International Journal of Engineering Research and Reviews
ISSN 2348-697X (Online) Vol. 10, Issue 3, pp: (6-10), Month: July - September 2022, Available at: www.researchpublish.com
The Usage of MPLS in Voice over IP Network 1
Kashif R. Khawaja, 2Hulaiyel M. Khaldi, 3Majed I. Shukri, 4Baraka H. Mutairi, 5 Fahad Nasser Al-Khaldi Saudi Aramco, Information Technology, Saudi Arabia DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6985144
Published Date: 12-August-2022
Abstract: The article focused on the usage of Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) over VOIP network. One of the features that MPLS has is Traffic Engineering (TE) which can help overcome potential pot holes in the network or to circumvent sub-optimal paths, especially in a network consisting of a diverse geographical terrain. The prevalence of MPLS IP VPN networks make them the de facto transport for inter-connecting IMS based VoIP devices. Inevitably, this creates the need for a fundamental set of guidelines, which can ensure that the quality of service for real time traffic is acceptable. To that end, a systematic approach was taken to implement traffic engineering LSPs which enabled the real time multimedia traffic to be delivered with highest priority and minimal loss and delay. This helped provide tangible network operations benefits such as, early detection of service disruption because of faults in the desired end to end label switched paths, reduction of the Mean Time to Resolve (MTTR) and lead to proposals for further improvements which could produce a more intelligent re-routing of the LSPs Keywords: Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), Traffic Engineering (TE), Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Internet Protocol (IP), Label Switched Path (LSP).
1. INTRODUCTION Nowadays the usage of internet become an essential part of our life where many services and application are provided through internet. This however brings a challenging factor for conventional IP network when dealing with real-time applications. These shortcomings of IP is mitigated by Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) technology. MPLS network runs over a fiber optic network which traverses perhaps one of the harshest terrains in the world. The tough geographical challenges are exacerbated by extreme desert climates and uncertain ground surfaces. To make things worse, some fiber corridors are crowded by multiple vendors and others services providers which makes coordinating maintenance activities a nightmare. This increases the tendency for fiber cuts or damage to the communications network infrastructure. Sometimes a combination of these factors leads to catastrophic fiber network disruption leading to disastrous voice (and/or video) service issues for corporate users. The chronic fiber network challenges created link stability, quality and occasional bandwidth issues for the corporate IP core network. These issues directly impacted the service quality especially for real time multimedia traffic. Voice and video calling being some of the most frequently used services for both business and personal needs were easily impacted. Due to the real time nature of these services even the slightest network issue would be readily perceived by human eyes and ears. While the fiber network engineers worked on overcoming hurdles to make the transmission more robust the routing network engineering team explored higher layer workarounds. Due to the maturity they have achieved, MPLS IP VPN networks proved to be best suited to help mitigate the connectivity problems while the fiber network administrators searched for permanent solutions to provide stability of the underlying physical infrastructure. Specifically, the Traffic Engineering LSPs (label-switching paths) would be used to define stable end-to-end paths between MPLS Provider Edge (PE) routers. In a well-organized network, these paths need to be defined only for a subset of all the endpoints in the network. Particularly, the endpoints involved in carrying the voice and video traffic. This would significantly reduce the overhead of manually creating and maintaining these LSPs.
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