[c-nsp] MLPPP product from the provider point of view

[Joe Maimon]

Hey all,


Thought I would ping the list and try to benefit from the collective 
experience.

- We show that testing can leave 15-30% bandwidth on the table per link, 
  should this be acceptable or should more troubleshooting be done?

- Is it really neccessary to utilize Mutltilink interfaces on the 
provider side if using a 7200 as opposed to 7500 which seem to only 
require a Virtual-Template?

- In theory, one virtual template can be used for all mlppp customers, 
as they will establish seperate bundles with their endpoint 
discriminators, correct?

- Its not neccessary to embed interface ip on the virtual template, ip 
unnumbered loopback works just fine, is this a common approach?

- Using ip unnumbered loopback on the customer side in its multilink 
interface results in the customer ppp ipcp negotiation assigning the 
customer loopback ip to its ppp session. Is this a common approach? Is 
it secure?

- We are using mlppp with ppp authorization deliberately turned off. We 
are considering redeploying with it on, so as to leverage radius for 
things like assigning the Framed-IP-Address and Framed-Route for the 
MLPPP customers. Is this a common approach and what are the downsides?

- Is there any gain to be had with LFI on low latency DS1 circuits 
(10-20ms rtt for small pings)? How about higher with rtt, such as 50-100ms?

- %FR-3-MLPOFR_ERROR: MLPoFR not configured properly on Link 
Virtual-Access1 Bundle Multilink1 :Frame Relay traffic shaping must be 
enabled

This is apparently a cosmetic bug. However, it is worse than that. If 
you go ahead and place the "frame-relay traffic-shaping" command on you 
bundle physical interfaces, you will turn your bundle in a packet losing 
84kbps max throughput bandwidth circuit. Cute trap for the unwary.

How is traffic shaping SUPPOSED to be utilized with MLPPP bundles?

- Up to how many circuits in a bundle should be considered practical? 2? 
4? 8? 16?

-  Multichassis Multilink PPP

Can this be used in a mlppp over atm pvc environment? Is this a common 
approach? What are the gotchas? Anyone have some config examples?


Thanks to all in advance,

Joe