MPLS and IP storage testing update

By Joel Snyder
Network World, 09/09/02

The iLabs MPLS and IP Storage teams will continue testing at NetWorld+Interop in Atlanta.

For the Multi-protocol Label Switching team, which focused on basic MPLS interoperability last May, the goal this time is to demonstrate interoperability of higher-level services running over a multi-vendor MPLS backbone.

The team will build a set of label-switched paths across a core of MPLS devices. Within this core, the team will test how multiple vendors handle failover and resiliency while interoperating. Once the core is stable, the team will test services running on top of MPLS, including Martini Layer 2 VPNs based on the Martini draft specification, standards-based Layer VPNs and Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) protocols.

Using gear from Cisco, Extreme Networks, Foundry Networks, Riverstone Networks and Spirent Communications, the team will build and test a hub-and-spoke VPLS network over the MPLS core, pushing the brains of a multisite Layer 2 VPN into the network. For Layer 3 VPNs, the iLabs team will evaluate at how natively current MPLS equipment can interoperate when passing IP V6 traffic.

For the IP Storage team, the testing will focus on the same iSCSI to Fiber Channel integration issues as it touched in May. In this round of testing, the team will be testing iSCSI to Fibre Channel links both in the iLabs booth and across the show's network to gear located in vendors' booths.

More N+I Atlanta 2002 iLabs coverage

Related Links

iLabs schedule for N+I Atlanta 2002

ISCSI delivers storage over Ethernet
ISCSI is a block-level storage protocol that lets users create a separate storage network using Ethernet. Network World, 09/09/02.

MPLS: more interesting than you think
With more MPLS vendors in one room then ever before, more tests at the bleeding edge of MPLS standardization and the most sophisticated test plan for MPLS interoperability ever written, this was a one-of-a-kind event. Network World, 05/06/02.

The skinny on iSCSI SANs
In what was a coming-out party for the Internet Small Computer System Interface protocol, these debuting products tested by the iLabs IP storage team showed a high level of interoperability and a surprising level of functionality. Network World, 05/06/02.

Apply for your free subscription to Network World. Click here. Or get Network World delivered in PDF each week.

Request a reprint or permission to use this article.

To top

NWFusion offers more than 40 FREE technology-specific email newsletters in key network technology areas such as NSM, VPNs, Convergence, Security and more.
Click here to sign up!

New Event - WANs: Optimizing Your Network Now.
Hear from the experts about the innovations that are already starting to shake up the WAN world. Free Network World Technology Tour and Expo in Dallas, San Francisco, Washington DC, and New York.
Attend FREE

Your FREE Network World subscription will also include breaking news and information on wireless, storage, infrastructure, carriers and SPs, enterprise applications, videoconferencing, plus product reviews, technology insiders, management surveys and technology updates - GET IT NOW.