The
MPLS VPN Challenge
MPLS VPN services represent a significant source
of revenue growth for Service Providers. However,
the routing-centric nature of Layer 3 MPLS VPNs
based on the IETF RFC 4364 (2547bis) standard,
presents a number of complex operational challenges.
Service Providers need tools to:
- Maintain and monitor an accurate baseline
of customer VPN routing operations
- Detect and correct site-to-site reachability
problems before they become service affecting
- Avert privacy issues by assuring that Provider
Edge (PE) router configurations are are not
causing "route leakage" between customers,
both initially and over time
- Rapidly respond to customer inquiries with
accurate information on edge-to-edge VPN routing
availability both currently and historically
- Collect and analyze useful forensics data
for fast troubleshooting and data continuity
during problem escalation
Introducing VPN Explorer--"Layer
3 Visibility for Layer 3 VPNs"
VPN Explorer is the first solution to address
these important operational challenges and provide
network-wide and per customer Layer 3 monitoring,
visibility and analysis for RFC 4364 MPLS VPN
networks. It is the only solution that provides
real-time knowledge about individual customer's
VPN routed topology, VPN site-to-site reachability
and routing policy enforcement, and inter-VPN
privacy. By monitoring, recording and analyzing
the information contained in the MP-BGP routing
protocol, a single Route Explorer appliance can
compute an accurate, real-time topology of each
customer's VPN, while providing automatic baselining,
monitoring, visualization, reporting, alarming
and detailed diagnosis on the current state of
each VPN, as well as a full historical audit trail
of all VPN routing events. By utilizing Packet
Design’s patent-pending route processing algorithms,
VPN Explorer offers highly scalable and responsive
OA&M capabilities for MPLS VPN services without
the overhead associated with traditional polling-based
techniques, providing for greater service assurance,
uptime and customer satisfaction.
Unlike traditional network management tools that
only monitor core performance statistics or PE-CE
device and interface status, VPN Explorer focuses
on the Layer 3, or logical layer of the network,
which is the source of almost 60% of all problems
in today’s IP networks. More importantly, these
are the core issues affecting day-to-day service
operations that translate into customer satisfaction
and revenue for Service Providers.
Key
Features and Benefits: VPN Explorer is the
only solution that helps network administrators
to monitor and troubleshoot Layer 3 MPLS VPNs
by providing full Layer 3 visibility into each
customer's VPN.
Automatic
Baselining and Monitoring: By passively monitoring
the network routing protocol exchanges, VPN Explorer
creates what most network administrators only
dream of—an accurate, real-time and historical
view of each customer's VPN topology, along with
a per customer VPN baseline from which to monitor
changes and troubleshoot problems.
Detailed
Analysis and Diagnostics: VPN Explorer takes
the mystery and complexity out of analyzing and
troubleshooting MPLS VPN networks by providing
a wealth of reporting tools that help the operator
rapidly understand what changed, when it changed
and what was the root cause of the problem.
Data Sheets
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