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How is composite next hop used in Layer 3 VPNs?

By Erdem posted 02-04-2016 11:58

  

Question

How is composite next hop used in Layer 3 VPNs?

Answer

Composite next hop infrastructure provides optimized data structures to handle a label-per-prefix case and to help with convergence. Prior to Junos OS Release 9.5, handling label-per-prefix consumed a lot of kernel memory, restricting overall chassis scale. Now, the standard Junos OS method is to use label-per-VPN, which is very scalable.

 

With chained or composite next hop, memory usage is optimized in both the kernel and the Packet Forwarding Engine. However, on the I-chip this is available only for the Packet Forwarding Engine. The scaling numbers for I-chip based platforms are:

 

  • Junos OS Releases prior to 9.5 -- 250,000 to 300,000 labels per prefix
  • Junos OS Release 9.5 and later -- 600,000 labels per prefix

Data structure optimization within the Packet Forwarding Engine leads to significant savings in DRAM, with the most gains in the next-hop space and in the Layer 2 descriptors.

 

For more information, click Layer 3 VPNs Feature Guide.


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