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What Is MPLS

MPLS speeds up data delivery by assigning labels to packets rather than looking up IP addresses in routing tables at each router. The label identifies the predetermined path and is switched for a new label at each router. This label switching avoids lengthy routing table lookups and reduces processing to keep the network efficient. MPLS can interface with different network types and creates tunnels between entry and exit points to partition the virtual private network securely away from the public internet.

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52 views1 page

What Is MPLS

MPLS speeds up data delivery by assigning labels to packets rather than looking up IP addresses in routing tables at each router. The label identifies the predetermined path and is switched for a new label at each router. This label switching avoids lengthy routing table lookups and reduces processing to keep the network efficient. MPLS can interface with different network types and creates tunnels between entry and exit points to partition the virtual private network securely away from the public internet.

Uploaded by

Jonathan Ryan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What is MPLS?

MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) is a data forwarding techniuque that is used in computer
networks to speed up the time it takes to deliver data packets from source to destination. In a
typical IP (internet Protocol) network, a router will have to check an incoming packet’s IP address
against its routing table. This can be likened to a post office receiving a letter and having to read the
full address (IP address) and check it against an address book (routing table) to know where to
forward the letter (packet) to. IP networks forward packets by checking against the longest match in
their routing table. An IPv4 network uses addresses that are 32 bits in length, the longest match
could consist of, as an example, 16 binary digits (bits). A core router’s routing table may have
thousands of entries so checking against the routing table for the best match may take a very long
time thus slowing down the flow of traffic. This process is repeated at each router on the path to the
destination.

In MPLS paths through the network are predetermined, this works by encapsulating the IP packet in
an MPLS packet which is then given a label as a header. The label is simply a number, the routers
inside the MPLS network are known as label switching routers. Now when the packet arrives at the
MPLS router the router doesn’t look up a routing table for a best match, it is looking for the label
and what upstream router the packet came from. The combination of label and upstream router
determine what happens next to the packet. The router knows that when it sees combination of, for
example label 3 from upstream router 1, it forwards the packet out a certain interface onto the next
router. Before forwarding the packet onto the next router; the label is replaced with a new label
(label switching), say for example 9. Now the combination of label 9 and upstream router 2
determines the path for the next part of the journey and so on. By switching the label in this way
labels can be re-used in the MPLS network which helps to keep them relatively short and so reduces
lookups and processing keeping the network efficient.

“Multi-protocol” means that MPLS can interface with many other types of network (Ethernet, ATM
etc.) Paths in MPLS are referred to as tunnels and an MPLS network can be viewed as a network of
tunnels. Typically, there will be several tunnels between any two entry and exit points and ideally
tunnels should neither be overloaded or underutilised. MPLS is a virtual private network and, as
such, is partitioned off from the public Internet. Therefore, MPLS is not vulnerable to denial of
service attacks, which might impact pure-IP-based networks.

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