Virtual leased lines (VLL), also referred to as virtual private wire service (VPWS) or EoMPLS (Ethernet over MPLS), is a way to provide
Ethernet
Ethernet () is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...
-based
point to point communication over
Multiprotocol Label Switching
Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a routing technique in telecommunications networks that directs data from one node to the next based on labels rather than network addresses. Whereas network addresses identify endpoints the labels identif ...
(MPLS) or
Internet Protocol
The Internet Protocol (IP) is the network layer communications protocol in the Internet protocol suite for relaying datagrams across network boundaries. Its routing function enables internetworking, and essentially establishes the Internet.
IP h ...
networks. VLL uses the
pseudo-wire
In computer networking and telecommunications, a pseudowire (or pseudo-wire) is an emulation of a point-to-point connection over a packet-switched network (PSN).
The pseudowire emulates the operation of a "transparent wire" carrying the service ...
encapsulation for transporting Ethernet traffic over an MPLS tunnel across an MPLS backbone. VLL also describes a point to point bonded connection using the
broadband bonding
In computer networking, link aggregation is the combining ( aggregating) of multiple network connections in parallel by any of several methods, in order to increase throughput beyond what a single connection could sustain, to provide redundan ...
technology.
Types
There are 5 types of VLLs:
* Epipes: Emulates a point-to-point Ethernet service.
VLAN-tagged Ethernet frames are supported. Interworking with other Layer 2 technologies is also supported.
* Apipes: Emulates a point-to-point ATM (
Asynchronous Transfer Mode
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is a telecommunications standard defined by American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and ITU-T (formerly CCITT) for digital transmission of multiple types of traffic. ATM was developed to meet the needs of ...
) service. Several subtypes are provided to support different ATM service types.
* Fpipes: Emulates point-to-point
Frame Relay
Frame Relay is a standardized wide area network (WAN) technology that specifies the physical and data link layers of digital telecommunications channels using a packet switching methodology. Originally designed for transport across Integrated Se ...
circuit. Some features for interworking with ATM are also supported.
* Ipipes: Provides IP interworking capabilities between different Layer 2 technologies.
* Cpipes: Emulates a point-to-point
time-division multiplexing
Time-division multiplexing (TDM) is a method of transmitting and receiving independent signals over a common signal path by means of synchronized switches at each end of the transmission line so that each signal appears on the line only a fracti ...
(TDM) circuit.
See also
*
Virtual Extensible LAN
Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN) is a network virtualization technology that attempts to address the scalability problems associated with large cloud computing deployments. It uses a VLAN-like encapsulation technique to encapsulate OSI layer 2 Ethern ...
*
Virtual Private LAN Service
Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) is a way to provide Ethernet-based multipoint to multipoint communication over IP or MPLS networks. It allows geographically dispersed sites to share an Ethernet broadcast domain by connecting sites through ps ...
References
External links
Layer 2 Virtual Private Networks (l2vpn) working group homepagePseudo Wire Emulation Edge to Edge (pwe3) working group homepage
MPLS networking
Network protocols
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