MPIP(4)

💖 NAME 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to MPIP(4) — aka the mpip page from the Kernel Interfaces Manual — and the name is literally:

mpip — MPLS IP layer 2 pseudowire

short, iconic, no notes 💅

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

pseudo-device mpip

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

The mpip interface is literally here to create an MPLS IP layer 2 tunnel between two points. Two points. Tunnel. MPLS. Layer 2. The way that this interface just connects things? Obsessed ✨.

You can create an mpip interface at runtime with the ifconfig mpipN create command, or by setting up a hostname.if(5) configuration file for netstart(8). Then the interface itself gets configured with ifconfig(8). Easy? Yes. Iconic? Also yes 🫶.

The local MPLS label, the remote MPLS label and neighbor, use of pseudowire control words, or flow-aware transport are normally configured after negotiation with a remote system using ldpd(8). But — and this is the fun part — it is also possible to configure them manually using ifconfig(8). Manual mode, main character energy, no cap 😌.

🎀 EXAMPLES 🎀

Create a pseudowire with local label 20 and remote label 21 on neighbor 10.254.0.1:

# ifconfig mpip5 create
# ifconfig mpip5 mplslabel 20 pweneighbor 21 10.254.0.1
# ifconfig mpip5 up

Disable the use of the Pseudowire Emulation Edge-to-Edge (PWE3) Control Word, and enable the use of a Flow label for Flow-Aware Transport of Pseudowires:

# ifconfig mpip5 -pwecw pwefat

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• mpe(4)
• mpw(4)
• hostname.if(5)
• ifconfig(8)
• ldpd(8)
• netstart(8)

⭐ STANDARDS ⭐

• S. Bryant and P. Pate, Pseudo Wire Emulation Edge-to-Edge (PWE3) Architecture, RFC 3985, March 2005.
• S. Bryant, G. Swallow, and L. Martini, Pseudowire Emulation Edge-to-Edge (PWE3) Control Word for Use over an MPLS PSN, RFC 4385, February 2005.
• S. Bryant, C. Filsfils, U. Drafz, V. Kompella, J. Regan, and S. Amante, Flow-Aware Transport of Pseudowires over an MPLS Packet Switched Network, RFC 6391, November 2011.

🍓 HISTORY 🍓

The mpip kernel interface first appeared in OpenBSD 6.5. A whole era. We stan a debut 👑.

xoxo, source/version Debian, dated March 18, 2021, signing off as MPIP(4) 💅✨