Technical Whitepaper On Multi-Segment Pseudo-Wire (MS-PW)

Technical Whitepaper On
Multi-Segment Pseudo-Wire
(MS-PW)
1 Overview
MS-PW originates from PWE3 application model. PWE3 is an ETE L2 service bearing
technology used for a PTP L2VPN. PWE3 protocol extends new signaling (optimizing
signaling overhead) to the Martini protocol and provides multi-segment negotiation
modes to make networking mode more flexible.

MS-PW (Multi-Segment Pseudo-Wire) technology allows several segmented PWs

between source and destination PEs, and the PW switching equipment S-PE connects
SS-PWs at both sides and switches the label at the PW layer. The technology allows
direct creation of single-ended PW between source and destination PEs, and meets the
application requirements across local networks, carriers and Control Planes (CP).

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Technical Whitepaper On Multi-Segment Pseudo-Wire (MS-PW)

2 Market driving force

Figure 2-1 Inter-AS & Hierarchical network communication

S-PE S-PE
WAN
Metro A1 Core Metro A2

T-PEs T-PEs
Provider A

S-PE
Inter-Provider
Use Case
Provider B

T-PE

Hierarchical network construction

As large-network scenario is shown in the yellow dotted line. Access network and
backbone network are connected via PW in a layered IP/MPLS network. The traffic can
be switched in local network, or switched to the Full-Mesh PW segment of backbone
network via edge nodes of the backbone network to interconnect services across local
network, effectively reducing the support capability requirements of PWE3 control
channel and route information of access network T-PE node (instead of the support
capability requirements of PW state).

Inter-AS & Inter-provider communication

Generally, PW single-segment networking can address problems. But in some cases, it

is impossible to create only one PW control channel between source PE and destination
PE because of topology, O&M and security.

For example, a destination PE is located in another carrier network (cross-carrier) in a

L2VPN scenario, as shown in the red dotted line. If SS-PW is available between two
carrier networks, the traffic interconnection among PE nodes are encrypted and
controlled with signatures, which is clearly not easy to meet, so the MS-PW
cross-domain technique is used.

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 Technical Whitepaper On Multi-Segment Pseudo-Wire (MS-PW)

Second, PW signaling protocols and encapsulation modes are different from segment to
segment in some applications. In this case, two T-PEs cannot be connected via SS-PW,
while MS-PW can implement the interoperability between different signaling protocols.

Full-Mesh domain automatic deployment

An external entity creates a PW by calculation in a management domain, and a

Full-Mesh control channel is created among all PEs. When calculating the connection
path between two PEs, the external entity takes the middle PE between these two PEs
as PWE3 switching point.

3 Technical challenge
Figure 3-1 MS-PW Reference Model

T-PE1 S-PE T-PE2

Tunnel 1 Tunnel 2
PW 1 PW 2

AC1 AC2

MS-PW Segment 1 MS-PW Segment 2

CE1 CE2

MS-PW (Multi-Segment Pseudo-Wire) refers to several segmented PW between T-PEs,

as shown in the following diagram. Multi-segment T-PE and single-segment T-PE has
the same forwarding mechanism, but MS-PW needs to connect SS-PWs at both sides
through the PW switching equipment S-PE, and completes the label switching at PW
Label layer at S-PE.

The carrier has the following requirements for MS-PW:

PW is still transparent to P.

MS-PW and SS-PW must use the same encapsulation mode.

MS-PW is composed of SS-PWs.

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Technical Whitepaper On Multi-Segment Pseudo-Wire (MS-PW)

MS-PW can pass various PSNs supported by SS-PW. When it passes the PSNs, it
should have the interconnection function.

Bidirectional PW segments must be in the same S-PE/T-PE.

3.1 MS-PW establishment mechanism

What MS-PW is different from SS-PW is that there is one or several S-PEs between PEs.
Multi-segment connection is created via S-PE instead of directly between PE1 and PE2.
The switching PW of MS-PW is created in three ways: dynamic-dynamic, static-static and
static-dynamic.

Static-static switching means that the PWs at both sides of S-PE are static PWs.

PW segment is configured statically.

