Introduction to MPLS

(Multi Protocol Label Switching)

Presented by Philip Mead

The MPLS Standard

• An effort to standardize the different packet switching technologies; CSR

(Toshiba), IP Switching (Ipsilon, now Nokia), Tag Switching (Cisco), ARIS
(IBM), and other approaches made by Nortel, Lucent, Juniper, Ascend (now
Lucent), Bay Networks (now Nortel) and others

• Accepted by the IETF as a working group in early 1997

• In early 2001 the first MPLS RFC (RFC 3031) was released
MPLS Fundamentals
 Multiprotocol Label Switching

• The architecture for Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is described in RFC

3031
• MPLS is a packet forwarding technology that uses labels to make packet
forwarding decisions
− The packets are identified by a label inserted into each packet
• Multiprotocol because it will work with IP, ATM or Frame Relay (and others)
• MPLS is independent of the IP routing protocol used
− The underlying routed infrastructure may be provided by any IGP
 Multiprotocol Label Switching

• Provides the capability to establish connection oriented paths over a

connectionless IP network
• This path is called a Label Switched Path (LSP)
• This path will be followed by a selected sequence of packets
• The LSP provides a mechanism to engineer network traffic
independently from the IP routing protocol
 FEC - Forwarding Equivalence Class – Traditional IP Routing

• An IP router considers two packets to be in the same FEC if an IP prefix in the

routing table is the "longest match" for each packet's destination address
• As the packet traverses the network, each hop in turn re-examines the packet
header and assigns it to a FEC
• In conventional IP routing, a packet is assigned to a FEC at each hop when
performing a Layer 3 lookup
 Traditional IP Network Operation
IP Header

Layer 2 Other Source IP Destination IP

TOS TTL IP Data
Header fields 10.1.1.1 10.2.1.1

10.1.1.0/24
10.2.1.0/24
RTR-2 RTR-3

Port 1
RTR-A RTR-1 RTR-4 RTR-A
3 Po
rt rt 2
Port 2 Po Port 2
Port 2 Port 3
Port 3 Port 1 Port 1 Port 3

RTR-5

IGP 10.2.2.0/24
10.1.2.0/24

RTR-A FIB Prefix via RTR-2 FIB Prefix via RTR-4 FIB Prefix via

10.1.1.0/24 Port 3 10.1.0.0/16 Port 3 10.1.0.0/16 Port 2

10.1.2.0/24 Port 2 10.2.0.0/16 Port 1 10.2.1.0/24 Port 1

10.2.0.0/16 Port 1 10.2.2.0/16 Port 1

 Benefits and Caveats of IP Networks
Benefits and Caveats of IP Networks
• Due to IP’s connectionless nature, packets are transported on a hop-by-hop
basis with routing decisions made at every node
• Hyper aggregation of data on certain links is the typical result
• This may impact the providers ability to provide guaranteed service levels
across the network end to end

IP Benefits IP Caveats
Scalability Hyper Aggregation
Overall network resiliency End to end service limitations
Simple addressing scheme Address-based forwarding is limiting
Forwarding Equivalence Class (FEC) - MPLS

• In MPLS, packets are assigned to a FEC at the network ingress

− FEC packets are transported by the LSP which has a label to identify it
− Label switching is used to route the labeled packet

RTR-2 RTR-3

RTR-1 Label Switched

Port 1 Path RTR-4
Po
r t3 rt 2
Po
Label
PortSwitched
2 Path
Port 3

RTR-5
Packet Forwarding in an MPLS Domain

RTR-2 RTR-3

Port 1
RTR-1 Label Switched Path RTR-4

MPLS Network

RTR-5

IGP

• IP routing must exist in the domain independent of MPLS

• MPLS label distribution is required for establishing the MPLS LSPs
• Packets in a FEC travel via the LSP from RTR-1to RTR-4
• LSPs are always unidirectional
 Traffic Flow

RTR-2 RTR-3

RTR-1 Label Switched

Port 1 Path RTR-4
Po
r t3 rt 2
Po
Label
PortSwitched
2 Path
Port 3

RTR-5

IP Forwarding MPLS Label Switching IP Forwarding

• Traffic flows will occur bidirectionally across the MPLS domain

• A router may be the ingress to the MPLS domain for some flows and the egress
for other flows
 Benefits of Label Swapping

