Module 16

MPLS Concepts
 Agenda

• Basic MPLS Concepts

• MPLS Labels and Label Stack
• MPLS Applications
 Basic MPLS Concepts

© 2000, Cisco Systems, Inc.  www.cisco.com Chapter#­3

 Basic MPLS Concepts
• Multi-protocol Label Switching is a new
forwarding mechanism in which packets are
forwarded based on labels.
• Labels may correspond to IP destination
networks (equal to traditional IP forwarding).
• Labels can also correspond to other parameters
(QoS, source address, ...).
• MPLS was designed to support forwarding of
other protocols as well.
 MPLS Example
10.1.1.1 10.1.1.1

L=
3 5
L=

Routing lookup 
Label removal  and
and label assignment
routing lookup 10.0.0.0/8  L=5
L=3
Label 
swapping
L=5  L=3

• Only edge routers have to perform a routing lookup.

• Core routers switch packets based on simple label
lookups and swap labels.
 MPLS Architecture
• MPLS has two major components:
– Control plane – exchanges layer-3 routing
information and labels
– Data plane – forwards packets based on labels
• Control plane contains complex mechanisms to exchange
routing information (OSPF, EIGRP, IS-IS, BGP,...) and
labels (TDP, LDP, BGP, RSVP, ...).
• Data plane has a simple forwarding engine.
• Control plane maintains the contents of the label
switching table (label forwarding information base or
LFIB).
 MPLS Architecture
Control plane
OSPF
OSPF: 10.0.0.0/8 OSPF: 10.0.0.0/8

LDP: 10.0.0.0/8 LDP LDP: 10.0.0.0/8

Label 17 Label 4

Data plane
Labeled packet LFIB Labeled packet
Label 17 417 Label 4

• Router’s functionality can be divided into two

major parts: control plane and data plane
 MPLS Modes of Operation
• MPLS technology is intended to be used
anywhere regardless of layer-1 media and
layer-2 protocol.
• MPLS uses a 32-bit label field which is
inserted between layer-2 and layer-3
headers (frame mode).
• MPLS over ATM is using the ATM header
as the label (cell mode).
 Label Format
LABEL EXP S TTL
0 19 20 22 23 24 31

MPLS uses a 32-bit label field that contains

the following information:
– 20-bit label
– 3-bit experimental field
– 1-bit bottom-of-stack indicator
– 8-bit time-to-live field (TTL)
 Frame Mode MPLS
Frame
IP header Payload
header
Layer 2 Layer 3

Routing 
lookup and
label 
assignment

Frame
Label IP header Payload
header
Layer 2 Layer 2½  Layer 3
 Label Switch Router
MPLS Domain

10.1.1.1 L=3 L=5 10.1.1.1

20.1.1.1 L=31 L=43 20.1.1.1

Edge 
LSR
LSR

• Label Switch Router (LSR) primarily forwards labeled

packets (label swapping).
• Edge LSR primarily labels IP packets and forwards them
into MPLS domain, or removes labels and forwards IP
packets out of MPLS domain
 Architecture of LSRs
LSRs, regardless of the type, perform the following
three functions:
– Exchange routing information
– Exchange labels
– Forward packets or cells
The first two functions are part of the control plane.
The last function is part of the data plane.
 Architecture of LSRs
LSR

Exchange of Control plane
routing information
Routing protocol

IP routing table
Exchange of
labels
Label distribution protocol

Incoming  Data plane Outgoing 

labeled packets labeled packets
Label forwarding table

LSRs primarily forward labeled packets or

cells (ATM LSRs)
 Architecture of Edge LSRs
Edge LSR

Exchange of Control plane
routing information
Routing protocol

IP routing table
Exchange of
labels
Label distribution protocol

Incoming 
Data plane Outgoing 
IP packets IP packets
IP forwarding table
Incoming  Outgoing 
labeled packets labeled packets
Label forwarding table

Note: ATM edge LSRs can only forward cells

 MPLS Labels and
Label Stack

© 2000, Cisco Systems, Inc.  www.cisco.com Chapter#­15

 MPLS Label Format
LABEL EXP S TTL
0 19 20 22 23 24 31

MPLS uses a 32-bit label field that contains the

following information:
– 20-bit label (a number)
– 3-bit experimental field (usually used to carry IP
precedence value)
– 1-bit bottom-of-stack indicator (indicates whether
this is the last label before the IP header)
– 8-bit TTL (equal to the TTL in IP header)
 MPLS Labels
• Labels are inserted between the layer-2 (frame)
header and the layer-3 (packet) header.
• There can be more than one label (label stack).
• Bottom-of-stack bit indicates if the label is the
last label in the label stack.
• Time-to-live (TTL) field is used to prevent
indefinite looping of packets.
• Experimental bits are usually used to carry the
IP precedence value.
 MPLS Label Stack