T-PE is configured manually.

Each segment of PW is configured manually at S-PEs.

Dynamic-dynamic switching means that the PWs at both sides of S-PE are created
through signaling protocol. In a dynamic-dynamic switching PW, remote label is
sent from two adjacent endpoints (T-PE or S-PE) the S-PE node via signaling.

PW segment is configured through dynamic signaling (FEC 128 /FEC 129),

and the PWs at both sides of S-PE are created through signaling protocol.

T-PE1 and T-PE2 are connected to S-PE respectively and S-PE splices two
segments of PW. In signaling negotiation, T-PE1 sends a label mapping
message to S-PE. After receiving the message, S-PE checks whether a
MS-PW is configured. If yes, a new label mapping message is generated and
sent to PE2, and the reverse process is the same. S-PE never takes initiative
to send a label mapping message, but do it only after receiving a message
from T-PE. Release, withdraw, notification packets are transferred hop by hop
just like the label mapping message so as to stop forwarding (notification) or
clear the connection (withdraw, release).

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 Technical Whitepaper On Multi-Segment Pseudo-Wire (MS-PW)

Static-dynamic switching means that the PW at one side of S-PE is created through
signaling protocol and the PW at the other side is configured statically. Static PW or
dynamic PW may have multiple segments, but their alternation is not included.

Its processing at T-PE and S-PE is consistent with the above static PW or
dynamic PW except the configuration and processing on the S-PE at the
junction of static PW and dynamic PW.

In the S-PE at the junction of dynamic PW and static PW, for dynamic PW,
static PW is considered as dynamic PW AC, and status change of static PW is
equivalent to that of dynamic PW AC. For signaling negotiation, such
parameters as PW type and interface MTU should be specified and they
should be consistent with CE interface of static PW.

If the tunnel for static PW is available, static PW is UP. If the tunnel for
dynamic PW is available, remote PW is UP. If remote PW TYPE and MTU are
consistent with local configuration, dynamic PW is also UP.

3.2 OAM for MS-PW

PWE3 adds the PW connectivity check mechanism and means --- VCCV. In a MS-PW
scenario, it is required to perform cross-S-PE ETE VCCV operation and trace the paths
of multiple PW segments. The effect depends on the reuse of existing VCCV control
fields and TTL operation at S-PE.

VCCV capability negotiation (PW OAM capability negotiation)

For PWE3 employing the dynamic signaling, interface parameter TLV of label mapping
packet carries VCCV parameters at the signaling interaction to negotiate the VCCV
capability, in summary, CC Type and CV Type jointly determine VCCV support capability
and packet encapsulation mode. In a MS-PW scenario, VCCV parameter packet is
encapsulated into a LDP label mapping message and is sent from source T-PE to
destination T-PE. The passing S-PE at each hop removes the bit position of the
capability that it cannot support. Therefore, the VCCV parameter packet received at the
destination indicates the VCCV capability supported by source T-PE and passing S-PEs,
completing the negotiation of VCCV capability.

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Technical Whitepaper On Multi-Segment Pseudo-Wire (MS-PW)

BFD for MS-PW

PWE3 BFD can quickly detect the fault of the PW link between local and remote PEs to
support PWE3 FRR and reduce the effect of link fault on services. For MS-PW, S-PE just
forwards the BFD control packet instead of processing it.

TP1731 for MS-PW

TP1731s PW OAM packet processing is the same as BFD, and their difference is that
TP1731 just detects static PW, has no parameter or packet format negotiation, and fully
relies on the configuration to ensure the consistency between transmitting and receiving.

3.3 Mapping mechanism of PW status

The proper judgment of OAM detection and LDP protocol for current PW status is the
basis of MS-PW protection switching. MS-PW transfers the PW status information
through LDP Notification message on CP. Status field does not change in each hop, but
FEC TLV is changed by S-PE into next-hop PWid or AGI/SAI/TAI.

When a segment of PW goes wrong, local S-PE generates two Notification messages
including Status field, attaches relative SP-PE TLV to the LDP Notification messages to
indicate the fault, and sends them to the upstream and downstream to transfer the
messages to T-PEs of both sides via the upstream and downstream S-PEs.

