In Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SRB and later releases, support for the L2VPN address family is introduced. L2VPN is defined as a secure network that operates inside an unsecured network by using an encryption technology such as IP security (IPsec) or generic routing encapsulation (GRE). The L2VPN address family is configured in BGP routing configuration mode, and within the L2VPN address family the VPLS subsequent address family identifier (SAFI) is supported.

BGP support for the L2VPN address family introduces a BGP-based autodiscovery mechanism to distribute L2VPN endpoint provisioning information. BGP uses a separate L2VPN Routing Information Base (RIB) to store endpoint provisioning information, which is updated each time any Layer 2 VFI is configured. Prefix and path information is stored in the L2VPN database, allowing BGP to make best-path decisions. When BGP distributes the endpoint provisioning information in an update message to all its BGP neighbors, the endpoint information is used to set up a pseudowire mesh to support L2VPN-based services.

The BGP autodiscovery mechanism facilitates the setting up of L2VPN services, which are an integral part of the Cisco IOS Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) feature. VPLS enables flexibility in deploying services by connecting geographically dispersed sites as a large LAN over high-speed Ethernet in a robust and scalable IP MPLS network. For more details about VPLS, see the VPLS Autodiscovery: BGP Based feature.

In L2VPN address family, the following BGP commands are supported:

• bgp nexthop
• bgp scan-time
• neighbor activate
• neighbor advertisement-interval
• neighbor allowas-in
• neighbor capability
• neighbor inherit
• neighbor maximum-prefix
• neighbor next-hop-self
• neighbor next-hop-unchanged
• neighbor peer-group
• neighbor remove-private-as
• neighbor route-map
• neighbor route-reflector-client
• neighbor send-community
• neighbor soft-reconfiguration
• neighbor soo
• neighbor weight

Note	For route reflectors using L2VPNs, the neighbor next-hop-self and neighbor next-hop-unchangedcommands are not supported.

For route maps used within BGP, all commands related to prefix processing, tag processing, and automated tag processing are ignored when used in L2VPN address family configuration. All other route map commands are supported.

BGP multipaths and confederations are not supported in the L2VPN address family.

A VPLS ID is a BGP extended community value that identifies the VPLS domain. Manual configuration of this ID is optional because a default VPLS ID is generated using the BGP autonomous system number and the configured VPN ID. A VPLS ID can be composed in one of two ways: with an autonomous system number and an arbitrary number or with an IP address and an arbitrary number.

You can enter a VPLS ID in either of these formats:

• Enter a 16-bit autonomous system number, a colon, and a 32-bit number. For example:

45000:3

• Enter a 32-bit IP address, a colon, and a 16-bit number. For example:

192.168.10.15:1

Perform this task to implement VPLS autodiscovery of each provider edge (PE) router that is a member of a specific VPLS. In Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SRB, the BGP L2VPN address family was introduced with a separate L2VPN RIB that contains endpoint provisioning information. BGP learns the endpoint provisioning information from the L2VPN database, which is updated each time any Layer 2 (L2) VFI is configured. When BGP distributes the endpoint provisioning information in an update message to all its BGP neighbors, the endpoint information is used to set up a pseudowire mesh to support L2VPN-based services.

BGP-based VPLS autodiscovery eliminates the need to manually provision a VPLS neighbor. After a PE router configures itself to be a member of a particular VPLS, information needed to set up connections to remote routers in the same VPLS is distributed by a discovery process. When the discovery process is complete, each member of the VPLS will have the information needed to set up VPLS pseudowires to form the full mesh of pseudowires needed for the VPLS.

This task is configured at router N-PE3 in the figure below and must be repeated at routers N-PE1 and N-PE2 with the appropriate changes such as different IP addresses. For a full configuration of these routers, see "Configuring VPLS Autodiscovery Using BGP" and the "L2VPN Address Family Example".

Figure 1

Network Diagram for BGP Autodiscovery Using the L2VPN Address Family

In this task, the PE router N-PE3 in the figure above is configured with a Layer 2 router ID, a VPN ID, a VPLS ID, and is enabled to automatically discover other PE routers that are part of the same VPLS domain. A BGP session is created to activate BGP neighbors in the L2VPN address family. Finally, two optional show commands are entered to verify the steps in the task.

If a route reflector (RR) node is provisioned for a new virtual forwarding instance (VFI), BGP announces the entire current table from the L2VPN address family identifier (AFI) to the L2VPN xconnect database to make sure that the virtual circuits (VC) are active.

