Label Switched Multicast – Ethernet Header
I got an interesting email from Ying Lu who had read my posts on LSM:
I am curious about the Ethernet DA and codepoint used for multicast MPLS. Previously, I understand that:– Ethernet DA is unicast MAC of nexthop of each replication leg.– codepoint is 0x8847However, looking at RFC5332, I am not so sure…Quote:“Ethernet is an example of a multipoint-to-multipoint data link. Ethertype 0x8847 is used whenever a unicast ethernet frame carries an MPLS packet.
Ethertype 0x8847 is also used whenever a multicast ethernet frame carries an MPLS packet, EXCEPT for the case where the top label of the MPLS packet has been upstream-assigned.
Ethertype 0x8848, formerly known as the “MPLS multicast codepoint”, is to be used only when an MPLS packet whose top label is upstream assigned is carried in a multicast ethernet frame.
Interesting question. What is the ethernet destination address (DA) and the value of the ethernet type field (codepoint) when the MPLS packet is being sent on an LSM LSP?
Getting back into the lab, I started a ping from CE1 to a group that CE3 had joined. I then ran a sniff on the segment between P and PE3.

Examining the Continue reading
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