Does anybody here use MPLS

[Jay]

I am looking at MPLS to connect 4 sites together. Does any one else use this, if so what can you say about it?

I was looking at leased lines but the cost is so so high and at the moment the IPSec connection we have just doesn't cut it. I unsderstand that I will lose a bit of control but I don't mind them taking that from me to be honest!

[Garf]

A french company (that my company supports the UK side of things) use MPLS to connect 4 sites in Europe and 5 in the UK. Its slow and the cisco router they use is shocking. Needs a reboot every week. We now run an SDSL line into one site (for TS and VPN users) and ADSL line in every uk site (on top of the MPLS) for internet browsing.

Thats all I know about it.

[Jay]

does anyone know how my current IP ranges will effect the MPLS setup?

[Jay]

The cost of a 2mb 2mb line is quite high

quoted £7.5k install and £8,250 a year for the central 2mb/2mb line and for DSL Max on the MPLS network for the remote sites £595 install and £1,400 a year rental!

[Vimeous]

We've gone as far as costing an MPLS solution and deciding it's most likely our way forward but cost is a major hurdle.

We're currently using multiple ADSL lines. However it doesn't meet our future requirements for speed or reliability.
SDSL is not an option as none of the exchanges near our sites support it. Are SDSL solutions available with a site-to-site SLA (other than BT ofc)? I suspect not as it's based on ADSL technology and therefore may not be suitable if you run business critical apps between sites.

Point-to-point leased lines an alternative to MPLS but as you increase the number of sites costs can escalate greatly.

MPLS should provide an SLA with at least five 9's end-to-end.
If based in a datacentre there should be options to co-host you kit to provide central services in a 24hr manned location (MS Exchange being quite plausible).
You could route all your web and email traffic through the ISP's firewalls which are usually better specified and maintained than most non-IT businesses.
It should also be easier (and therefore cheaper) to add additional sites than point-to-point leased lines as all lines head back to the datacentre.

If you are considering these solutions think along way ahead.
Will 2Mb be enough? Should you buy a 10Mb bearer (ethernet) throttled back to 2Mb instead?
ADSL and SDSL contracts can easily be chopped and changed (relatively). MPLS vendors will often host their MPLS solutions in different datacentres so changing vendors could potentially be a nightmare and take considerable time and money.

Considering MPLS or any leased lines is not a light undertaking but the benefits may be the right solution for you.


N.B.
When I talk about MPLS I'm referring to a minimum connection of 2Mb leased line.

[Jay]

Thanks for your info

that 2mb 2mb is on a 10mb bearer... like you said I have to plan for the future.

[sjbuck]

We're migrating to MPLS at our sites over the next 12 months, it'll replace 4 x 45Mb leased lines and numerous 1-2Mb leased lines. As is mentioned above, the benefits increase with the number of sites involved.

[badass]

Are you EVER capable of doing your own proper research, or learning how to do your own job properly?
It seems that every time something new comes up, you just ask people on hexus how to do your job.
There's nothing wrong with occasionally asking for help with something job related here, but you have asked for help with at least 5 seperate things related to your job in the past 2 days

Hexus is not here to do your job for you.

[TiG]

Badass,

The thing with Jay is that i don't get the opinion that he's relying on hexus for the answers. I think he's generally interested in what other people have. MPLS isn't something you are going to know anything about if you've never done it. When you get situations like that i'd want to know what my peers may have experienced when it comes to it.

Doesn't mean i'd not have done my own research as well. People won't answer if they view the person as absolutely being out of their depth. I think the hexus mentality is its better to own up you need training than keep faking it.

As for the MPLS networks, i'd definitely want as many quotes as i could get. Its a service provided and i'd milk suppliers such as alternative networks, redstone etc for as much information that i could get from them.

TiG

[badass]

Badass,

The thing with Jay is that i don't get the opinion that he's relying on hexus for the answers. I think he's generally interested in what other people have. MPLS isn't something you are going to know anything about if you've never done it. When you get situations like that i'd want to know what my peers may have experienced when it comes to it.

Doesn't mean i'd not have done my own research as well. People won't answer if they view the person as absolutely being out of their depth. I think the hexus mentality is its better to own up you need training than keep faking it.

As for the MPLS networks, i'd definitely want as many quotes as i could get. Its a service provided and i'd milk suppliers such as alternative networks, redstone etc for as much information that i could get from them.

TiG

Its not just this thread. Look through his post history. There is about 2 "how can you do my job for me" questions every day.

[Moby-Dick]

you don't have to reply to the thread though
I havn't posted as we dont use MPLS - just a couple of whacking great internet pipes with plenty 'o vpns

[Neo_VR]

I work for a national company with about 480 branches throughout... we use MPLS to each branch which carries data and VOIP traffic..

Dont know any more than that other than we use a company called "thus" for the network

[Jay]

arr, yes. Thus are a very good Buisiness provider.

[funkymunky]

From my dealings with Thus, they are a pain in the arse. Can't remember the last time they managed to resolve a line fault within the SLA. We have a lot of services from various telcos and Thus is the one I have the least faith in to be honest...