 342 28200 1885072 162116106
LSP4 + 350 28562 1888660 162424674
LSP5 + 381 27602 1887981 162366366
LSP6 + 372 28002 1887950 162363700
LSP7 + 375 27200 1888686 162426910
LSP8 + 370 29506 1888978 162452108
Here is configuration example for this setup:
# # Module mpls configuration. # configure mpls add vlan "lo0" enable mpls vlan "lo0" enable mpls rsvp-te vlan "lo0" enable mpls ldp vlan "lo0" configure mpls add vlan "v3233" enable mpls vlan "v3233" enable mpls rsvp-te vlan "v3233" enable mpls ldp vlan "v3233" create mpls rsvp-te path "lsp-path" create mpls rsvp-te lsp "LSP1" destination 10.0.0.35 create mpls rsvp-te lsp "LSP2" destination 10.0.0.35 create mpls rsvp-te lsp "LSP3" destination 10.0.0.35 create mpls rsvp-te lsp "LSP4" destination 10.0.0.35 create mpls rsvp-te lsp "LSP5" destination 10.0.0.35 create mpls rsvp-te lsp "LSP6" destination 10.0.0.35 create mpls rsvp-te lsp "LSP7" destination 10.0.0.35 create mpls rsvp-te lsp "LSP8" destination 10.0.0.35 configure mpls rsvp-te lsp "LSP1" add path "lsp-path" primary configure mpls rsvp-te lsp "LSP2" add path "lsp-path" primary configure mpls rsvp-te lsp "LSP3" add path "lsp-path" primary configure mpls rsvp-te lsp "LSP4" add path "lsp-path" primary configure mpls rsvp-te lsp "LSP5" add path "lsp-path" primary configure mpls rsvp-te lsp "LSP6" add path "lsp-path" primary configure mpls rsvp-te lsp "LSP7" add path "lsp-path" primary configure mpls rsvp-te lsp "LSP8" add path "lsp-path" primary configure mpls lsr-id 10.0.0.32 enable mpls protocol ldp enable mpls protocol rsvp-te enable mpls create l2vpn vpls VPLS_VPN fec-id-type pseudo-wire 111 configure l2vpn vpls VPLS_VPN add service vlan v1000 enable l2vpn sharing configure l2vpn vpls VPLS_VPN add peer 10.0.0.35 core full-mesh configure l2vpn vpls VPLS_VPN peer 10.0.0.35 add mpls lsp LSP1 configure l2vpn vpls VPLS_VPN peer 10.0.0.35 add mpls lsp LSP2 configure l2vpn vpls VPLS_VPN peer 10.0.0.35 add mpls lsp LSP3 configure l2vpn vpls VPLS_VPN peer 10.0.0.35 add mpls lsp LSP4 configure l2vpn vpls VPLS_VPN peer 10.0.0.35 add mpls lsp LSP5 configure l2vpn vpls VPLS_VPN peer 10.0.0.35 add mpls lsp LSP6 configure l2vpn vpls VPLS_VPN peer 10.0.0.35 add mpls lsp LSP7 configure l2vpn vpls VPLS_VPN peer 10.0.0.35 add mpls lsp LSP8 As you can see traffic can be well distributed across links when sharing algorithm can get packets with different MPLS labels.

Test 3
Description: single LSP and multiply source ports involved in sharing

In this example sharing algorithm can use information about source ports to better distribute traffic across ports in sharing group.

[Renato_Santos1]

Please, I followed the instructions above but didn't have success. Is it possible you check my configuration bellow?:

Topollogy:

Router 1:
ATG_TESTE.19 # sh conf
#
# Module devmgr configuration.
#
configure snmp sysName "ATG_TESTE"
configure snmp sysContact "support@extremenetworks.com, +1 888 257 3000"
configure sys-recovery-level switch reset

