[Xorp-users] Xorp and MPLS

[Bruce Simpson]

Brock, Anthony - NET wrote:
> We've successfully started using xorp (version 1.5) for an internal
> routing project. In light of how well it has functioned so far, we would
> like to use it as a BGP route reflector for our MPLS infrastructure.
>
> Is this currently supported in xorp? I found the sections of the xorp
> manual that talk about configuring it as a route reflector, but I would
> like to confirm that it supports the extended community attributes
> needed for mpls before spending significant time on it.
>   
The bad news: It isn't implemented [yet].
    We've kicked around the idea of supporting BGP for MPLS tag exchange 
(i.e. replace the use of raw LDP). This would require changes to the BGP 
code, of course. BGP is off the XORP, Inc. feature roadmap, the product 
focus is elsewhere -- for the moment.

The ongoing news:
    There have been a few efforts to introduce MPLS to the BSD 
networking kernel, including NISTswitch (very old, not worth bothering 
with), perhaps the most mature open source effort was Ayame for NetBSD.
    Matthew Luckie was working on a port of Ayame to FreeBSD, however, I 
believe that effort stalled -- others may have pitched in since then. I 
handed my copy of 'MPLS and Label Switching Networks' over to 
donations at FreeBSD the other month.
    Can't speak for Linux -- code drops do exist.

The good news:
    The SCons deployment, and refactoring of the XRL middleware, will 
make it possible to drop-in new features like this to the code much more 
easily, as working with XRL and GNU Autotools has been a cumbersome 
stumbling block for participation.
    The aim is to lower the bar, by making it possible to slot new stuff 
right in without hard dependencies on C++ itself.

What to do next:
    You are not the only person to ask for BGP features -- so I'd 
suggest you either lobby XORP, Inc. directly, communicate with others in 
this forum who are looking to extend XORP's BGP, consult directly with 
developers (Hi! But busy doing the above), or even hoist the Jolly Roger 
and start a bounty for the feature.

 So it's a case of 'who dares wins'.

later,
BMS