MPLS Terminologies:

Label: It is a 32 bit field that is locally significant and is used to represent an FEC of a
packet.

Label numbers ranging from 0 to 15 are reserved labels and can only be used for special
purposes. They cannot be used by an LSR for normal forwarding. Each reserved label
has its own specific function such as Label 3 is the implicit NULL label whereas Label 14
is OAM alert label, and so on and so forth.

MPLS VPN: The creation of VPNs using MPLS backbone that allows for connecting
different customer sites located in different regions across the globe over a service
provider’s network.

CE (Customer Edge): The device placed at the customer end. This can be a router or
any CPE that is used to communicate with the Provider network.

PE (Provider Edge): The device at the Provider side where customers are terminated.
The PE routers do MPLS label switching as well as IP lookups.

P (Provider) Routers: These are located in the provider core and act as MPLS
backbone routers. It is important to note that these routers only forward traffic based on
MPLS labels.

LSR (Label Switched Router): This is the router that does traffic forwarding based on
MPLS labels. It is also called a transit router.

An LSR can be an ingress LSR or an egress LSR. Ingress and Egress LSRs are known
as LERs (Label Edge Routers) as they are responsible for imposition and removal of
MPLS labels.

LSP (Label Switched Path): It is the path along which the traffic flows across an MPLS
network.

VRF (Virtual Router and Forwarding): These are virtual routing tables created per
customer site. VRFs are created on PE routers for different VPNs and routing information
between VRFs cannot be exchanged by default.

Note that VRF is a Cisco term. Huawei calls VRF “VPN Instance” whereas Juniper calls
VRF “Routing Instance.”

FEC (Forwarding Equivalance Class): It is a group of IP packets which is treated in the

same way over the same path.

An FEC can be an IP subnet or any traffic that is to be dealt in the same manner with
respect to certain QoS parameters.

CEF (Cisco Express Forwarding): CEF is advanced layer 3 IP switching technology

that acts as a pre-requisite to MPLS. It basically enables hardware switching (in an ASIC)
and optimises network performance.
CEF is Cisco proprietary and other vendors such as Huawei or Juniper have their own
fast-forwarding techniques.

LDP (Label Distribution Protocol): It is a protocol used for exchanging label mapping
information between MPLS enabled routers. Routers which form an LDP session are
called LDP peers.