• Forwarding decision is now made independently of the destination

address
• The choice of FEC can be based on the contents of the IP packet
header or administrative policy
• Allows customized LSPs
− Customized LSPs may be created based on hop count,
• Bandwidth requirements or routed via specific network links or nodes
• High level of control over the flow of traffic
− Ability to map any type of user traffic to a specifically designed LSP
 MPLS Benefits in Comparison to Traditional IP Routing

• FEC assignment is performed once at network ingress instead of at each hop

• Information not contained in packet headers can be used for FEC determination
− Packets arriving on different ports may be assigned to different FECs
− Same packet that enters a network via two different LSRs or LSR ports can be
forwarded via two different paths
• MPLS offers improved network resiliency and recovery options compared to
traditional IP networks
• MPLS is able to traffic engineer packets to follow certain paths
• Allows for manual or dynamic path assignment across the MPLS domain
MPLS Technology Drivers

• There exists a high demand for IP services including

− VPLS
− VLL
− Layer 3 VPRNs (Virtual Private Routed Networks)
− Provider Managed Services
− Internet
− Outsourced Firewall
− Voice Over IP (VoIP)
− Network Management

• Customer demands for reliable and differentiated services

− Traffic Engineering is required
MPLS Technology Benefits

• Reduces cost by using existing and common IP and Ethernet technologies

• Offers enhanced routing capabilities by supporting more than just destination
based forwarding
• Standards based technology that promotes multi-vendor interoperability
• Flexibility to evolve control functionality without changing the forwarding
mechanism
 MPLS Technology Benefits (Cont’d)

• Permits delivery of new services that are not readily supported by conventional
IP routing techniques
− Traffic Engineering
− ToS and CoS based forwarding
− Layer 2 and Layer 3 Virtual Private Networks (VPN)
• Runs over almost any Data Link layer technology
• Supports the forwarding of both unicast and multicast traffic flows
• Minimizes the IP lookup, forwarding, and classification process over traditional
IP networks
The MPLS Label

A Label is a simple relatively short fixed-length identifier used as an

index for forwarding the packets across an MPLS domain
Assigned manually or by a signaling protocol at each LSR during
path setup
Labels change at each segment in the path. They have local
significance as in the case of ATM VPI/VCI assignments
A LSR swaps the incoming label with new outgoing label
 MPLS Frame Format

MPLS Label Stack

Layer 2 Header
L2 n …. 1 Payload
Payload
(eg. PPP, 802.3, (Ethernet, ATM,
ATM, Frame Relay) SCADA RS232,
Frame-Relay)

4 Bytes

Label Exp S TTL

Label: Label Value, 20 bits (0-16 reserved)

Exp.: Experimental, 3 bits (QoS mapping from the TOS/COS bits)
S: Bottom of Stack, 1 bit (Flag to indicate bottom of MPLS stack)
TTL: Time to Live, 8 bits (Packet lifetime in MPLS hops)
 Label Distribution

• Label switched paths are created by distributing labels for them

• Egress (or downstream) router provides labels for its destinations
• Different label distribution protocols are used for different applications
− LDP (Label Distribution Protocol) is used for basic MPLS forwarding and for
the transport of VPN services
− RSVP-TE (Resource Reservation Protocol – Traffic Engineering) is used for
services that require traffic engineering
− Targeted LDP is used for end-to-end signalling of Layer 2 services
− MP-BGP (Multiprotocol Border Gateway Protocol) is used for end-to end
signalling of Layer 3 services
• Once labels have been distributed the path can be used for the transport of data
 MPLS
Application
Application of MPLS

IGP shortcuts
− Reduces requirement for full iBGP mesh
Traffic engineering
− More efficient use of network resources
− Provide service guarantees and resource reservations
− Enable other constraints on traffic flow
High availability and redundancy
− Set up alternate paths to provide high availability services
− Enable fast reroute to adapt quickly to topology changes
Virtual Private Network services (VPNs)
− Provide virtual point-to-point links
− Emulate private Layer 2 and Layer 3 networks
− Support any other tunnelling requirements
 IGP Shortcut

BGP RR

IP/MPLS

PE PE

PE PE

BGP traffic is tunneled through the core, removing the need for the routers
inside the IP/MPLS core to maintain BGP routing information.
 Traffic Engineering
Hyper aggregation leads to some links being congested while others are
underutilised

Primary
Link

Alternate
Link

IGP Best Path

Traffic Engineered Path

• Traffic engineered LSPs can shift traffic to other paths

 MPLS High Availability
IP routing protocols provide high availability, but can be slow to re-converge after a
topology change

