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Overview

Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a hybrid protocol that integrates network layer routing with label switching to provide a layer 3 network with traffic management capability. MPLS provides traffic-engineering capabilities that make effective use of network resources while maintaining high bandwidth and stability. MPLS enables service providers to provide their customers with the best service available given the provider's resources, with or without traffic engineering. MPLS is the foundation for layer 3 and layer 2 VPNs.

The two basic components of MPLS are label distribution and data mapping.

Conventions in This Chapter

Certain terms used with MPLS, such as the names of messages, are often expressed in the RFCs and other sources either with initial uppercase letters or all uppercase letters. For improved readability, those terms are represented in lowercase in this chapter. Table 23 lists the terms and some of their variant spellings.




Table 23: Conventions for MPLS Terms 
In This Chapter
In RFCs and Other Sources

ack

Ack

ACK

bundle

Bundle

hello

Hello

HELLO

initialization

Initialization

INITIALIZATION

keepalive

Keepalive

KEEPALIVE

label mapping

Label Mapping

LABEL_MAPPING

label release

Label Release

LABEL_RELEASE

label request

Label Request

LABEL_REQUEST

label request abort

Label Request Abort

LABEL_REQUEST_ABORT

label withdrawal

Label Withdrawal

LABEL_WITHDRAWAL

message ack

message_Ack

MESSAGE_ACK

message ID

message_ID

MESSAGE_ID

srfresh

Srefresh

path

Path

PATH

patherr

PathErr

PATHERR

pathtear

PathTear

PATHTEAR

resv

Resv

RESV

resvconf

ResvConf

RESVCONF

resverr

ResvErr

RESVERR

resvtear

ResvTear

RESVTEAR

targeted hello

Targeted Hello

TARGETED_HELLO

MPLS Terms and Acronyms

Table 24 defines terms and acronyms that are used in this discussion of MPLS.




Table 24: MPLS Terms and Acronyms 
Term
Definition

Admission control

Accounting mechanism that tracks resource information. Prevents requests from being accepted if sufficient resources are not available.

BGP

Border Gateway Protocol, which provides loop-free interdomain routing between autonomous systems (ASs) and can act as a label distribution protocol for MPLS.

Constraint-based routing

A mechanism to establish paths based on certain criteria (explicit route, QoS parameters). The standard routing protocols can be enhanced to carry additional information to be used when running the route calculation.

E-LSP

EXP-inferred-PSC LSP. The EXP field of the MPLS Shim Header is used to determine the per-hop behavior applied to the packet.

Explicit routing

A subset of constraint-based routing where the constraint is an explicit route

FEC

Forwarding equivalence class—Group of IP packets forwarded over the same path with the same path attributes applied

Label Distribution Protocol

  • A particular label distribution protocol used for label distribution among the routers in an MPLS domain; represented by the acronym LDP
  • In lowercase—label distribution protocol—a generic term for any of several protocols that distribute labels among the routers in an MPLS domain, including BGP, LDP, and RSVP-TE. This usage is not represented in this text by the acronym, LDP.

LDP

Label Distribution Protocol—A particular protocol used for label distribution among the routers in an MPLS domain

This text does not use LDP to refer to the generic class of label distribution protocols.

LER

Label edge router—A label-switching router serving as an ingress or egress nodes

LSP

Label-switched path—The path traversed by a packet that is routed by MPLS. Some LSPs act as tunnels.

LSP priority level

A priority that indicates the importance of one LSP relative to another LSP. LSPs having higher priorities can preempt LSPs having lower priorities. Priorities range from 0 through 7 in order of decreasing priority.

L-LSP

Label-only-inferred-PSC LSP. The label value, and possibly the EXP-bits, are used to determine the per-hop behavior applied to the packet.

LSR

Label-switching router—An MPLS node that can forward layer 3 packets based on their labels

MPLS

Multiprotocol Label Switching—Set of techniques enabling forwarding of traffic using layer 2 and layer 3 information

MPLS edge node

MPLS node that connects an MPLS domain with a node outside the domain that either does not run MPLS or is in a different domain

MPLS egress node

MPLS edge node in the role of handling traffic as it leaves an MPLS domain

MPLS ingress node

MPLS edge node in the role of handling traffic as it enters an MPLS domain

MPLS label

Label carried in a packet header that represents a packet's forwarding equivalence class

MPLS node

A router running MPLS. An MPLS node is aware of MPLS control protocols, operates one or more L3 routing protocols, and is capable of forwarding packets based on labels. Optionally, an MPLS node can be capable of forwarding native L3 packets.

Provider edge router

PE—An LER at the edge of a service provider core that provides ingress to or egress from a VPN

Provider core router

P—An LSR within a service provider core that carries traffic for a VPN

RSVP

Resource Reservation Protocol; E-series routers do not support RSVP

RSVP-TE

Resource Reservation Protocol enhanced to support MPLS traffic engineering; E-series routers support RSVP-TE

Traffic engineering

The ability to control the path taken through a network or portion of a network based on a set of traffic parameters (bandwidth, QoS parameters, and so on). Traffic engineering (TE) enables performance optimization of operational networks and their resources.

Tunnel

LSP that is used by an IGP to reach a destination, or an LSP that uses traffic engineering

Features

The following major features are currently supported by MPLS:


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