Generalized Multiprotocol Label Switching (GMPLS) : Definition and Overview

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Generalized Multiprotocol Label
Switching (GMPLS)
Definition and Overview
The premise of multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) is to speed up packet
forwarding and provide for traffic engineering in Internet protocol (IP) networks.
To accomplish this, the connectionless operation of IP networks becomes more
like a connection-oriented network where the path between the source and the
destination is precalculated based on user specifics. To speed up the forwarding
scheme, an MPLS device uses labels rather than address matching to determine
the next hop for a received packet. To provide traffic engineering, tables are used
that represent the levels of quality of service (QoS) that the network can support.
The tables and the labels are used together to establish an end-to-end path called
a label switched path (LSP). Traditional IP routing protocols (e.g., open shortest
path first [OSPF] and intermediate system to intermediate system [ISIS]) and
extensions to existing signaling protocols (e.g., resource reservation protocol
[RSVP] and constraint-based routinglabel distribution protocol [CRLDP])
comprise the suite of MPLS protocols.
Generalized MPLS (GMPLS) extends MPLS to provide the control plane
(signaling and routing) for devices that switch in any of these domains: packet,
time, wavelength, and fiber. This common control plane promises to simplify
network operation and management by automating end-to-end provisioning of
connections, managing network resources, and providing the level of QoS that is
expected in the new, sophisticated applications.
This tutorial focuses on the issues that GMPLS resolves in providing a common
control plane to operate across dissimilar network types (e.g., packet, time
division multiplexing [TDM], and optical). Initially, a brief overview of MPLS
and its evolution to GMPLS is given. Next, a summary of GMPLS protocols and
important extensions is presented. In-depth coverage of the issues is then
provided. At the end, some of the current outstanding issues in GMPLS are
explored.

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Topics
1. Introduction
2. Evolution from MPLS
3. GMPLS Issues and their Resolutions
4. GMPLS Outstanding Issues
Self-Test
Correct Answers
Glossary
1. Introduction
The emergence of optical transport systems has dramatically increased the raw
capacity of optical networks and has enabled a slew of new, sophisticated
applications. For example, network-based storage, bandwidth leasing, data
mirroring, add/ drop multiplexing [ADM], dense wavelength division
multiplexing [DWDM], optical cross-connect [OXC], photonic cross-connect
[PXC], and multiservice switching platforms are some of the devices that may
make up an optical network and are expected to be the main carriers for the
growth in data traffic.
The diversity and complexity in managing these devices have been the main
driving factors in the evolution and enhancement of the MPLS suite of protocols
to provide control for not only packet-based domains, but also time, wavelength,
and space domains. GMPLS further extends the suite of IP-based protocols that
manage and control the establishment and release of label switched paths (LSP)
that traverse any combination of packet, TDM, and optical networks.
An important economic impact of GMPLS is providing the ability to automate
network resource management and the service provisioning of end-to-end
traffic-engineered paths. Service provisioning has been a manual, lengthy, and
costly processe.g., synchronous optical network (SONET)based ring
networks. To manually provision an end-to-end high-speed connection, a carrier
must determine which SONET rings the connection traverses and provision
bandwidth on each ring manually. If any ring is at full capacity, the carrier must
find an alternative ring path or upgrade the capacity of a ring and propagate the
information to all sites manually. These are very time-consuming processes and
can take months. The deployment of GMPLSbased nodes allows carriers to
automate the provisioning and management of the network and promises to
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lower the cost of operation by several orders of magnitude (days or even minutes
instead of weeks or months).
2. Evolution from MPLS
MPLS Background and Operation
MPLS extended the suite of IP protocols to expedite the forwarding scheme used
by IP routers. Routers, to date, have used complex and time-consuming route
lookups and address matching schemes to determine the next hop for a received
packet, primarily by examining the destination address in the header of the
packet. MPLS has greatly simplified this operation by basing the forwarding
decision on a simple label. Another major feature of MPLS is its ability to place IP
traffic on a defined path through the network. This capability was not previously
possible with IP traffic. In this way, MPLS provides bandwidth guarantees and
other differentiated service features for a specific user application (or flow).
Current IPbased MPLS networks are capable of providing advanced services
such as bandwidth-based guaranteed service, priority-based bandwidth
allocation, and preemption services.
For each specific service a table of forwarding equivalence class (FEC) is created
to represent a group of flows with the same traffic-engineering requirements. A
specific label is then bound to an FEC. At the ingress of an MPLS network,
incoming IP packets are examined and assigned a "label" by a label edge router
(LER). The labeled packets are then forwarded along an LSP, where each label-
switched router (LSR) makes a switching decision based on the packet's label
field. An LSR does not need to examine the IP headers of the packets to find an
output port (next hop). An LSR simply strips off the existing label and applies a
new label for the next hop. The label information base (LIB) provides an
outgoing label (to be inserted into the packet) and an outgoing interface (based
on an incoming label on an incoming interface).
Signaling to establish a traffic-engineered LSP is done using a label distribution
protocol that runs on every MPLS node. There are a number of different label-
distribution protocols. The two most popular RSVPtraffic engineering (RSVP
TE) and CRLDP. RSVPTE is an extended version of the original RSVP to
piggyback and distribute labels on its messages and to provide traffic-
engineering capability. CRLDP was designed specifically for this purpose.
Figure 1 shows the flow of label distribution that is carried out by the
downstream LER (in this case LER2) while the LSP flow is the reverse.
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Figure 1. Figure 1: An MPLS-Based Network

