The following 5 part series provides detailed instructions on how to set up a pseudowire over multiple ATM links to carry Ethernet traffic.

Disclaimer

Now I do not claim to be a CCIE, in fact I do not even have any Cisco certs. The following configuration has been tested to provide end-to-end layer 2 connectivity. I am aware that there may be other ways of setting this up. If you know of other better methods feel free to comment on this post.

Background info

I recently started a new job and made the mistake of including Cisco experience on my resume. Having never even finished my CCNA I am not what I would consider a Cisco expert but I am always up for a challenge. Well my first project at my new job was to set up 2 Cisco 7200 VXR routers and 2 Cisco 1010 lightStream Switches over ATM. Furthermore, this ATM link needs to be able to route IP traffic and there needs to a pseudowire that connects end-to-end and simulates an Ethernet LAN. So thats the plan. I spent the next day or two doing research and experimenting with router configs until I got something that works.

Here is basically how the devices are set up, each connected via ATM over multimode fiber.

Cisco 7200A => Cisco 1010A => Cisco 1010B => Cisco 7200B

This project will be broken down into 5 parts

1. CCIE Project Part 1- Configure the ATM Switched Virtual Circuit (SVC)

2. Cisco CCIE Project Part 2 – Configure OSPF over ATM

3. Cisco CCIE Project Part 3 – Configure MPLS Forwarding

4. Cisco CCIE Project Part 3 – Configure EoMPLS Pseudowire

5. Configure CE (Customer Edge) Devices

Glossary

ATM – Asyncronous Transfer Mode

OSPF – Open Shortest Path First

EoMPLS – Ethernet over MPLS