#
# Module vlan configuration.
#
configure vlan default delete ports all
configure vr VR-Default delete ports 1-64
configure vr VR-Default add ports 1-64
configure vlan default delete ports 1-64
configure jumbo-frame-size size 9198
configure sharing address-based custom hash-algorithm crc-32 lower
create vlan "L3_ATG_SFO"
configure vlan L3_ATG_SFO tag 50
create vlan "LPBK_MPLS"
configure vlan LPBK_MPLS tag 147
enable loopback-mode vlan LPBK_MPLS
create vlan "MPLS_balance"
configure vlan MPLS_balance tag 77
enable jumbo-frame ports 1
configure ports 1 display-string 1.MPLS_in
configure ports 1 auto on speed 1000
enable jumbo-frame ports 47
configure ports 47 display-string 47.MPLS_ATG_SFO
configure ports 47 auto off speed 1000 duplex full
enable jumbo-frame ports 48
configure ports 48 display-string 48.MPLS_ATG_SFO
configure ports 48 auto off speed 1000 duplex full
enable sharing 47 grouping 47-48 algorithm address-based custom lacp
configure vlan L3_ATG_SFO add ports 47 untagged
configure vlan MPLS_balance add ports 47 tagged
configure vlan MPLS_balance add ports 1 untagged
configure vlan Mgmt ipaddress 20.2.2.200 255.255.0.0
configure vlan MPLS_balance ipaddress 10.10.10.200 255.255.255.0
configure vlan L3_ATG_SFO ipaddress 31.0.23.1 255.255.255.252
enable ipforwarding vlan L3_ATG_SFO
configure vlan LPBK_MPLS ipaddress 21.41.47.1 255.255.255.255
enable ipforwarding vlan LPBK_MPLS
configure ip-mtu 1550 vlan LPBK_MPLS

#
# Module rtmgr configuration.
#
enable iproute sharing vr VR-Default

#
# Module mcmgr configuration.
#
disable igmp snooping vlan "L3_ATG_SFO"
disable igmp snooping vlan "MPLS_balance"

#
# Module mpls configuration.
#
configure mpls add vlan "L3_ATG_SFO"
enable mpls vlan "L3_ATG_SFO"
enable mpls rsvp-te vlan "L3_ATG_SFO"
enable mpls ldp vlan "L3_ATG_SFO"
configure mpls add vlan "LPBK_MPLS"
enable mpls rsvp-te vlan "LPBK_MPLS"
enable mpls ldp vlan "LPBK_MPLS"
enable mpls php vlan "LPBK_MPLS"
create mpls rsvp-te path "path-link"
configure mpls rsvp-te path path-link add ero include 31.0.23.2/32 strict order 10
create mpls rsvp-te lsp "lsp1" destination 21.41.23.1
create mpls rsvp-te lsp "lsp2" destination 21.41.23.1
create mpls rsvp-te lsp "lsp3" destination 21.41.23.1
create mpls rsvp-te lsp "lsp4" destination 21.41.23.1
configure mpls rsvp-te lsp "lsp1" add path "path-link" primary
configure mpls rsvp-te lsp "lsp2" add path "path-link" primary
configure mpls rsvp-te lsp "lsp3" add path "path-link" primary
configure mpls rsvp-te lsp "lsp4" add path "path-link" primary
configure mpls lsr-id 21.41.47.1
enable mpls protocol ldp
enable mpls protocol rsvp-te
enable mpls
create l2vpn vpls vpls-v77 fec-id-type pseudo-wire 77
configure l2vpn vpls vpls-v77 add service vlan MPLS_balance
configure l2vpn vpls vpls-v77 mtu 9198
enable l2vpn sharing
configure l2vpn vpls vpls-v77 add peer 21.41.23.1 core full-mesh
configure l2vpn vpls vpls-v77 peer 21.41.23.1 add mpls lsp lsp1
configure l2vpn vpls vpls-v77 peer 21.41.23.1 add mpls lsp lsp2
configure l2vpn vpls vpls-v77 peer 21.41.23.1 add mpls lsp lsp3
configure l2vpn vpls vpls-v77 peer 21.41.23.1 add mpls lsp lsp4

#
# Module ospf configuration.
#
configure ospf routerid 21.41.47.1
enable ospf mpls-next-hop
enable ospf
create ospf area 0.0.0.40
configure ospf add vlan L3_ATG_SFO area 0.0.0.40 link-type point-to-point
configure ospf vlan L3_ATG_SFO cost 20
configure ospf vlan L3_ATG_SFO priority 0
configure ospf add vlan LPBK_MPLS area 0.0.0.40
configure ospf vlan LPBK_MPLS priority 0

#
# Module ospfv3 configuration.
#
configure ospfv3 spf-hold-time 10

#
# Module thttpd configuration.
#
configure ssl certificate hash-algorithm sha512


Router 2 (the similar to the first)

[Renato_Santos1]

In the example that Korsovsky, Konstantin did, how kind of sharing was used?

L2 or L3_L4 or port??