GRE Overview
Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) tunneling protocol provides a simple generic approach to transport packets of one protocol over another protocol by means of encapsulation.
GRE encapsulates a payload, that is, an inner packet that needs to be delivered to a destination network inside an outer IP packet. GRE tunnel endpoints send payloads through GRE tunnels by routing encapsulated packets through intervening IP networks. Other IP routers along the way do not parse the payload (the inner packet); they only parse the outer IP packet as they forward it towards the GRE tunnel endpoint. Upon reaching the tunnel endpoint, GRE encapsulation is removed and the payload is forwarded to it’s ultimate destination.
MPLS networks provide VPN functionality by tunneling customer data through public networks using routing labels. Service Providers (SP) provide MPLS L3VPN, 6PE/6VPE and L2VPN services to their customers who have interconnected private networks.
MPLS and L3VPN are supported over regular interfaces on routers. MPLS support is extended over GRE tunnels between routers as the provider core may not be fully MPLS aware.