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What is MPLS exactly?
- Thread starter acuratsx
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kwing112000
Vendor
It is like a frame relay connection that has different levels of data. you can tag packets into different groups for priority. They use different COS values for different data. THat is my understanding of it. I am sure there is a lot more to it but that is some of the basics.
Kwing is correct.
It offers the fully meshed capability of frame, but it fully IP. It also offers carriers a way to handle traffic engineering and therefore offer the high Service Level Agreements required for audio and video over a WAN.
While there are theoretically other ways Telco's could offer SLAs that assure good QoS in reality MPLS is the primary tool being used.
It offers the fully meshed capability of frame, but it fully IP. It also offers carriers a way to handle traffic engineering and therefore offer the high Service Level Agreements required for audio and video over a WAN.
While there are theoretically other ways Telco's could offer SLAs that assure good QoS in reality MPLS is the primary tool being used.
I think your getting some bad info here. MPLS of course stands for multiprotocol label switching. Think of MPLS as an underlying way to efficiently switch labels back and forth amongst routers.
From an IP perspective routers switch IP packets back and forth to pass data. MPLS routers switch labels back and forth to pass data. IP packets (and other protocols for that matter) can be encpsulated inside MPLS labels for a more efficent means of communication.
Now service providers are deploying, and have been for years, MPLS networks which can do things like provide:
virtual private networks (VPNs)
quality of service (QoS)
any transport of MPLS (ATOM) - frame relay, ethernet, etc.
traffic engineering (intelligent routing decisions inside MPLS cloud
etc.
What most people out there see MPLS is for VPNs provided by the telco. MPLS can be a means of supplying VPN capabilities just like frame-relay does. One provider segmenting customer traffic over a common network. Frame relay did this as well. However, you can run MPLS all day long without providing VPN features. Providers have moved to MPLS becuase of it's robust nature, ability to offer services like I mentioned above, and because it is cheaper and more efficient for them.
Hope my answer helped a little bit. If you really want to grasp it though, I would do more research.
From an IP perspective routers switch IP packets back and forth to pass data. MPLS routers switch labels back and forth to pass data. IP packets (and other protocols for that matter) can be encpsulated inside MPLS labels for a more efficent means of communication.
Now service providers are deploying, and have been for years, MPLS networks which can do things like provide:
virtual private networks (VPNs)
quality of service (QoS)
any transport of MPLS (ATOM) - frame relay, ethernet, etc.
traffic engineering (intelligent routing decisions inside MPLS cloud
etc.
What most people out there see MPLS is for VPNs provided by the telco. MPLS can be a means of supplying VPN capabilities just like frame-relay does. One provider segmenting customer traffic over a common network. Frame relay did this as well. However, you can run MPLS all day long without providing VPN features. Providers have moved to MPLS becuase of it's robust nature, ability to offer services like I mentioned above, and because it is cheaper and more efficient for them.
Hope my answer helped a little bit. If you really want to grasp it though, I would do more research.
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