The MPLS framework includes extensions to existing IP link-state routing
protocols. These protocols provide real-time coordination of the current network
topology, including attributes of each link. MPLS extensions to OSPF and ISIS
allow nodes to not only exchange information about the network topology, but
also resource information and even policy informationfor example, IP
addresses, available bandwidth, and load-balancing policies. Constraint-based
routing algorithms use this information to compute the optimal paths for the
LSPs through the network and allow complex traffic-engineering decisions to be
made automatically when selecting routes through the network.
MPLS Evolution to GMPLS
Within the past year, the International Engineering Task Force (IETF) has
extended the MPLS suite of protocols to include devices that switch in time,
wavelength, (e.g., DWDM) and space domains (e.g., OXC) via GMPLS. This
allows GMPLSbased networks to find and provision an optimal path based on
user traffic requirements for a flow that potentially starts on an IP network, is
then transported by SONET, and then is switched through a specific wavelength
on a specific physical fiber. Table1 gives a summary of the GMPLS framework.
Table 1. GMPLS Framework
Switching
Domain
Traffic Type Forwarding
Scheme
Example
of Device
Nomenclature
Packet, cell IP,
asynchronous
transfer mode
(ATM)
Label as shim
header, virtual
channel
connection (VCC)
IP router,
ATM switch
Packet switch
capable (PSC)
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Time TDM/ SONET Time slot in
repeating cycle
Digital cross-
connect
system
(DCS), ADM
TDM capable
Wavelength Transparent Lambda DWDM Lambda switch
capable (LSC)
Physical
space
Transparent Fiber, line OXC Fiber switch
capable (FSC)
The basic challenge for an all-encompassing control protocol is the establishment,
maintenance, and management of traffic-engineered paths to allow the data
plane to efficiently transport user data from the source to the destination. A user
flow starting from its source is likely to travel several network spansfor
example, an access or edge network that aggregates the flows from multiple
users (e.g., enterprise applications) to feed into a metro network that is SONET
based or ATMbased that itself aggregates multiple flows from various edge
networks to feed into a long-haul network that uses lambdas to transport the
aggregated flow of multiple metro networks. The reverse path is used to deliver
data to its destination.
These networks and the typical devices used are shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Dissimilar Networks That Carry End-User Traffic
(Click on image for full-size version.)

