Operation Manual – MCE
H3C S3610&S5510 Series Ethernet Switches
Chapter 1 MCE Overview
1-1
Chapter 1 MCE Overview
Note:
The term “router” in this document refers to a router in a generic sense or a Layer 3
switch running routing protocols.
1.1 MCE Overview
Multi-CE (MCE) enables a switch to function as the CEs of multiple VPN instances in a
BGP/MPLS VPN network, thus reducing the investment on network equipment.
1.1.1 Introduction to BGP/MPLS VPN
BGP/MPLS VPN is a kind of PE-based L3VPN technology for service provider VPN
solutions. It uses BGP to advertise VPN routes and uses MPLS to forward VPN packets
on the service provider backbone.
BGP/MPLS VPN provides flexible networking modes, excellent scalability, and
convenient support for MPLS QoS and MPLS TE. Hence, it is widely used.
The BGP/MPLS VPN model consists of three kinds of devices:
z
Customer edge device (CE): A CE resides on a customer network and has one or
more interfaces directly connected with service provider networks. It can be a
router, a switch, or a host. It neither can "sense" the existence of any VPN nor
needs to support MPLS.
z
Provider edge router (PE): A PE resides on a service provider network and
connects one or more CEs to the network. On an MPLS network, all VPN
processing occurs on the PEs.
z
Provider (P) router: A P router is a backbone router on a service provider network.
It is not directly connected with any CE. It only needs to be equipped with basic
MPLS forwarding capability.
illustrates a BGP/MPLS VPN implementation.