Primary
Link

Alternate
Link

Primary Path

Secondary Path

Alternate paths can be established in advance

 MPLS VPN Services

Customer A Customer B

VPRN

VPRN
Customer B Customer B

VPRN VPRN
VPRN VPRN

Customer A
Customer A

Customer traffic is identified at the ingress to the network and transported

separately across the network
MPLS Terminology
 MPLS Terminology

• Provider Edge Routers (PE)

These devices have at least one interface outside the provider domain facing the customer
• Provider Core Routers (P)
These devices have all interfaces internal to the provider domain
• Customer Edge Routers (CE)
These devices do not participate in the MPLS domain

P P
CE

PE
CE

CE PE

P
 MPLS Terminology – iLER, eLER and LSR
• The router at the beginning of an LSP is called the ingress Label Edge Router
(iLER)
• The router at the end of an LSP is called the egress Label Edge Router (eLER)
• The router(s) at the intermediate points along the LSP between the iLER and
eLER is called the Label Switching Router (LSR)

LSR LSR

Label Switched Path

iLER iLER
 MPLS Terminology - Label Switch Path (LSP)
• A Label Switched Path (LSP) is the unidirectional logical path across an MPLS
domain based on a specific FEC
• It is similar to a PVC (or SVC) in an ATM network
• An LSP is often referred to as a Transport Tunnel
• Ingress and egress are relative to the packet flow
• Provides the capability to establish connection oriented paths over a
connectionless IP network

LSR LSR

Label Switched Path

iLER iLER
MPLS – Packet Forwarding

Push, Swap, Pop

 Packet Forwarding via the Label Switched Path (LSP)

10.1.1.0/24
RTR-2 RTR-3 10.2.1.0/24
RTR-A

RTR-1 RTR-4
Label Switched Path RTR-C

RTR-B

RTR-5

RTR-A FEC Next hop

10.2.1.0/24 RTR-1

• Outside the MPLS domain unlabeled packet is forwarded using

conventional IP forwarding methods
 Packet Forwarding via the Label Switched Path (LSP)

10.1.1.0/24
RTR-2 RTR-3 10.2.1.0/24
RTR-A

RTR-1 RTR-4
Label Switched Path RTR-C

RTR-B

RTR-5

RTR-1 FEC Out Next hop

Label

10.2.1.0/24 100 RTR-2

PUSH
• The iLER assigns the incoming packet to a FEC, which was a corresponding
LSP identified by a label
 Packet Forwarding via the Label Switched Path (LSP)

10.1.1.0/24
RTR-2 RTR-3 10.2.1.0/24
RTR-A

RTR-1 RTR-4
Label Switched Path RTR-C

RTR-B

RTR-5

RTR-2 In Label Out Next hop RTR-3 In Label Out Next hop
Label Label

100 300 RTR-3 300 200 RTR-4

SWAP SWAP
• LSRs use label switching only to forward a the packet
 Packet Forwarding via the Label Switched Path (LSP)

10.1.1.0/24
RTR-2 RTR-3 10.2.1.0/24
RTR-A

RTR-1 RTR-4
Label Switched Path RTR-C

RTR-B

RTR-5

RTR-4 In Label Next hop

200 RTR-C

POP
• The eLER removes the label and forwards the packet based on traditional
IP forwarding
 Packet Forwarding via the Label Switched Path (LSP)

10.1.1.0/24
RTR-2 RTR-3 10.2.1.0/24
RTR-A

RTR-1 RTR-4
Label Switched Path RTR-C

RTR-B

RTR-5

RTR-C Prefix Next hop

10.2.1.0/24 Direct

IP Forward
• Rtr C performs convention IP forwarding of the unlabeled packet
 Router Control Plane and Data Plane

• Nokia 7750 is functionally and physically separated into a control plane and data,
or forwarding plane
• Control plane
− Exchanges routing information with other routers using standard routing
protocols
− Information is stored in the routing table or RIB
− Communicates label binding information with other LSRs using label exchange
protocols
− Information is stored in a label database or LIB

• Data plane
− Forwarding information base (FIB) is populated from the RIB
− Used for forwarding unlabeled packets
− Label forwarding information base (LFIB) is populated from LIB
− Used for forwarding labelled packets
Control Plane vs. Data Plane – IP Router

