ABSTRACT
Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a switching approach that is meant to implement Asynchronous Transfer Mode-like virtual-circuit-equivalent approaches into an Internet Protocol overlay on existing networks. The MPLS approach forwards submitted packets on the basis of a label that is inserted by the entry at the edge of an MPLS network. The routers at the entry and exit edges of the MPLS network apply the labels to the customer-submitted packets that arrive from other networks to the MPLS core network. MPLS is a forwarding process in which received packets are forwarded on the basis of enclosed labels. Labels are placed in the header of the packet by the MPLS entry label edge router. MPLS is a transmission protocol that makes a path selection decision on the basis of a label inserted into a framed packet that is to be transported.
