MPLS and IP storage testing update

By Joel Snyder
Network World, 09/09/02

Original Article on Network World Web Site

The iLabs MPLS and IP Storage teams will continue testing at NetWorld+Interop in Atlanta.

For the Multi-protocol Label Switching team, which focused on basic MPLS interoperability last May, the goal this time is to demonstrate interoperability of higher-level services running over a multi-vendor MPLS backbone.

The team will build a set of label-switched paths across a core of MPLS devices. Within this core, the team will test how multiple vendors handle failover and resiliency while interoperating. Once the core is stable, the team will test services running on top of MPLS, including Martini Layer 2 VPNs based on the Martini draft specification, standards-based Layer VPNs and Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) protocols.

Using gear from Cisco, Extreme Networks, Foundry Networks, Riverstone Networks and Spirent Communications, the team will build and test a hub-and-spoke VPLS network over the MPLS core, pushing the brains of a multisite Layer 2 VPN into the network. For Layer 3 VPNs, the iLabs team will evaluate at how natively current MPLS equipment can interoperate when passing IP V6 traffic.

For the IP Storage team, the testing will focus on the same iSCSI to Fiber Channel integration issues as it touched in May. In this round of testing, the team will be testing iSCSI to Fibre Channel links both in the iLabs booth and across the show's network to gear located in vendors' booths.