IBM 6 MPLS manual Information for Opnet Modeler Users, Model Architecture, Mpls Process Models

Specialized Models User Guide 6 MPLS Model User Guide

Information for OPNET Modeler Users

The rest of this document contains information for model developers (such as OPNET Modeler users). The following sections describe the topics necessary for understanding the internal details of and interfacing to the MPLS model.

Model Architecture

Each node that can use MPLS has an IP module, which contains a dispatcher process that spawns MPLS processes. The following table lists the process models used by the MPLS model.

Table 6-4 MPLS Process Models

Process model	Description
mpls_mgr	One instance of this process is spawned by ip_dispatch on
	each MPLS enabled node in the network. It represents the
	forwarding component of MPLS and the forwarding control
	plane.
	When the IP module of an LSR receives labeled packets or
	packets with matching FEC descriptions, it performs no IP
	processing on the packet. Instead, the packet is re-directed to
	the mpls_mgr process for MPLS forwarding.
	mpls_mgr uses ILM (incoming label map) and FTN (FEC to
	NHLFE maps) to forward packets.
mpls_ldp_mgr	Implements the LDP control plane in the LDP module of all
	routers. This process is the dispatcher for the
	mpls_discovery_mgr, mpls_session_mgr, and mpls_lsp_mgr
	processes.
mpls_discovery_mgr	Sends periodic broadcast hello messages over UDP to
	discover MPLS-enabled neighbor routers.
mpls_session_mgr	Negotiates, opens, and maintains TCP sessions to neighboring
	LDP routers. The TCP sessions are used to exchange label
	maps. This process is based on RFC 3036.
mpls_lsp_mgr	Controls the exchange-to-label mappings between LDP peers.
	Communication with LDP peers occurs through the session
	established by the mpls_session_mgr process. This process is
	based on RFC 3036.
End of Table 6-4

SPM-6-22 Modeler/Release 10.0