Re: CE-based VPLS

[Kireeti Kompella <[e-mail]>]

Hi Cheng-Lin,

On Thu, 17 Jul 2003, Cheng-Yin Lee wrote:

> The L2VPN charter states
> "The WG is responsible for standardization of the following solutions:
> 1. Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS)--L2 service that emulates LAN
>   across an IP and an MPLS-enabled IP network, allowing standard
>   Ethernet devices communicate with each other as if they were
>   connected to a common LAN segment.
> ...
> "
>
> This is the service that CE-based VPLS (where CE is provisioned by
> provider) provides.

It would be interesting (but ultimately irrelevant) to understand how
you made the leap from "service that emulates LAN" to "CE-based VPLS
... where CE is provisioned by provider".  The charter does not say who
provisions the VPLS, although since L2VPN emerged from PPVPN, it seems
logical that the provider provisions it.  Furthermore, the charter
doesn't mention "CE-based".

If by "CE", you mean (as in rfc2547bis) a device owned, operated and
managed by the customer, then "CE provisioned by the provider" is an
oxymoron.  If you mean something else, it would be useful to define it;
and furthermore, to read the decoupled VPLS and the H-VPLS drafts.

> So I think CE-based VPLS is within the scope of the L2VPN
> charter (unless the charter is changed to explicitly exclude CE-based
> VPLS).

The parenthetical statement is not a bad idea.  Chairs?  ADs?

> I believe the following drafts do not currently allow standard Ethernet
> devices to communicate with each other as if they were connected to a
> common LAN segment:
> http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-ppvpn-vpls-ldp-00.txt
> http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-ppvpn-vpls-bgp-00.txt
> http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-radoaca-ppvpn-gvpls-02.txt
> http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-shah-ppvpn-ipls-02.txt

There is an existence proof that most (if not all) of the above _do_
in fact allow standard Ethernet devices to communicate with each other
as if they were on a LAN.  So, your belief does not jive with reality.
Step into any number of vendor or provider labs for proof.

If there are corner cases where the "VPLS" in the above drafts fails
to emulate a LAN perfectly, please communicate that to the group.
This would be productive, and help the group understand whether the
failure was systemic or the artifact of particular implementations,
and thus guide further standards development.

Kireeti.