Label Switched Virtual Private Networks - Scalability and Performance Analysis

Abstract

Over the past few years the Internet concept has evolved dramatically. The sharing of information via World Wide Web was shadowed by real-time applications and interactive services. The enormous growth of the network, revealed problems like reliability, scalability and quality of service.

In an effort to face the increasing demands and user expectations, IETF introduced the Multiprotocol Label Switching framework. Its main features include improved forwarding mechanisms, introduction of label stack, possibility for traffic engineering and support for Virtual Private Networks. These mechanisms provided a basis for confronting all of the problems mentioned above.

The scope of this thesis focuses on the performance and scalability aspects of the Multiprotocol Labeled Switched VPNs. Different simulation scenarios were set, in order to study the network behaviour. Special attention was paid to the MPLS TE protection and recovery mechanisms.

Some of the major questions in the study include: How traffic engineering will affect the VPN performance? What is the scalability potential of Layer3 Label Switched VPNs? What is the impact of a network failure to the VPN performance and how it can be minimized? The answers are based on data obtained from the different simulation runs.