1.    enable

2.    configure terminal

3.    l2 router-id ip-address

4.    l2 vfi vfi-name autodiscovery

5.    vpn id vpn-id

6.    vpls-id vpls-id

7.    exit

8.    Repeat Step 4 through Step 6 to configure other L2 VFIs and associated VPN and VPLS IDs.

9.    router bgp autonomous-system-number

10.    no bgp default ipv4-unicast

11.    bgp log-neighbor-changes

12.    bgp update-delay seconds

13.    neighbor {ip-address| peer-group-name} remote-as autonomous-system-number

14.    neighbor {ip-address| peer-group-name} update-source interface-type interface-number

15.    Repeat Step 13 and Step 14 to configure other BGP neighbors.

16.    address-family l2vpn [vpls]

17.    neighbor {ip-address | peer-group-name} activate

18.    neighbor {ip-address| peer-group-name} send-community[both| standard| extended]

19.    Repeat Step 17 and Step 18 to activate other BGP neighbors in L2VPN address family.

20.    end

21.    show vfi

22.    show ip bgp l2vpn vpls {all | rd vpn-rd}

• Examples
• What to Do Next

In this configuration example, all the routers in autonomous system 65000 in the figure below are configured to provide BGP support for the L2VPN address family. VPLS autodiscovery is enabled and L2 VFI and VPN IDs are configured. BGP neighbors are configured and activated in L2VPN address family to ensure that the VPLS endpoint provisioning information is saved to a separate L2VPN RIB and then distributed to the other BGP peers in BGP update messages. When the endpoint information is received by the BGP peers, a pseudowire mesh is set up to support L2VPN-based services.

Figure 2

Network Diagram for VPLS Autodiscovery Using BGP and the L2VPN Address Family

ip subnet-zero
ip cef
no ip dhcp use vrf connected
!
no mpls traffic-eng auto-bw timers frequency 0 
mpls label range 1000 2000 
mpls label protocol ldp
l2 router-id 10.1.1.1
l2 vfi auto autodiscovery
 vpn id 100
!
pseudowire-class mpls
 encapsulation mpls
!
interface Loopback1
 ip address 10.1.1.1 255.255.255.255
!
interface Ethernet0/0
 description Backbone interface
 ip address 10.0.0.1 255.255.255.0
 mpls ip
!
router ospf 1
 log-adjacency-changes
 network 10.10.1.0 0.0.0.255 area 0
 network 192.168.0.0 0.0.0.255 area 0
!
router bgp 65000
 no bgp default ipv4-unicast
 bgp log-neighbor-changes
 bgp update-delay 1
 neighbor 10.10.10.2 remote-as 65000
 neighbor 10.10.10.2 update-source Loopback 1  
 neighbor 10.10.10.3 remote-as 65000  
 neighbor 10.10.10.3 update-source Loopback 1  
!
 address-family l2vpn vpls
 neighbor 10.10.10.2 activate
 neighbor 10.10.10.2 send-community extended  
 neighbor 10.10.10.3 activate  
 neighbor 10.10.10.3 send-community extended
 exit-address-family
!
ip classless

ip subnet-zero
ip cef
no ip dhcp use vrf connected
!
no mpls traffic-eng auto-bw timers frequency 0 
mpls label range 2000 3000 
mpls label protocol ldp
l2 router-id 10.1.1.2
l2 vfi auto autodiscovery
 vpn id 100
!
pseudowire-class mpls
 encapsulation mpls
!
interface Loopback1
 ip address 10.1.1.2 255.255.255.255
!
interface Ethernet0/0
 description Backbone interface
 ip address 10.0.0.2 255.255.255.0
 mpls ip
!
router ospf 1
 log-adjacency-changes
 network 10.10.1.0 0.0.0.255 area 0
 network 192.168.0.0 0.0.0.255 area 0
!
router bgp 65000
 no bgp default ipv4-unicast
 bgp log-neighbor-changes
 bgp update-delay 1
 neighbor 10.10.10.1 remote-as 65000
 neighbor 10.10.10.1 update-source Loopback 1  
 neighbor 10.10.10.3 remote-as 65000 
 neighbor 10.10.10.3 update-source Loopback 1  
!
 address-family l2vpn vpls
 neighbor 10.10.10.1 activate
 neighbor 10.10.10.1 send-community extended  
 neighbor 10.10.10.3 activate  
 neighbor 10.10.10.3 send-community extended  
 exit-address-family 
!
ip classless

ip subnet-zero
ip cef
no ip dhcp use vrf connected
!
no mpls traffic-eng auto-bw timers frequency 0 
mpls label range 2000 3000 
mpls label protocol ldp
l2 router-id 10.1.1.3
l2 vfi auto autodiscovery
 vpn id 100
!
pseudowire-class mpls
 encapsulation mpls
!
interface Loopback1
 ip address 10.1.1.3 255.255.255.255
!
interface Ethernet0/0
 description Backbone interface
 ip address 10.0.0.3 255.255.255.0
 mpls ip
!
router ospf 1
 log-adjacency-changes
 network 10.10.1.0 0.0.0.255 area 0
 network 192.168.0.0 0.0.0.255 area 0
!
router bgp 65000
 no bgp default ipv4-unicast
 bgp log-neighbor-changes
 bgp update-delay 1
 neighbor 10.10.10.1 remote-as 65000
 neighbor 10.10.10.1 update-source Loopback 1  
 neighbor 10.10.10.2 remote-as 65000  
 neighbor 10.10.10.2 update-source Loopback 1  
!
 address-family l2vpn vpls
 neighbor 10.10.10.1 activate
 neighbor 10.10.10.1 send-community extended  
 neighbor 10.10.10.2 activate  
 neighbor 10.10.10.2 send-community extended  
 exit-address-family 
!
ip classless