Summary of the GMPLS Protocol Suite
The evolution of MPLS into GMPLS has extended the signaling (RSVPTE, CR
LDP) and routing protocols (OSPFTE, ISISTE). The extensions accommodate
the characteristics of TDM/ SONET and optical networks.
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A new protocol, link-management protocol (LMP), has been introduced to
manage and maintain the health of the control and data planes between two
neighboring nodes. LMP is an IP-based protocol that includes extensions to
RSVPTE and CRLDP.
Table2 summarizes these protocols and the extensions for GMPLS.
Table 1. GMPLS Protocols
Protocols Description
Routing OSPFTE,
ISISTE
Routing protocols for the auto-discovery of network
topology, advertise resource availability (e.g., bandwidth
or protection type). The major enhancements are as
follows:
Advertising of link-protection type (1+1, 1:1, unprotected,
extra traffic)
Implementing derived links (forwarding adjacency) for
improved scalability
Accepting and advertising links with no IP addresslink
ID
Incoming and outgoing interface ID
Route discovery for back-up that is different from the
primary path (shared-risk link group)
Signaling RSVPTE,
CRLDP
Signaling protocols for the establishment of traffic-
engineered LSPs. The major enhancements are as follows:
Label exchange to include non-packet networks
(generalized labels)
Establishment of bidirectional LSPs
Signaling for the establishment of a back-up path
(protection Information)
Expediting label assignment via suggested label
Waveband switching supportset of contiguous
wavelengths switched together
Link
Management
LMP Control-Channel Management: Established by
negotiating link parameters (e.g., frequency in sending
keep-alive messages) and ensuring the health of a link
(hello protocol)
Link-Connectivity Verification: Ensures the physical
connectivity of the link between the neighboring nodes
using a PINGlike test message
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Link-Property Correlation: Identification of the link
properties of the adjacent nodes (e.g., protection
mechanism)
Fault Isolation: Isolates a single or multiple faults in the
optical domain
The details of each protocol and their enhancements are found in the references
at the end of this tutorial.
The protocol stack is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3. The GMPLS Protocol Stack

Note that the ISISTE routing protocol stack is similar to OSPFTE with the
exception that, instead of IP, connectionless network protocol (CLNP) is used to
carry ISISTE's information.