Frame
Label 1 Label 2 Label 3 IP header Payload
header
PID=MPLS­IP

S=0 S=0 S=1

• Protocol identifier in a layer-2 header specifies

that the payload starts with a label (labels) and
is followed by an IP header.
• Bottom-of-stack bit indicates whether the next
header is another label or a layer-3 header.
• Receiving router uses the top label only.
 MPLS Label Stack
• Usually there is only one label assigned to a packet.
• The following scenarios may produce more than one
label:
– MPLS/VPNs (two labels - the top label points to the egress
routers and the second label identifies the VPN).
– Traffic Engineering (two or more labels – the top label
points to the endpoint of the traffic engineering tunnel and
the second label points to the destination).
– MPLS/VPNs combined with Traffic Engineering (three or
more labels).
 MPLS Forwarding
An LSR can perform the following functions:
– Insert (impose) a label or a stack of labels on
ingress.
– Swap a label with a next-hop label or a stack
of labels in the core.
– Remove (pop) a label on egress.
ATM LSRs can only swap a label with one
label (VPI/VCI fields change).
 MPLS Forwarding
(Frame Mode)
MPLS Domain

10.1.1.1 3 10.1.1.1 5 10.1.1.1 10.1.1.1

IP Lookup IP Lookup IP Lookup

10.0.0.0/8  label 3 10.0.0.0/8  label 5 10.0.0.0/8  next hop

LFIB LFIB LFIB

label 8   label 3 label 3   label 5 label 5   pop

• On ingress a label is assigned and imposed by the IP routing process.

• LSRs in the core swap labels based on the contents of the label forwarding
table.
• On egress the label is removed and a routing lookup is used to forward the
packet.
 MPLS Applications

© 2000, Cisco Systems, Inc.  www.cisco.com Chapter#­22

 MPLS Applications
MPLS is already used in many different applications:
– Unicast IP routing
– Multicast IP routing
– Traffic Engineering (MPLS/TE)
– Quality of Service
– Virtual private networks (MPLS/VPN)
Regardless of the application we can always split the
functionality into control and data plane:
– The applications differ only in the control plane.
– They all use a common label switching data plane.
– Edge LSR layer-3 data planes might differ.
– In general a label is assigned to a Forwarding Equivalence
Class (FEC).
 Unicast IP Routing
• We need two mechanisms on the control plane:
– IP routing protocol (OSPF, IS-IS, EIGRP, ...)
– Label distribution protocol (LDP or TDP)
• A routing protocol carries the information about
the reachability of networks.
• Label distribution protocol binds labels to
networks learned via a routing protocol.
• Forwarding Equivalence Class (FEC) is equal to
a destination network, stored in IP routing table.
 Multicast IP Routing
• To support multicast traffic across an
MPLS domain we do not need a dedicated
protocol.
• PIM version 2 with extensions for MPLS is
used to propagate routing information as
well as labels.
• Forwarding Equivalence Class (FEC) is
equal to a destination multicast
addresses, stored in the multicast routing
table.
• Protocol Independent Multicast
 MPLS Traffic Engineering
• Traffic engineering requires OSPF or IS-IS with
extension for MPLS/TE as the internal gateway
protocol (IGP).
• OSPF and IS-IS with extensions hold the entire
topology in their databases.
• They also have some additional information
about network resources and constraints.
• RSVP or CR-LDP are used to establish Traffic
Engineering tunnels and propagate labels.
• RSVP = Resource Reservation Protocol
• CR-LDP = Constraint-based Routed LDP
 Traffic Engineering with MPLS
Primary OC­
192 link
Large site A
Large site B

Secondary 
OC­48 link
Small site C

• Traffic can be forwarded based on other parameters

(QoS, source, ...).
• Load sharing across unequal paths can be achieved.
 Quality of Serivce
• Quality of Service is an extension to
unicast IP routing that provides
differentiated services.
• Extensions to TDP or LDP are used to
propagate different labels for different
classes.
• Forwarding Equivalence Class is a
combination of a destination network and
a class of service.
 Virtual Private Networks
• Networks are learned via an IGP (OSPF, EBGP, RIPv2
or static) from a customer or via BGP from other internal
routers.
• Labels are propagated via multi-protocol BGP.
• Two labels are used:
– Top label points to the egress router (assigned through LDP
or TDP).
– Second label identifies the outgoing interface on the egress
router or a routing table where to perform a routing lookup.
• Forwarding Equivalence Class is equal to a VPN site
descriptor or VPN routing table.
 Interaction Between MPLS
Applications
Control plane
Unicast  Multicast MPLS Traffic  Quality of Service MPLS/VPN
IP Routing IP Routing Engineering

Any IGP OSPF or IS­IS Any IGP Any IGP

Unicast IP Multicast Unicast IP Unicast IP Unicast IP

routing table IP routing table routing table routing table routing tables

LDP/TDP PIM version 2 LDP RSVP LDP/TDP LDP BGP

Data plane
Label forwarding table