When the PW Status information is received, if the message includes the SP-PE TLV
information, T-PE can find the faulty segment. If the SP-PE TLV information is not
included, it indicates that the PW Status information comes from source T-PE.

3.4 MS-PW full-mesh redundant protection

In MS-PW full-connection redundancy scenario, T-PE and S-PE are deployed with PW
1:1 protection group, which combines AC redundant technology MC-APS /MC-LAG to
protect ETE services over MS-PW. MS-PW redundant protection should support
protection switching on CE, T-PE and S-PE, and such OAM detection mechanism as
TP1731 and BFD. Static PW uses TP1731, and dynamic PW BFD.

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Figure 3-2 MS-PW full-mesh redundant protection

T-PE1 S-PE1 T-PE3

Active
1
2

CE1 CE2

Standby

T-PE2 S-PE2 T-PE4

As it is complex to configure the active/standby relation of PW protection group in the

MS-PW full-connection redundant protection solution, it is recommended to create PW
segments in the dynamic LDP mode and automatically decide working/protection
statuses of PW according to the LDP PW status transfer mechanism. LDP
decision-making result take precedence over local active/standby PW configuration. If it
is confirmed on the protocol layer that two PWs are both active, the working/protection
relation in the FRR table follows the local active/standby PW configuration. If there is no
result on the protocol layer, namely, active/standby relations notified at both ends of the
protocol conflict with each other, the local active/standby PW configuration is also used.
Active PW is in the working status.

The solution has flexible application scenarios and can be applied to cross-domain,
cross-carrier or cross-vendor service interconnection. It addresses the issue of deploying
complex overlay protection means for multipoint faults, e.g., the common opposite-side
fiber cut of intersectant ring.

4 Application scenario

4.1 Mobile backhaul service

In MS-PW reference model, the most characteristic need is Mobile Backhaul. As shown
below, UPE is deployed with MS-PW to converge PWs and implement PW redundant

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Technical Whitepaper On Multi-Segment Pseudo-Wire (MS-PW)

protection. As MS-PW relay nodes, S-PE implement active/standby PW redundancy in

the entire topology.

Generally, SS-PW meets service bearing demands, but convergence layer adopts
MS-PW in large-scale networking because of the following considerations:

Reduce convergence/core-layer LSP pressure. As convergence/core-layer paths

are simple, core terminating node need less LSPs than single-ended PWs.

Facilitate flexible adjustment of BS attribution: For example, a NodeB originally

terminates at RNC1, but it may be adjusted later to terminate at RNC2. At this time,
PTN only involves the modification of the preceding-segment PW/LSP and
one-to-one PW splicing at the splicing point, but access-layer PW and LSP
configuration do not change.

Figure 4-1 Mobile backhaul scenario

U-PEs S-PE N-PEs

Active

Standby
NodeB RNC

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4.2 Hierarchical network for Inter-AS

Figure 4-2 Hierarchical network for Inter-AS

WAN Core

AS 100

Metro A Metro B
(Provider A) S-PEs (Provider B)

AS 200 AS 300

T-PEs T-PEs

PW1 PW2 PW3 PW4 PW5

Payload 10 Payload 10

Payload 30 Payload 30

Payload 50 Payload 70

In IPRAN, each integrated access network uses the devices from one vendor. Access
networks are divided into different AS domains, and services are deployed and managed
according to different segments, groups and domains. Access networks are
interconnected with each other via MS-PW and protection detection adopts BFD for
MS-PW, as shown above.

5 Abbreviations

Table 5-1 Abbreviations

Abbr. Full Name

AC Attachment Circuit

CE Customer Edge

MS-PW Multi-Segment Pseudo-Wire

P Provider

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Abbr. Full Name

PE Provider Edge

PSN Tunnel Packet Switched Network Tunnel

PW Pseudo-Wire

PWE3 Pseudo-Wire Emulation Edge to Edge

S-PE Switching Point PE

T-PE Terminating PE

VCID Virtual Circuit Identifier

VC-Type Virtual Circuit Type

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