3. GMPLS Issues and Their Resolutions
For a control plane to be used for all of these dissimilar networks types, the
following issues must be considered:
1. Data forwarding is now not limited to that of merely packet forwarding.
The general solution must be able to retain the simplicity of forwarding
using a label for a variety of devices that switch in time or wavelength, or
space (physical ports).
2. Not every type of network is capable of looking into the contents of the
received data and of extracting a label. For instance, packet networks are
able to parse the headers of the packets, check the label, and carry out
decisions for the output interface (forwarding path) that they have to use.
This is not the case for TDM or optical networks. The equipments in these
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types of networks are not designed to have the ability to examine the
content of the data that is fed into them.
3. Unlike packet networks, in TDM, LSC, and FSC interfaces, bandwidth
allocation for an LSP can be performed only in discrete units. For example,
a packet-based network may have flows of 1 Mbps to 10 or 100 Mbps.
However, an optical network will use links that have fixed bandwidths:
optical carrier (OC)3, OC12, OC48, etc. When a 10 Mbps LSP is
initiated by a PSC device and must be carried by optical connections with
fixed bandwidthse.g., an OC12 lineit would not make sense to
allocate an entire 622M line for a 10M flow.
4. Scalability is an important issue in designing large networks to
accommodate changes in the network quickly and gracefully. The
resources that must be managed in a TDM or optical network are expected
to be much larger in scope than in a packet-based network. For optical
networks, it is expected that hundreds to thousands of wavelengths
(lambdas) will be transporting user data on hundreds of fibers.
5. Configuring the switching fabric in electronic or optical switches may be a
time-consuming process. For instance, in a DCS that is capable of
switching tens of thousands of digital signal (DS)1 physical ports,
identifying the connection between the input/ output ports could be time
consuming as fewer ports become available to accommodate incoming
user traffic. Latency in setting up an LSP within these types of networks
could have a cumulative delaying effect in setting up an end-to-end flow.
6. SONET networks have the inherent ability to perform a fast switchover
from a failed path to a working one (50 milliseconds). GMPLS' control
plane must be able to accommodate this and other levels of protection
granularity. It also needs to provide restoration of failed paths via static
(pre-allocated) or dynamic reroute, depending on the required class of
service (CoS).
These issues are summarized in Table3 and discussed in subsequent sections in
more detail.
Table 3. Summary of Issues in a Common Control-Plane
Approach
Issue GMPLS
Solution(s)
Protocol(s) Notes
Switching Generalized label Signaling: RSVPTE, LSP to start and end on
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diversity CRLDP the same type of device
Forwarding
diversity
Logical or
physical
separation of
control and data
All Signaling and routing to
travel out of band
Configuration Suggested label
Bidirectional LSPs
Signaling Expedite LSP set-up
Scalability Forwarding
adjacency
Link bundling
Hierarchical LSPs
Routing and
signaling: OSPFTE,
ISISTE
Lower link database size
Bandwidth scalability
Reliability Protection and
restoration
(M:N, 1+1)
Shared-risk link
group for path
diversity
LMP
Routing: OSPFTE,
ISISTE
Simulate SONET
bidirectional line-
switched ring (BLSR),
unidirectional path-
switched ring (UPSR)
User disjoint route for
back-up
Efficient use of
network
resources
Hierarchical LSP
Unnumbered
links
Signaling/ routing Save on excess use of
scarce IP addresses
Switching Diversity
Generalized Label and Its Distribution
To be able to support devices that switch in different domains, GMPLS
introduces new additions to the format of the labels. The new label format is
referred to as a "generalized label" that contains information to allow the
receiving device to program its switch and forward data regardless of its
construction (packet, TDM, lambda, etc.). A generalized label can represent a
single wavelength, a single fiber, or a single time-slot. Traditional MPLS labels
e.g., ATM, VCC, or IP shimare also included. The information that is
embedded in a generalized label includes the following:
1. LSP encoding type that indicates what type of label is being carried (e.g.,
packet, lambda, SONET, etc.)
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2. Switching type that indicates whether the node is capable of switching
packets, time-slot, wavelength, or fiber
3. A general payload identifier to indicate what payload is being carried by
the LSP (e.g., virtual tributary [VT], DS-3, ATM, Ethernet, etc.)
Details of a GMPLS label can be found in reference [2].
Similar to MPLS, label distribution starts from the upstream LSR requesting a
label from the downstream LSR. GMPLS takes this further by allowing the
upstream LSR to suggest a label for a LSP that can be overridden by the
downstream LSR. (Suggested labels are covered in a later section.)
LSP Creation in GMPLS-Based Networks
Establishing an LSP in a GMPLS network is similar to that of MPLS networks.
Figure 4 shows a packet network (PSC) connected via an OC12 pipe to DCS1 in
the upper TDM network. Both of the TDM networks shown use a SONET UPSR
OC48 ring architecture. The two TDM networks are connected via two OXCs
capable of delivering multiple OC192 lambdas. The goal is to establish an LSP
(LSPpc) between LSR1 and LSR4.
Figure 4. Establishing an LSP through Heterogeneous Networks
with GMPLS

