2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-1

Frame-Mode/Cell-Mode MPLS Implementation on

Cisco IOS Platforms

Troubleshooting Frame-Mode MPLS

on Cisco IOS Platforms
2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Outline

Overview
Symptoms of Common Frame-Mode MPLS Issues
LDP Session Startup Issues
Label Allocation Issues
Label Distribution Issues
Packet Labeling Issues
Intermittent MPLS Failures After Interface Failure
Packet Propagation Issues
Lesson Summary

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-3

Symptoms of Common Frame-Mode

MPLS Issues
LDP session does not start.
Labels are not allocated.
Labels are not distributed.
Packets are not labeled although the labels have
been distributed.
MPLS intermittently breaks after an interface
failure.
Large packets are not propagated across the
network.
2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-4

LDP Session Startup Issues

Symptom
LDP neighbors are not discovered.
show mpls ldp discovery does not display expected LDP neighbors

Diagnosis
MPLS is not enabled on the adjacent router.

Verification
Verify with show mpls interface on the adjacent router.

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-5

LDP Session Startup Issues (Cont.)

Symptom
LDP neighbors are not discovered.

Diagnosis
Label distribution protocol mismatchTDP on one end,
LDP on the other end.

Verification
Verify with show mpls interface detail on both routers.

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-6

LDP Session Startup Issues (Cont.)

Symptom
LDP neighbors are not discovered.

Diagnosis
Packet filter drops LDP neighbor discovery packets.

Verification
Verify access list presence with show ip interface.
Verify access list contents with show access-list.

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-7

LDP Session Startup Issues (Cont.)

Symptom
LDP neighbors are discovered; LDP session is not established.
show ldp neighbor does not display a neighbor in Oper state.

Diagnosis
Connectivity between loopback interfaces is brokenLDP
session is usually established between loopback interfaces of
adjacent LSRs.

Verification
Verify connectivity with extended ping command.

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-8

Label Allocation Issues

Symptom
Labels are not allocated for local routes.
show mpls forwarding-table does not display any labels

Diagnosis
CEF is not enabled.

Verification
Verify with show ip cef.

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-9

Label Distribution Issues

Symptom
Labels are allocated, but not distributed.
show mpls ldp bindings on adjacent LSR does not display labels from this LSR.

Diagnosis
Problems with conditional label distribution.

Verification
Debug label distribution with debug mpls ldp advertisement.
Examine the neighbor LDP router IP address with
show mpls ldp discovery.
Verify that the neighbor LDP router IP address is matched by the access
list specified in the mpls advertise command.

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-10

Packet Labeling Issues

Symptom
Labels are distributed, but packets are not labeled.
show interface statistic does not show labeled packets being sent

Diagnosis
CEF is not enabled on input interface (potentially due to
conflicting feature being configured).

Verification
Verify with show cef interface.

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-11

Packet Labeling Issues (Cont.)

show cef interface
Router#show
cef
interface
Router#show
Router#show cef
cef interface
interface
Serial1/0.1
Serial1/0.1 is
is up
up (if_number
(if_number 15)
15)
Internet
Internet address
address is
is 192.168.3.5/30
192.168.3.5/30
ICMP
ICMP redirects
redirects are
are always
always sent
sent
Per
Per packet
packet loadbalancing
loadbalancing is
is disabled
disabled
IP
IP unicast
unicast RPF
RPF check
check is
is disabled
disabled
Inbound
Inbound access
access list
list is
is not
not set
set
Outbound
Outbound access
access list
list is
is not
not set
set
IP
IP policy
policy routing
routing is
is disabled
disabled
Interface
is
marked
as
Interface is marked as point
point to
to point
point interface
interface
Hardware
Hardware idb
idb is
is Serial1/0
Serial1/0
Fast
switching
type
Fast switching type 5,
5, interface
interface type
type 64
64
IP
IP CEF
CEF switching
switching enabled
enabled
IP
CEF
VPN
Fast
switching
IP CEF VPN Fast switching turbo
turbo vector
vector
Input
Input fast
fast flags
flags 0x1000,
0x1000, Output
Output fast
fast flags
flags 0x0
0x0
ifindex
3(3)
ifindex 3(3)
Slot
Slot 11 Slot
Slot unit
unit 00 VC
VC -1
-1
Transmit
limit
accumulator
Transmit limit accumulator 0x0
0x0 (0x0)
(0x0)
IP
IP MTU
MTU 1500
1500

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-12

Intermittent MPLS Failures After

Interface Failure
Symptom
Overall MPLS connectivity in a router intermittently
breaks after an interface failure.

Diagnosis
IP address of a physical interface is used for LDP (or TDP)
identifier. Configure a loopback interface on the router.

Verification
Verify local LDP identifier with show mpls ldp neighbors.

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-13

Packet Propagation Issues

Symptom
Large packets are not propagated across the network.
extended ping with varying packet sizes fails for packet sizes close to 1500

In some cases, MPLS might work, but MPLS VPN will fail.

Diagnosis
Label MTU issues or switches that do not support jumbo frames in the
forwarding path.

Verification
Issue the traceroute command thru the forwarding path; identify all LAN
segments in the path.
Verify label MTU setting on routers attached to LAN segments.
Check for low-end switches in the transit path.

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-14

Summary
Several common issues that arise in MPLS networks
If no neighbors are discovered ensure MPLS is enabled on
the neighbor and ensure that label distribution protocol is
the same between adjacent routers
CEF needs to be enabled for MPLS to function properly
If using conditional label advertisement ensure access-lists
have correct IP addresses
Ensure there are no conflicts between CEF and any other
configured features could cause packets not to
be labeled
Use loopback IP addresses and not a configured interface IP
address
2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-15