• IP Router forwards only unlabeled packets

Routing
Exchange Route
RIB Table

Control Plane

Data Plane

Unlabelled IP Packet FIB Unlabelled IP Packet

Control Plane vs. Data Plane – LER

• A packet may arrive at the LER labelled or unlabeled and may leave the
router labelled or unlabeled

Routing
Exchange Route
RIB Table
Label Binding
Exchange
LIB Control Plane

Data Plane
LFIB labelled IP Packet

Unlabelled IP Packet FIB

Control Plane vs. Data Plane – LER

• A packet may arrive at the LER labelled or unlabeled and may leave the
router labelled or unlabeled

Routing
Exchange Route
RIB Table
Label Binding
Exchange
LIB Control Plane

Data Plane
labelled IP Packet LFIB

FIB Unlabelled IP Packet

Control Plane vs. Data Plane – LSR

• An LSR only switches unlabelled packets.

• Still needs to participate in IGP routing domain

Routing
Exchange Route
RIB Table
Label Binding
Exchange
LIB Control Plane

Data Plane
labelled IP Packet LFIB labelled IP Packet

FIB
Label Distribution
 Label Signaling and Distribution

• The MPLS architecture does not assume a single label distribution protocol
• Options are available for implementing label signaling and exchange in an MPLS
enabled network
• MPLS signaling protocols include the following
− Manual - Static
− Dynamic via LDP (Label Distribution Protocol)
− Dynamic via RVSP-TE (Resource Reservation Protocol for Traffic Engineering)
 LSP Types - Static

• Static LSPs are established by manually defining fixed paths across the MPLS
domain
− All transit routers must be configured manually with labels and label actions
− An LSP must be established in both directions
− Dynamic signaling protocols are not required
 LSP Types - Signaled

• The Transport Tunnels, or LSPs, are dynamically established using a

dynamic label signaling protocol
− LDP
− RSVP-TE

• Within each signaling protocol there are multiple dynamic options

• MPLS network IGP routing is a prerequisite for dynamic label signaling

exchange
 Signaled (Dynamic) Label Exchange

• LSPs are established dynamically using a label distribution protocol

LSR 1 Prefix Ingress Egress Egress Next hop

LFIB Label Label Interface

10.2.1.0/24 123 456 1/1/4 LER 2

LSR 1
1/1/3
1/1/5
1/1/4 LER 2
1/1/2 1/1/1
10.2.1.0/24
LER 1
1/1/4
1/1/2
1/1/1
1/1/3 LSR 2 LER 2 Prefix Ingress Egress Egress Next hop
LFIB Label Label Interface

10.2.1.0/24 456 - 1/1/1 External

LER 1 Prefix Ingress Egress Egress Next hop
LFIB Label Label Interface

10.2.1.0/24 - 123 1/1/2 LSR 1

Dynamic Label Exchange

 Label Distribution – LDP Snapshot
10.1.1.0/24
10.2.1.0/24
LSR-1 LSR-2

RTR-A iLER eLER RTR-B

LSR-3

10.2.2.0/24
10.1.2.0/24

eLER Prefix Cost Peer eLER FEC Label eLER FEC Label

10.2.1.0/24 20 RTR-B 10.2.1.0/24 200 10.2.2.0/24 300

• Egress router floods the IGP area with a Link State Advertisement of its
known networks
• Sends Label Mapping messages with labels to reach them
 Label Distribution – RSVP-TE Snapshot
10.1.1.0/24
10.2.1.0/24
LSR-1 LSR-2

RTR-A iLER eLER RTR-B

LSR-3

10.2.2.0/24
10.1.2.0/24

iLER FEC Resource Path eLER Label Path

10.2.1.0/24 10 Mbps LSR-1, LSR-3, 300 LSR-1, LSR-3,

LSR-2, eLER LSR-2, eLER

• Ingress router requests a label for a specific path

• Egress router replies with label mapping
 Dynamic Label Signaling Protocol Options

• Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) - RFC 3036

− Signaled LSPs via the IGP

• RSVP-TE - Extensions to RSVP for LSP Tunnels - RFC 3209

− Signaled LSPs via the IGP
− Signaled LSPs via CSPF
− Explicit Path LSPs
Dynamic Label Signaling Protocol Comparison

Feature LDP RSVP-TE

Standards Based Yes Yes
Dependency on IGP Yes Yes
Traffic Engineering Support No Yes
Signalled LSPs via the IGP Yes Yes
Signalled LSPs via the CSPF No Yes
Explicit Path LSPs No Yes
Administrative Control Medium High
Network Resiliency Depends on IGP Fast Reroute
convergence mechanisms
Configuration Complexity Low Medium
MPLS Services