To establish the LSPpc between LSR1 and LSR4, other LSPs in the other networks
must be established to tunnel the LSPs in the lower hierarchy. For example, per
Figure 4, LSP1T1 will carry LSP1, LSP2, and LSP3 if the sum of the traffic-
engineering requirements of the packet LSPs can be accommodated by it.
This is done by sending a PATH/ Label Request message downstream to the
destination that will carry the lower hierarchy LSP. For example, DSCi sends this
message to OXC1, destined for DSCe. When received by OXC1, it will then create
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an LSP between it and OXC2. Only when this LSP (LSPl) is established will an
LSP between DSCi to DSCe be established (LSPtdi).
The PATH/ Label Request message contains a Generalized Label Request with
the type of LSP (i.e., the layer concerned), and its payload type (e.g., DS3, VT,
etc.). Specific parameterssuch as type of signal, local protection, bidirectional
LSP, and suggested labelsare all specified in this message. The downstream
node will send back a RESV/ Label Mapping message including one generalized
label that may contain several generalized labels.
When the generalized label is received by the initiator LSR, it can then establish
an LSP with its peer via RSVP/ PATH messages per network domain. In Figure 4,
the following sequence has taken place:
1. LSP is established between OXC1 and OXC2 (LSPl) and capable of
delivering OC192 wavelength to tunnel in TDM LSPs.
2. LSP is established between DSCi and DSCe (LSPtdi).
3. LSP is established between DS1 and DS2 (internal LSPs within the two
TDM networks are established prior to the establishment of this LSP).
4. LSP is established between LSR2 and LSR3 (LSPpi).
5. LSPpc is established between LSR1 and LSR4.
Forwarding Diversity
MPLS devices are capable of discerning the contents-of-information unit that is
passed between theme.g., a packet or a cell that has header information. They
need to examine the label (e.g., shim header) to determine the output port and
the output label for an incoming packet. The label-swapping paradigm logically
separates the data and the control planes.
GMPLS extends this paradigm to those devices that are designed to lookup any
headers when they receive the user data. In this case, GMPLS allows the data
plane and the control plane to be physically, or logically, separate. For example,
the control path between two devices could travel an external line such as an
Ethernet connection, or other types of physical links. GMPLS does not mandate
how the control information is to be transported between two nodes.
The selection of a medium to carry the control information between the two
GMPLS nodes can impact the economics of the network operator. Clearly, a
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single fiber should not be used to carry this information between two
geographically separate devicese.g., two DCSes in a SONET ring network.
Other connection types may be costly to usee.g., an X.25 connection. One
approach is to take a logical slice of a linee.g., synchronous transport signal
(STS)1and use the data communication channel (DCC) bytes in the SONET
overhead to carry the control information. These bytes are comprised of section
and line overhead (three and nine bytes, respectively) and can both be used for
this purpose. Together they provide a 768 kbps channel for the exchange of
control messages. They can be used in each direction between two adjacent
nodes. This is a highly efficient method that does not take away bandwidth that
could be used for user data traffic.
Configuration
When an LSP is being established starting from the access network, it may
require the establishment of several other LSPs along its end-to-end path. These
intermediate LSPs may be established on TDM and/ or LSCbased devices.
These devices have different internal characteristics, and, therefore, GMPLS must
accommodate these differentials in such a way as to expedite the establishment
of the end-to-end LSPs. Two important new concepts that are introduced in
GMPLS to address these differences are as follows.
Suggested Label
As mentioned in an earlier section, an upstream node can optionally suggest a
label to its downstream node. The downstream node has the right of refusal and
may propose its own. Nevertheless, this operation is crucial to systems that
require time-consuming processes to configure their switch fabricfor example,
a DCS with high switching granularity (e.g., DS1, DS3) and thousands of ports
that must go through a time-consuming operation in configuring its switching
fabric. Recall that a label in this case is used to quickly find the internal path
between an input and an output port. A suggested label allows the DCS to
configure itself with the proposed label, instead of waiting to receive a label from
the downstream node, and then configure its hardware. Suggested labels are also
important in expediting the set-up of back-up paths (LSPs) for a failed LSP.
However, if the downstream device rejects the suggested label and offers its
own, the upstream device must re-configure itself with the new label.
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Bidirectional LSP
Network protectione.g., against fiber cutsin optical networks is provided
with back-up fibers, such as four-wire BLSR or two-wire BLSR architectures.
Similarly, LSPs in an optical network need to be protected. This is accomplished
by establishing two unidirectional LSPsone LSP to protect the other.
Bidirectional LSPs must have the same traffic-engineering and restoration
requirements.
GMPLS supports the setup of bidirectional LSPs via one set of signaling protocol
messages (e.g., RSVP/ PATH and RESV). This helps to avoid the extraneous
exchange of control messages, race conditions, additional route look-ups, and
configuration-latency in setting up the internal input/ output (I/ O) paths in an
optical switch.
Scalability
Forwarding AdjacencyLSP (FALSP)
A FALSP is a GMPLSbased LSP to carry other LSPs. An FALSP established
between two GMPLS nodes can be viewed as a virtual link with its own traffic-
engineering characteristics and can be advertised into the OSPF/ ISIS as a
normal link like any other physical link. An FALSP may be incorporated into
the link-state database and used in routing-path calculation to carry other LSPs.
This can reduce the size of the database, and, consequently, the time that is spent
in the table look-up operation.
An FALSP may be either a numbered or unnumbered and may be bundled with
other links, whether they are FALSPs or normal links. Both concepts are
discussed in later sections.
Figure 5 shows how a TDM LSP (LSPtdm) can be viewed as a link that connects
two packet-based networks. This LSP can be viewed as a single link in the
packet-based LSRs of the two PSC networks, instead of all of the physical links in
the TDM network.
Figure 5. Forwarding Adjacency
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Hierarchical LSP
The network hierarchy (access, metro, and long haul) shown in Figure 6 provides
an increasing bandwidth capacity per hierarchy. When an end-to-end flow is to
be establish for a particular enterprise application, that flow will traverse
networks that use devices that may not be designed to configure connections
with flexible bandwidth levelsi.e., only discrete bandwidth are available. In
this case, a single OC192 physical link between two optical switches should not
be expected to carry a traffic that is only 100M or even 2.5G, as it would be
wasteful and highly inefficient. It is better to aggregate lower-speed flows into
higher-speed ones. This brings the notion of hierarchical LSP.
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Figure 6. Network Hierarchy

