Chapter 21. MPLS Introduction

This chapter covers the following topics:

  • MPLS Terminology

  • MPLS Operation

  • MPLS-VPNs

  • MPLS CE Routing

MPLS stands for Multiprotocol Label Switching and is a packet-forwarding technology. Where Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet, use the network IP address to make routing and forwarding decisions, MPLS uses labels. MPLS was designed to give routers greater speed than Asyncronous Transfer Mode (ATM) switches for carrying IP traffic by enabling routers to make forwarding decisions based on labels, avoiding the packet-by-packet look-ups used in conventional routing. With MPLS, the Layer 3 header analysis is done once when the packet enters the MPLS network domain; label inspection determines subsequent packet ...

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