Ping and Traceroute Commands

RBFS supports MPLS LSP (Label Switched Path) Ping that enables administrators to verify an LSP. LSP Ping works by sending packets through chosen LSP to a specific destination (remote endpoint) and checks for a response. It helps to identify if a Label Switched Path is disrupted.

A labeled packet (echo request) is sent towards a destination FEC to verify that this packet terminates at the correct egress LSR that services the FEC. If the egress node’s Echo Reply message is recieved, it confirms that the LSP is established successfully.

The MPLS LSP Traceroute utility is designed to verify the label switch path by sending MPLS Echo Request packets. It uses the Time-to-Live (TTL) mechanism to determine how many MPLS hops an MPLS packet goes through. This utility can map the route a packet takes to its destination and provides information about each hop, including the latency at each point.

As each Label Switching Router (LSR) along the path receives the packet, it decrements the MPLS TTL. When the TTL reaches 1, the router sends back an MPLS Echo Reply. The source router then sends additional MPLS Echo Request packets with TTL values incrementing from 2, 3, and so on. Each time, a different LSR in the path responds as the TTL expires. This process continues until the egress LSR is reached.

Not all features are necessarily supported on each hardware platform. Refer to the Platform Guide for the features and the sub-features that are or are not supported by each platform.