A natural hierarchy is established wherein a group of PSCLSPs are nested
within TDMLSPs that are then nested within a LSC that is part of a group of
LSCs within an FSC. The link multiplex capability parameter introduced in
GMPLS specifies this ordering when an LSP is being established. Clearly,
bandwidth that remains within each LSP can and should be used to accept and
include additional LSPs from lower-hierarchy LSPs. Figure 7 shows this
hierarchy.
Figure 7. Hierarchical LSPs

Link Bundling
It is expected that an optical network will deploy tens to hundreds of parallel
fibers, each carrying hundreds to thousands of lambdas between two nodes. To
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avoid a large size for the link database and provide better scaling of the network,
GMPLS has introduced the concept of link bundling.
Link bundling allows the mapping of several links into one and advertising that
into the routing protocoli.e., OSPF, ISIS. Although, with the increased level of
abstraction, some information is lost, this method greatly lowers the size of the
link-state database and the number of links that need to be advertised. A
bundled link needs only one control channel, which further helps to reduce the
number of messages exchanged in signaling and routing protocols.
GMPLS flexibly allows the bundling of both point-to-point (PTP) links and LSPs
that were advertised as links to OSPF (forward adjacency).
There are restrictions in bundling links. These are as follows:
1. All links that comprise a bundled link must begin and end on the same
pair of LSRs.
2. All links that comprise a bundled link must be of the same link type (e.g.,
PTP or multicast).
3. All links that comprise a bundled link must have the same traffic metric
(e.g., protection type or bandwidth).
4. All links that comprise a bundled link must have the same switching
capabilityPSC, TDMC, LSC, or FSC.
Bundled links result in loss of granularity in the network resources.
Nevertheless, the gain in the reduction of link-state database entries and the
speed gain in table look-ups far outweigh the lost information.
Reliability
A key attribute of GMPLS suite of protocols is the ability to enable automated
fault management in network operation. A fault in one type of the network must
be isolated and resolved separately from other networks. This is a very important
feature for end-to-end LSPs that are tunneled in other LSPs that require higher
degrees of reliability along the hierarchy. A common control plane that spans
dissimilar networks must be able to address the varying degrees of reliability
requirements within each network span.
The steps that are necessary to carry out fault management are shown in Figure 8.
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Figure 8. Fault-Management Process in GMPLS

GMPLS provides protection against failed channels (or links) between two
adjacent nodes (span protection) and end-to-end protection (path protection). The
OSPF and ISIS extensions for GMPLS advertise the link-protection-type
parameter to include span protection while the route is being computed. After
the route is computed, signaling to establish the backup paths is carried out via
RSVPTE or CRLDP. For span protection, 1+1 or M:N protection schemes are
provided by establishing secondary paths through the network and using
signaling messages to switch from the failed primary path to the secondary path.
Figure 9 depicts span and path protections.
For end-to-end path protections, the primary and secondary paths are computed
and signaled to indicate that the two paths share reservations. Shared-risk link
group is an optional mechanism that allows the establishing of back-up LSPs that
do not have any links in common with the primary LSP. This is achieved in the
routing extension of OSPF/ ISIS.
The restoration of a failed path refers to the dynamic establishment of a back-up
path. This process requires the dynamic allocation of resources and route
calculation. Two different restoration methods are given: line and path. Line
restoration finds an alternate route at an intermediate node. Path restoration is
initiated at the source node to route around a failed path anywhere within the
path for the specific LSP. In Figure 9, node 1 can initiate this new path. In general,
restoration schemes take longer to switch to the back-up path, but they are more
efficient in bandwidth usage, as they do not pre-allocate any resource for an LSP.
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Figure 9. Protection Schemes Supported in GMPLS

