IP Routing Lab for Optical Engineers
Foundations Lab
Solution overview
There is a movement in the industry to combine the optical network and the routed network, with Cisco leading the charge. The architecture is known as RON, Routed Optical Networks. With the RON architecture, the services that Optical Engineers are accustomed to delivering within the optical network are now provided via the routed network.
Typically, an optical network's turn-up, provisioning, and monitoring are done within a GUI (graphical user interface), but routed networks rely on CLI (command line interface). There are GUI options for routed networks, but there is still a significant dependency on CLI configuration. This lab focuses on command line configurations which will enable you to see how these networks are built and work. The RON architecture does utilize DWDM for site-to-site bandwidth requirements, but this lab focuses on routing technology; therefore, DWDM is not within the scope of this lab.
Using a Cisco XRv virtual router network, this lab will take you through the initial router to router (site-to-site) connectivity, basic routing between sites and applying SR-MPLS in combination with Layer 3 and Layer 2 VPNs. As you progress through the lab, we will show you how each building block of the network functions and how they deliver transport services between locations.