Ericsson ECP-206 - Ericsson Certified Associate - IP Networking

Penultimate hop popping (PHP) is a function performed by certain routers in an MPLS enabled network. It refers to the process whereby the outermost label of an MPLS tagged packet is removed by a label switch router (LSR) before the packet is passed to an adjacent label edge router (LER). The purpose of PHP is to reduce the load on the LER, as it saves one cycle of label lookup. The LER can forward the packet based on its IP header or another label in the stack, without having to process the outer label. PHPfunctionality is achieved by the LER advertising a label with a value of 3 to its neighbors. This label is defined as "implicit-null" and informs the neighboring LSRs to perform PHP12.

References: Penultimate hop popping - Wikipedia, MPLS Penultimate hop popping - NetworkLessons.com

Referring to the exhibit, the service provider should implement L3VPN using the MP-BGP protocol to connect the sites for two customers (indicated in red and green in theexhibit). L3VPN is a type of VPN that uses MPLS to provide IP connectivity between customer sites across a service provider network. L3VPN allows customers to use overlapping or identical IP addresses without causing conflicts or requiring NAT. L3VPN uses MP-BGP to exchange VPN routes between PE routers, which are routers that connect customer networks to the service provider network. MP-BGP is an extension of BGP that can carry multiple address families, such as VPNv4 or VPNv6, along with additional attributes, such as route distinguisher (RD) and route target (RT). RD is used to make customer routes unique within the service provider network, while RT is used to control which routes are imported or exported between different VPNs3 .

References: L3VPN - Layer 3 Virtual Private Networks - Mpirical, [Use of MP-BGP Extensions for IPv6 Interdomain Routing]

Referring to the exhibit, the two Ericsson routers that support the 100GE interface are Router 6675 and Router 6672. The 100GE interface is a high-speed Ethernet interface that operates at 100 gigabits per second. The Ericsson Router 6000 series is a family ofrouters that provide IP transport for mobile and fixed networks. The Router 6675 is a 5G combined access and E-RAN switch with 100GE interfaces and 320Gb forwarding capacity. The Router 6672 is a high-capacity metro aggregation router with 100GE interfaces and 1.6Tb forwarding capacity12.

References: Router 6000 Series - Ericsson, New Ericsson Router 6000 series couples radio and IP transport for 5G future - Global Brands Magazine

To differentiate traffic types for the purpose of prioritization in their Ethernet LAN and IP/MPLS backbone, an operator can use the following three fields:

Traffic Class (TC): This is a 3-bit field in the MPLS label that can be used to indicate the priority or class of service (CoS) of the packet. The TC field can be mapped to the DSCP field in the IP header or the PCP field in the Ethernet header. The TC field can be used by MPLS routers to apply different per-hop behaviors (PHBs) such as queuing, scheduling, and dropping policies to different traffic classes12.

DSCP: This is a 6-bit field in the IP header that can be used to mark packets according to the differentiated services (DiffServ) model. The DSCP field can indicate the per-hop behavior (PHB) that the packet should receive at each router along its path. The DSCP field can be mapped to the TC field in the MPLS label or the PCP field in the Ethernet header. The DSCP field can be used by IP routers to provide QoS for different traffic types34.

PCP: This is a 3-bit field in the Ethernet header that can be used to mark packets according to the IEEE 802.1Q standard. The PCP field can indicate the priority or class of service (CoS) of the packet on an Ethernet LAN. The PCP field can be mapped to the TC field in the MPLS label or the DSCP field in the IP header. The PCP field can be used by Ethernet switches to provide QoS for different traffic types56.

References: MPLS Traffic Engineering - DiffServ-Aware Traffic Engineering, MPLS Traffic Engineering - DiffServ-Aware Traffic Engineering Configuration Guide, Differentiated services - Wikipedia, DSCP and Precedence Values - Cisco, 802.1Q VLAN IDs and Ethernet Interface Types - Juniper Networks, Introduction to Virtual LANs (VLANs) and Tagging - Ubiquiti Support and Help Center

 A reason for using VLANs in an IP network is to isolate hosts within the same IP subnet. VLANs (Virtual LANs) are logical grouping of devices in the same broadcast domain. VLANs are usually configured on switches by placing some interfaces into one broadcast domain and some interfaces into another. Each VLAN acts as a subgroup of the switch ports in an Ethernet LAN. VLANs allow network administrators to group hosts together even if the hosts are not directly connected to the same network switch. By using VLANs, hosts within the same IP subnet can be separated into different broadcast domains, which enhances security, reduces network congestion, and simplifies network management78.

References: 8 Different Types of VLANs in TCP/IP Networks, What is a VLAN? - Study-CCNA

The maximum number of unique VLAN IDs available is 4096. A VLAN ID is a 12-bit identifier that can range from 0 to 4095. However, VLAN ID 0 is reserved for tagging the priority of frames and VLAN ID 4095 is reserved for implementation use, so only VLAN IDs from 1 to 4094 are available for user configuration78. VLAN IDs are used to identify different broadcast domains or subnets on a Layer 2 network. VLAN IDs are carried in the IEEE 802.1Q tag in the Ethernet frame header.

References: What is a virtual LAN (VLAN) and how does it work with my managed switch? - NETGEAR Support, Virtual LANs (VLANs) - Cisco

Two statements that are true about router node hardening are:

Any unnecessary services should be disabled within each context. Router node hardening is a process of securing a router from unauthorized access and attacks by applying various configurations and policies. One of these configurations is to disable any services that are not needed for the router’s functionality or purpose, such as telnet, ftp, http, etc. This reduces the attack surface of the router and prevents potential exploits of these services91.

Enabling syslog ensures system events are logged to a remote server. Syslog is a protocol that allows a router to send system messages and events to a remote server for logging and analysis. By enabling syslog on a router, network administrators can monitor the router’s activity and performance, troubleshoot problems, detect anomalies, and audit security events101.

References: Cisco Router Hardening Step-by-Step | SANS Institute, Security Hardening Checklist Guide for Cisco Routers/Switches in 10 Steps, CCNA SEC: Router Hardening - Cisco Press

Two protocols that apply to both IPv4 and IPv6 are:

SNMP: This stands for Simple Network Management Protocol, which is a protocol that allows network administrators to monitor and manage network devices such as routers, switches, servers, printers, etc. SNMP uses a client-server model, where an SNMP manager (client) can query or configure an SNMP agent (server) on a network device using SNMP messages. SNMP can operate over both IPv4 and IPv6 networks56.

DNS: This stands for Domain Name System, which is a protocol that translates human-readable domain names (such as www.example.com) into numerical IP addresses (such as 192.0.2.1 or 2001:db8::1) that identify network devices. DNS uses a hierarchical distributed database of name servers that store and resolve domain names and IP addresses. DNS can support both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses78.

References: Simple Network Management Protocol - Wikipedia, SNMP over IPv6 - Cisco, Domain Name System - Wikipedia, DNS for IPv6 - Cisco