Pseudowire, VPLS, VPRN

 MPLS Label Stack

Payload
Layer 2 Transport
Service Label (Ethernet, ATM, SCADA
Header Label
RS232, Frame-Relay)

Outer label the MPLS tunnel label

• Used to switch the frame across the MPLS backbone

Inner label the Service label

• Used by the eLER to determine the egress interface or service
 Transport (Outer Label)

Payload
Layer 2 Transport
Service Label (Ethernet, ATM, SCADA
Header Label
RS232, Frame-Relay)

Tunnel labels are advertised by RSVP-TE | LDP and are used to switch
the frame across the backbone

• PUSH label at iLER

• SWAP at each LSR in the transit LSP, hop by hop
• POP label at eLER

LSR LSR

Transport tunnel from

iLER to eLER

iLER eLER
 Service (Inner Label)

Payload
Layer 2 Transport
Service Label (Ethernet, ATM, SCADA
Header Label
RS232, Frame-Relay)

Service labels are advertised by T-LDP | BGP and are used to identify
to which service or customer a packet belongs. Create a per service
tunnel that isolates traffic from other services.

• PUSH label at iLER

• POP label at eLER

LSR LSR

iLER eLER
MPLS service types

Virtual Private Wire Layer 2 VPN Layer 3 VPN

Service
Point-to-point Point-to-multipoint Point-to-multipoint

Transparent transport of Transparent transport Transport unicast IP

Ethernet, TDM, serial, ATM of any data and multicast
traffic over a packet shared applications
infrastructure application

epipe = ethernet VPWS VPLS = Virtual VPRN = Virtual Private

cpipe = serial or TDM Private LAN Service Routed Network
apipe = ATM VLL
fpipe = Frame Relay VLL
hpipe = HDLC VLL

Network appears as a L2 Network appears as a Network appears as a

circuit to CE L2 switch to CE L3 router to CE
 Virtual Private Wire Service (VPWS)

Epipe – Transparent Ethernet transport

Cpipe – aka CES Circuit emulation services
• SAToP Structure Agnostic Transport over Packet unchannelised
TDM transport
• CESoPSN CES over Packet Switched Network

LSR LSR

epipe
LSP
cpipe

CE iLER eLER CE
 VPLS (L2VPN) over MPLS

A class of VPN that allows the connection of multiple sites in a single bridged
domain over a managed MPLS network

Bridging capable PE routers

Connected with a full mesh of MPLS LSP tunnels
PE
MAC learning
Over tunnel & access ports B
Separate FIB per VPLS

PE
A PE
Unknown/broadcast
Traffic replicated in a service domain B
Per-Service VC labels
A
Negotiated using draft-Martini B
PE
RFC 4762

LSP
 VRPN (L3VPN) OVER MPLS

• Each PE router maintains a separate logical routing table for each VPRN:
VPN Routing and Forwarding Instance (VRF)
• No communication is possible between IPVPN (unless specified),
strict traffic | service isolation
• Uses MP-BGP for label signalling (RFC 4356)

VRF A VRF A
CE CE

PE PE

CE CE
VRF B VRF B
 VRPN (L3VPN) – VPN-IPV4 Address Family

• The VPN-IPV4 Address Family contains an identifier called route

distinguisher (RD) which is to ensure IP address are globally unique
• The RD is appended to the IPv4 prefix to form the 12 byte VPN-IPv4 prefix
• VPN-IPv4 allows you to carry duplicate prefixes for separate customers

IPv4
Route Distinguisher + Prefix = VPN-IPv4 Prefix

8 bytes 4 bytes 12 bytes

 Multiprotocol BGP (MP-BGP)

• MP-BGP extensions allow VPN-IPv4 (and VPN-IPv6) prefixes to distribute

VPRN routing information across the MPLS network

• The VPN-IPv4 address family is only used in the MPLS core when
exchanging updates

10.1.1.0/24 10.1.2.0/24

CE CE

PE PE

VRF A VRF A
MP-BGP
VRF B
PE PE
VRF B

CE CE

IPv4 IPv4
VPN-IPv4 Prefix
10.1.1.0/24 Prefix Prefix 10.1.2.0/24
eg: VRF B 10.1.1.0/24 65001:100:10.1.1.0/24 10.1.1.0/24
 Route Target (RT)