Efficient Resource Usage
The inclusion and management of resources in TDM and optical devices, via an
IP-based control plane, requires new levels of optimization. Link bundling was
discussed earlier as a method to reduce the size of the link-state database per
TDM and optical networks. Another major issue in TDM and optical networks is
their potential usage of IP addresses. This is discussed next.
Unnumbered Links
Instead of assigning a different IP address to each TDM or optical link, the
concept of "unnumbered links" is used to keep track of these types of links. This
is necessary because of the following:
1. The number of TDM channels, wavelengths, and fibers can easily reach a
point where their management, per IP address, will become very time-
consuming.
2. IP addresses are considered scarce resources.
An unnumbered link is a link that has no IP addressinstead, a combination of a
unique router ID and link number is used to represent it. These links carry
traffic-engineering information and can be specified in the signaling plane, just
like a regular link with an IP address.
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RSVPTE and CRLDP have both been extended to carry this information in the
signaling plane. The same has been done in the routing protocols (OSPFTE, IS
ISTE). For further information see references [4,5].

4. GMPLS Outstanding Issues
The GMPLS suite of protocols (extensions) is not fully standardized as of this
writing. It is expected that they will soon become so. In the meantime, there are
several unresolved issues that deserve attention. These are briefly discussed next.
Security
Traditional IP routing examines the contents of the header of a received packet to
determine the next hop for it. While time-consuming, this step allows the
establishment of firewalls, as the necessary information is available in the packet
headere.g., the source and the destination addresses that are globally unique.
In contrast, GMPLS/ MPLS labels are used to speed up the forwarding scheme
and only have local significancei.e., the label is only understood and used
internally by the GMPLS device itself. As such, these labels cannot be used for
access-control or network-security purposes. One way to establish security in a
GMPLS network is to enforce access security during the connection set-up time,
like other connection-oriented networkse.g., X.25 or ATM.
Interworking
The success of GMPLS will partially depend on its ability to communicate with
the many existing ATM or Frame Relay network infrastructures. Interworking
with ATM and Frame Relay networks will allow transport of control and data
plane information exchanged between two similar networks (e.g., two ATM
networks) through a dissimilar network (e.g., GMPLS).
The implementation of interworking functions between these networks face
these issues:
1. Interworking in the control plane is very complicated as different suites of
protocols are used in each network (e.g., routing, private network-to-
network interface [PNNI] in ATM versus OSPFTE in GMPLS networks).
2. The maintenance of end-to-end service quality as usage data travels
through dissimilar network types is essential.
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3. GMPLS switching can be packet-based, TDMbased, wavelength-based,
waveband-based, or fiber-based. This creates quite a few combinations in
the data-plane interworking context between GMPLS networks and ATM
or frame-relay (FR) networks, which carry data in cells or frames,
respectively.
Several industry forums are currently addressing the specifics of interworking
between these networks (e.g., the MPLS Forum, the ATM Forum, the Frame
Relay Forum). Practical solutions must satisfy the carriers that manage both
MPLS networks and legacy networks. These solutions remain undefined at this
time.
Network Equilibrium
When a new resource is deleted or added in a GMPLS network, the set of control
information that is exchanged is larger than that of a traditional IP network.
GMPLS uses traffic-engineering models that include introducing a set of traffic
parameters, associated with data links, performing constraints-based routing,
LMPs, etc. While not tested, theoretically, an MPLS/ GMPLS network would take
a relatively longer time to achieve an equilibrium state than would a traditional
IP network when the network is disrupted.
Network-Management Systems
The most important parameter in managing a traditional IP networke.g., the
Internetis address reachability. In contrast, the GMPLS network-management
system needs to keep track of several thousands (even millions) of LSPs for their
operational status, routing paths, traffic engineering, etc. This renders the
GMPLS network-management system more complex relative to the management
of the traditional Internet.

