Fault management and diagnosis is a challenge in MPLS networks due to the separation of the control plane and data plane. Several tools are available in Cisco IOS to detect control and data plane failures. This toolset has been expanded to include data plane liveliness check for LDP, TE tunnels and pseudo wires LSPs.

This presentation discusses IOS-embedded tools that help troubleshoot the control and data plane in MPLS networks. We review capabilities such as VRF-aware ping and traceroute, in addition to LSP ping, LSP trace, and VCCV for fault management and diagnosis of network elements.

About the Presenters
Mukhtiar Shaikh joined Cisco in October of 1996. Initially, he was a member of the ISP Expert Team providing technical support to Cisco's large ISP accounts. Now, he is part of the Central Engineering team within the Advanced Services Organization. His main areas of focus are IP routing protocols and MPLS technologies. In his current role, he provides design, consulting and escalation assistance to the Advanced Services accounts deploying MPLS networks. During the last couple of years, he has led various MPLS (L3/L2 VPN and TE) related projects and has been involved in the design and deployment of MPLS in enterprise as well as SP networks. Mukhtiar holds an M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Colorado State University.

Moiz Moizuddin joined Cisco Systems in August of 1999. Initially, he worked at the Technical Assistance Center - TAC. where his focus was routing protocols and MPLS. Later on, he moved to Advanced Services, where he worked on various SP accounts. Currently he is working as a Technical Marketing Engineer with primary focus on MPLS and related technologies. Moiz has extensive experience in designing SP and enterprise networks and has presented at various forums. He holds an M.S. in Electrical Engineering with specialization in Telecommunication from California State University Long Beach, and also has a CCIE in Routing/Switching.