Introduction to MPLS. MPLS is a packet forwarding technology after adding a label to a packet.

It was created based on a technology called Tag switching which is created by Cisco. MPLS can connect ATM world and IP world together. MPLS uses 32 bits label field that is inserted between layer 2 and layer 3 headers and MPLS over ATM uses the ATM header as the label. MPLS allows multiple labels to be inserted in one packet. In cisco Tag switching label is called Tag. Now lets learn more about MPLS structure.

First 20 bits are used for the label. Exp is a 3 bits field which means experimental field. And that is used define a class of service COS or else IP precedence. 23rd bit is a 1 bit field which is called stack bit. As MPLS allows multiple labels to be added, this bit shows if it is the last label of the stack. Last 8 bits are TTL field. It accomplishes the same task as the TTL field in the IP header. TTL or time to live tells about the time a packet has before it is dropped. TTL is a 255 for a packet and it reduces by 1 at each hop it passes. When TTL number is 0 it is dropped. First 20 bit is called the real label. Labels can be numbered. There are (2 ^ 20 )-1 numbers as there are 20 bits. First 15 numbers are reserved for special tasks. Ex: label 1 is router alert label. So they cant be used for normal tasks. From 16 th number to 1048575 th number we can use for normal packet forwarding tasks. Label stack is situated in between layer 2 header and layer 3 payload. We can tell it is squeezed between IP address and MAC address. But in every frame-mode encapsulation it is situated in same place.

Mpls architecture consists of two components called MPLS control and MPLS forwarding. Control is also called as control plane. Now lets discuss more about this control plane. In control plane a label is bind to network protocol and distributes it to other MPLS enabled routes. Forward is called as forwarding plane or data plane. The information which is created and maintained in control plane is used in this component. LIB is created in control plane. Label Information Base is used to map incoming labels to outbound labels along outbound interface and link information. LFIB is a

subset of LIB. FIB Forwarding Information Base is used in forwarding plane and forwarding plane is made up of FIB. There is another component called TFIB tag , they are virtually identical. Its built by CEF Cisco Express Forwarding. We should understand that this label is glued to a routing protocol. We can extend packet and adjust interior gateway protocols to exchange labels after adding a label (ex can use in eigrp)or we can develop another specific protocol for this tasks. TDP and LDP are this kind of developed protocols to carry labels. They work independently but also it works with IGP s without changing it. But BGP can carry labels without any support as its multiprotocol, which means about MP-BGP. Using MP-BGP can carry labels for interior routes. If we want to adjust IGP s (like OSPF , EIGRP, IS-IS, RIP) for carrying labels we should do it for all IGPs. Normally all vendors use this specially created protocols for label forwarding. The protocols which can be used for label distribution are Check more on above chapter.

TDP, LDP and RSVP Resource Reservation Portocol which is only used for MPLS TE. Before go further in to discussion lets recognize some terms used in MPLS world. First lets talk about some networking devices used in a MPLS implemented network. CE-Customer Edge This is a router which connects both to the customer network and the service provider network. PE provider edge Connects to a provider router in provider network and connects to a customer used in service provider. P-Provider device This is used inside service provider network and doesnt connect to customers.

LSR- Label Switch Router supports and understands MPLS. Its capable of sending and receiving MPLS labels on a data link. CEs are not LSR. It can also handle unlabeled packtes. We can identify three types of LSR routers in a MPLS network. They are Ingress LSR, Egress LSR, and Intermediate LSRs. Its Ingress LSR which apply a label stack for a received unlabeled packet. It then send the packet to an intermediate LSR. Intermediate LSR receives labeled packets and perform a task on it and send the correct packet on correct path. Then the packet comes to an Egress LSR where the label is removed and sends them to data link. Egress and Ingress LSRs are Edge LSRs. Egde routers are PE routers.

Label Switch Path The path a labeled packet go through in a network. The Label Switch Path is showed using an arrow in above picture. LSR can do operations like POP, PUSH and SWAP. Now lets discuss more on this newly developed protocol for carrying labels. As we already know there are two protocols called TDP (Tag Distribution Protocol) and LDP (Label Distribution Protocol). LDP- Label Distribution Protocol. LDP carries label binding for FEC except BGP. FEC means Forwarding Equivalence Class. Its a grouping of IP packets. The packets of one groups is treated same. FEC s can be grouped according to different criteria like layer 3 destination IP address, whether multicast or not, based on DSCP field, BGP next-hop address. Although they are treated same Exp field can be different from each other. At ingress LSR a router decide to which FEC , a packet belong. Each label belongs to separate LSP. The label stack is changed at each hop. Its called swapping. In swapping what happens is at each hop incoming label get removed and a new outgoing label get attached. This labeling happens according to the destination IP address at ingress LSR, when swapping adjacent LSR must know each other and they must agree to decide which outgoing label should be attached. So there should be a technology to tell a label which label should be attached when its forwarded, for that we use LDP.