Tutorial
Introduction to MPlS
and GMPLS
(continued)
The
GMPLS Control Plane
In order to control components outside of the standard data
packet, a separate control plane was developed for GMPLS.
This control plane is the true magic of GMPLS.
It allows for the total control of network
devices.
The GMPLS control plane provides for six top-level functions:
1) Discovery of Neighborhood Resources; 2)
Dissemination of Link Status; 3) Topology Link State
Management; 4) Path Management and Control; 5) Link
Management; and 6) Link Protection.
1)
Neighbor Discovery.
In order to manage the network, all network devices
must be known: switches,
multiplexers and routers. GMPLS will use a new protocol called
Link Management Protocol (LMP) to discover these devices and
to negotiate functions (Figure 8).
Figure 8
2)
Dissemination of Link Status.
It does no good just to know what hardware is out
there, if the link is down or having problems. To disseminate this information, a routing protocol must be
used. For GMPLS, both the OSPF and the IS-IS protocols are
being modified to support this function (Figure 9).
Figure 9
3) Typology State Management.
Link-state routing protocols, such as OSPF and IS-IS, can be
used to control and manage the link state typology (Figure
10).
Figure 10
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