SETTING UP A VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK USING VIRTUAL LAN IDENTIFIERS

摘要

A method for setting up a VPN is described. The VPN is set up in a backbone network having a plurality of PE routers for controlling the transfer of IP traffic to and from CE routers in satellite networks. In a PE router, a VRF is configured for the VPN and populated with local routes for the VPN. A VLAN identifier is assigned for the VPN, and advertised to other PE routers in the backbone network. Alternatively, the VLAN identifier may be determined by a predetermined mapping algorithm so it will be unique to the VPN in all PE routers, in which case the advertisement to other PE routers may contain an implicit NULL label.