Self-Test

1. The control plane specified for GMPLS supports which of the following
network types?
a. Packet
b. TDM/ SONET
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c. Optical
d. All of the above
2. The control plane can be physically separate from the data plane in GMPLS
networks.
a. True
b. False

3. The LMP requires which protocol to transport its messages?
a. IP
b. TCP
c. UDP
d. CLNP

4. Forwarding adjacency allows an LSP to be reported and treated as any other
link in an OSPFTE link database.
a. True
b. False

5. Link bundling can be performed on which of the following?
a. Physical links only
b. LSPs only
c. Both a and b
d. Neither a nor b

6. GMPLS does not allow the upstream node to provide a label for an LSP.
a. True
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b. False

7. A GMPLS LSP can start on an IP router and end on a TDM DCS.
a. True
b. False

8. What type of protection is supported in GMPLS?
a. End-to-end
b. Spam
c. Both a and b
d. Neither a nor b

9. Which GMPLS concept helps with addressing the latency in the switch-fabric
configuration of optical networks?
a. Heirarchical LSPs
b. Link bundling
c. Suggested label
d. All of the above

10. Each LSP in a bidirectional LSP may have different bandwidth capacities.
a. True
b. False

11. Which protocol is designed to localize faults in GMPLS networks?
a. RSVPTE
b. OSPFTE
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c. LMP
d. Transmission control protocol (TCP)
Correct Answers

1. The control plane specified for GMPLS supports which of the following
network types?
a. Packet
b. TDM/ SONET
c. Optical
d. All of the above
See Topic 1
2. The control plane can be physically separate from the data plane in GMPLS
networks.
a. True
b. False
See Topic 3
3. The LMP requires which protocol to transport its messages?
a. IP
b. TCP
c. UDP
d. CLNP
See Topic 3

4. Forwarding adjacency allows an LSP to be reported and treated as any other
link in an OSPFTE link database.
a. True
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b. False
See Topic 3

5. Link bundling can be performed on which of the following?
a. Physical links only
b. LSPs only
c. Both a and b
d. Neither a nor b
See Topic 3

6. GMPLS does not allow the upstream node to provide a label for an LSP.
a. True
b. False
See Topic 3

7. A GMPLS LSP can start on an IP router and end on a TDM DCS.
a. True
b. False
See Topic 3

8. What type of protection is supported in GMPLS?
a. End-to-end
b. Spam
c. Both a and b
d. Neither a nor b
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See Topic 3

9. Which GMPLS concept helps with addressing the latency in the switch-fabric
configuration of optical networks?
a. Heirarchical LSPs
b. Link bundling
c. Suggested label
d. All of the above
See Topic 3

10. Each LSP in a bidirectional LSP may have different bandwidth capacities.
a. True
b. False
See Topic 3
11. Which protocol is designed to localize faults in GMPLS networks?
a. RSVPTE
b. OSPFTE
c. LMP
d. Transmission control protocol (TCP)
See Topic 2
Glossary
ADM
Add/ Drop Multiplexer
ATM
Asynchronous Transfer Mode
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BLSR
Bidirectional Line-Switched Ring
CRLDP
Contraint-Based RoutingLabel Distribution Protocol
DCS
Digital Cross-Connect System
DWDM
Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing
GMPLS
Generalized Multiprotocol Label Switching
ISISTE
Intermediate SystemtoIntermediate SystemTraffic Engineering
LMP
Link-Management Protocol
LSP
Label-Switched Path
LSR
Label-Switched Router
OSPFTE
Open Shortest Path FirstTraffic Engineering
OXC
Optical Cross-Connect System
PXC
Photonic Cross-Connect System
QoS
Quality of Service
RSVPTE
Resource Reservation ProtocolTraffic Engineering
SONET
Synchronous Optical Network
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STS
Synchronous Transport Signal
TDM
Time Division Multiplexing
UPSR
Unidirectional Path-Switched Ring
VCC
Virtual Channel Connection
VT
Virtual Tributary

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