• Route Target is a BGP extended community used to advertise the VPRN

membership to the receiving PE

• Identifier to identify which VRF in import routes

MP-BGP Update

VPN-IPv4 Prefix
Other
Attributes
RT n …. RT 2 RT 1

MP-BGP Attributes
 Multiprotocol BGP (MP-BGP)

10.1.1.0/24 10.1.2.0/24

CE CE

PE PE

VRF A VRF A
MP-BGP
VRF B
PE PE
VRF B

CE CE

IPv4 IPv4
VPN-IPv4 Prefix RT
10.1.1.0/24 Prefix Prefix 10.1.2.0/24
eg: VRF B 10.1.1.0/24 65001:100:10.1.1.0/24 64496:20 10.1.1.0/24
 VPRN Label signalling

• Service MPLS Label are advertised in the MP-BGP NLRI

• This will be pushed and popped by the PE routers

MP-BGP Update

Other VPN
VPN-IPv4 Prefix RT
Attributes LABEL
 Nokia SROS terminology - Service definition

• A service is a unique entity that refers to the type of connectivity for either
Internet (Layer 3) or VPN (Layer 2 or Layer 3) connectivity

• A Service is considered to be any of the following:

• VPWS, including, epipe, cpipe, fpipe, apipe

• VPLS
• VPRN
• IES Subscriber
• Mirroring Customer
SAP
1/2/3
SDP
VC-ID Transport Tunnel Service Tunnel
Service
 Nokia SROS terminology - Service Access Point (SAP)

• A SAP is the subscribers point of interface to the service network

• A SAP is specified as a physical port and an encapsulation identifier
• To be used as a SAP, a port must be configured as an access port
• Examples: 1/2/3, 1/2/3:30, 1/2/3:*, 1/2/3:30.20, 1/2/3:30.*, lag-1:30, 1/1/1:0/32

Subscriber

Customer
SAP
1/2/3
SDP
VC-ID Transport Tunnel Service Tunnel
Service
 Nokia SROS terminology - Service Distribution Point (SDP)

• A SDP is a logical entity used to direct traffic from one router to another
through a unidirectional service tunnel
• SDPs are locally unique
• Many services can be mapped to the same SDP

Subscriber

Customer
SAP SDP 3
VC-ID Service Tunnel
1/2/3 80 Transport Tunnel
VC-ID Service Tunnel
Service 20
 Distributed VPWS Service

Subscriber A Subscriber A
Site 1 Site 2
Customer Customer
SAP 1 1 SAP
1/2/3 4/1/2
SDP 3 Demux
Service VC-ID
100
100 SDP 7
VC-ID Service
Demux 100 100

Logical View
Subscriber A Subscriber A
Site 1 Site 2
 VPLS Service

Subscriber A Subscriber A
Site 1 Site 2
Customer Customer
SAP 1 1 SAP
1/2/4 4/1/2
SDP 3 Demux
Service VC-ID
150
150 SDP 7
SAP VC-ID Service
1/2/5 Demux 150 150

Subscriber A
Site 3

Logical View
Subscriber A Subscriber A
Site 1 Site 2

Subscriber A
Site 3
 VPRN Service

Subscriber A Subscriber A
Site 1 Site 2
Customer Customer
SAP 1 1 SAP
1/2/3 4/1/2
Service MP-BGP Service
200 200
SAP
1/2/5

Subscriber A
Site 3

Logical View
Subscriber A Subscriber A
Site 1 Site 2

Subscriber A
Site 3
 Life of a Packet – VPWS example

HTTP HTTP

TCP TCP HTTP

IP IP TCP

HTTP Layer 2 Layer 2 IP HTTP

TCP MPLS100
Service MPLS100
Service Layer 2 TCP

IP MPLS Transport
10 MPLS Transport
58 MPLS100
Service IP

Layer 2 Layer 2 Layer 2 Layer 2 Layer 2

PUSH SWAP POP

CE PE P P PE CE
(Penultimate hop popping enabled)
 Life of a Packet – VPRN example

HTTP HTTP

TCP TCP HTTP

HTTP IP IP TCP HTTP

TCP MPLS200
Service MPLS200
Service IP TCP

IP MPLS Transport
11 MPLS Transport
65 MPLS200
Service IP

Layer 2 Layer 2 Layer 2 Layer 2 Layer 2

PUSH SWAP POP

CE PE P P PE CE
(Penultimate hop popping enabled)