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MikroTik MTCRE lab 6 of 14

VLANs and QinQ across a provider network

Carry a customer's own VLANs between two sites across Fernvale's network without touching them: each provider edge wraps everything the customer sends in an 802.1ad service tag (S-VLAN 100), using an S-VLAN interface bridged to the customer port.

Run this lab

It needs Lite: its 6 nodes are set to 6 vCPU and 3,072 MB in total. That fits the free demo too.

In your workspace: Shared, then MikroTik MTCRE RouterOS v7 guided labs, then 06 - VLANs and QinQ across a provider network

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Level
Advanced
Time
About 55 minutes
Nodes need
6 vCPU, 3,072 MB
Smallest plan
Lite

The scenario

Harper Ltd has two offices and runs its own VLANs: 10 for PCs and 20 for managing its switches. It wants Fernvale to join the two sites "as if with one long cable", keeping its VLAN numbers, which clash with VLANs Fernvale already uses. The answer is QinQ: Fernvale's edge switches PE1 and PE2 put every Harper frame, already tagged by Harper, into Fernvale's service VLAN 100. Harper's switches CE1 and CE2 are already configured.

DevicePortRole
CE1 / CE2ether1Harper uplink, trunk: VLANs 10 and 20 tagged (802.1Q)
CE1 / CE2ether2Harper PC, access VLAN 10
CE1 / CE2vlan20192.168.20.1 / .2 (Harper management)
PE1 / PE2ether2Customer port, bridged with the S-VLAN
PE1 ↔ PE2ether1Provider core: S-VLAN interface s-vlan100 (802.1ad, VLAN 100)
PC-A / PC-Beth0192.168.10.11 / .12

What you’ll practise

  • Explain C-tags (802.1Q), S-tags (802.1ad, EtherType 0x88a8) and why providers use QinQ
  • Create an S-VLAN interface with use-service-tag=yes
  • Bridge a customer port with an S-VLAN to build a transparent layer-2 service
  • Carry two customer VLANs between sites in one service VLAN
  • Read the host table to see where the provider learns customer MAC addresses
  • Compare the S-VLAN interface method with bridge tag stacking on switch chips

The tasks

  1. Read the customer side
  2. Build PE1's QinQ service
  3. Mirror it on PE2
  4. Look at what the provider learns
  5. Know the alternatives (reading)

The Lab Tasks pane has the scenario, these tasks, the checks to run, hints and the full solution.

Topology and devices

The network as it opens in EVE-NG, drawn from the lab’s own canvas, and the image each node runs.

Topology of VLANs and QinQ across a provider network6 nodes, 5 links. Every link is listed as text below the diagram.PE1PE2CE1CE2PC-APC-Bether1ether2ether2ether1ether2eth0ether2eth0ether1ether1
6 nodes, with the interface names each link uses. On a narrow screen, scroll the diagram sideways.
Every link, as text
  • CE1 ether1 to PE1 ether2
  • PE1 ether1 to PE2 ether1
  • PE2 ether2 to CE2 ether1
  • CE1 ether2 to PC-A eth0
  • CE2 ether2 to PC-B eth0
Nodes in VLANs and QinQ across a provider network, with the image each runs and the vCPU and RAM it’s set to
NodeDeviceImage in Add NodeSet to
PE1MikroTik RouterOSmikrotik-7.14.21 vCPU, 256 MB
PE2MikroTik RouterOSmikrotik-7.14.21 vCPU, 256 MB
CE1MikroTik RouterOSmikrotik-7.14.21 vCPU, 256 MB
CE2MikroTik RouterOSmikrotik-7.14.21 vCPU, 256 MB
PC-AVPCS hostBuilt in to EVE-NGCounted as 1 vCPU, 1,024 MB
PC-BVPCS hostBuilt in to EVE-NGCounted as 1 vCPU, 1,024 MB

How to open this lab

  1. Sign in to your workspace at lab.cloudlabbox.com.

  2. In File Manager, open Shared, then the folder MikroTik MTCRE RouterOS v7 guided labs.

  3. Open 06 - VLANs and QinQ across a provider network and start its nodes, then open Lab Tasks for the scenario and the steps.

The lab is read-only. You can start the nodes and configure the devices, but changes to the topology can’t be saved. To change it, rebuild it in your own folder.

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CloudLabBox is independent of MikroTik. The lab follows exam topics and isn’t vendor training material; vendor names identify the exams and the images in the workspace.