MPLS Router Validation

Proving functional reliability, scalability, and performance for next-generation carrier-grade network platforms.

Customer Profile

An Indian OEM of MPLS routers develops high-performance routing and switching platforms for carrier-grade and enterprise networks. The MPLS routing platform is engineered for scalability, resiliency, and advanced feature support across modern digital infrastructure.

Business & Technical Challenge

As part of a next-generation network platform rollout, the OEM required validation of functional reliability, scalability, and performance of the MPLS routing platform under real-world operating conditions. Key objectives included ensuring support for:

  • MPLS L2/L3 VPN services.
  • Multicast routing at scale.
  • Fast failure detection (BFD).
  • High throughput and service continuity under varying load.

Given the router’s role in large-scale service provider and enterprise networks, the validation required proving redundancy, fault recovery, control plane stability, and protocol robustness for mission-critical deployments.

CNLABS Solution

CNLABS partnered with the OEM to conduct a comprehensive MPLS routing and high-availability validation program. The assessment focused on benchmarking the MPLS router across:

  • MPLS Layer-2 & Layer-3 VPN services.
  • Multicast routing performance and group scalability.
  • Sub-second failure recovery using BFD.
  • Redundancy and failover behavior across control and data planes.
  • IPv4, IPv6, and multicast routing table handling.
  • Performance under dynamic traffic engineering and routing updates.

Approach / Execution

  • Conducted functional conformance validation of MPLS L3VPN, VPLS, and PW services.
  • Multicast scalability tests with up to 1000 multicast groups.
  • Fast failover and link recovery verification using BFD.
  • Routing convergence and stability analysis under dynamic route updates.
  • Hardware redundancy testing with simulated interface and control card failures.
  • Performance benchmarking under varying load and traffic engineering scenarios.

Results & Impact

  • Stable and reliable performance across MPLS L2/L3 and multicast use cases.
  • Sub-second BFD response, ensuring rapid failure detection.
  • Seamless redundancy and failover, delivering uninterrupted service continuity.
  • Fast routing convergence and strong control-plane scalability.
  • Robust multicast handling, supporting large-scale voice, video, and data applications.

Why CNLABS

CNLABS brought deep expertise in MPLS, routing protocols, and carrier-class validation, supported by an independent and scalable test environment. CNLABS enabled the OEM to:

  • Validate real-world readiness of the MPLS router.
  • Gain data-driven assurance of reliability and high availability.
  • Accelerate time-to-market with confidence in platform performance.