Carrying IPv6 over an MPLS Backbone (6PE)

6PE is the Cisco name for directly carrying IPv6 packets over the MPLS backbone. Note that the MPLS network does not need to run MPLS VPN. The IPv6 networks do not belong to a VPN, so no VRF interface exists on the provider edge (PE) routers. All IPv6 CE routers can see each other as 6PE runs in the global address space on the PE routers.

Operation of 6PE

In the 6PE solution, the PE routers are dual-stack, which means they run IPv4 and IPv6. The CE routers that are running IPv6 are connected to the PE router via a normal interface; the interface is not part of a VRF for IPv6 even though the same interface might be in a VRF for IPv4. The IPv6 routing distribution between the PE routers is done via MP-iBGP. ...

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