Metro Ethernet

Conclusion

You have seen in this chapter how IP/MPLS can be used to scale L2 Ethernet service deployments. By keeping L2 Ethernet networks confined to the access/edge and IP/MPLS at the edge/core, service providers can leverage the simplicity of deploying Ethernet LANs with the scalability offered by IP and MPLS. L2 Ethernet services can be offered as P2P or MP2MP services. P2P can be achieved via mechanisms such as L2TPv3 or EoMPLS draft-martini. MP2MP can be achieved via VPLS.

You have seen that the flexibility VPLS offers with any-to-any connectivity is also coupled with the drawbacks of delivering Ethernet LANs in dealing with L2 loops and broadcast storms. Also with VPLS come the challenges of dealing with MAC address explosion, because ...