Transparently Bridge two Networks using MPLS

Overview

This a very basic example how to enable MPLS, establish VPLS tunnel between two wireless links and use it to transparently bridge two networks.

Why we need this setup if we already have:

• Bridge using WDS
• Bridge using EoIP

and both of those examples need less configuration effort?

There are two reasons:

• VPLS tunnel is about 60% faster than EoIP tunnel
• 802.11n limitation over wds bridge

Configuration

Let us assume the following network setup:

Note: For this setup mpls-test package must be installed.

AP

# --configure wireless access point--
/interface wireless
set wlan1 disabled=no ssid=MPLS frequency=5180 band=5ghz mode=bridge

# --configure IP--
/ip address
add address=172.16.0.1/30 interface=wlan1

# --enable LDP--
/mpls ldp 
set enabled=yes lsr-id=172.16.0.1 transport-address=172.16.0.1
/mpls ldp interface
add interface=wlan1

# --configure VPLS tunnel--
/interface vpls
add name=vpls1 remote-peer=172.16.0.2 vpls-id=1:1 disabled=no

# --add bridge and bridge ports --
/interface bridge add name=bridge1
/interface bridge port
add bridge=bridge1 interface=ether1
add bridge=bridge1 interface=vpls1

station

# --configure wireless access point--
/interface wireless
set wlan1 disabled=no ssid=MPLS band=5ghz mode=station

# --configure IP--
/ip address
add address=172.16.0.2/30 interface=wlan1

# --enable LDP--
/mpls ldp 
set enabled=yes lsr-id=172.16.0.2 transport-address=172.16.0.2
/mpls ldp interface
add interface=wlan1

# --configure VPLS tunnel--
/interface vpls
add name=vpls1 remote-peer=172.16.0.1 vpls-id=1:1 disabled=no

# --add bridge and bridge ports --
/interface bridge add name=bridge1
/interface bridge port
add bridge=bridge1 interface=ether1
add bridge=bridge1 interface=vpls1

Confirm that LDP is running

[admin@MikroTik] /mpls ldp neighbor> print
Flags: X - disabled, D - dynamic, O - operational, T - sending-targeted-hello, V - vpls
 #      TRANSPORT    LOCAL-TRANSPORT PEER           SEND-TARGETED ADDRESSES
 0 DOTV 172.16.0.2   172.16.0.1      172.16.0.2:0   no            172.16.0.2
                                                                                 
[admin@MikroTik] /mpls ldp neighbor> .. .. forwarding-table print
Flags: L - ldp, V - vpls, T - traffic-eng
 #   IN-LABEL        OUT-LABELS      DESTINATION    INTERFACE    NEXTHOP
 0   expl-null
 1 V 18                              vpls1

Confirm that VPLS tunnel is established:

[admin@MikroTik] /interface vpls> monitor vpls1 once
       remote-label: 17
        local-label: 18
      remote-status:
  transport-nexthop: 172.16.0.2
     imposed-labels: 17