MPLS is widely deployed in operators Network in recent days as it is a matured technology now. In earlier days it was implemented cautiously, since the technology was new.
Unlike some of its precursors such as ATM and Framerelay, MPLS uses Control plane mechanism more effectively from the very begining.
MPLS overcomes several drawbacks of conventional networking technologies like speed, scalability, QOS and traffic engineering. MPLS provides a path for reveneue generation for service oriented operators by incorporating several applications over the MPLS backbone.
Before getting into the core concepts of MPLS, It is vital to understand the IP forwarding in traditional IP Networks. In traditional network, NLRI (Network Layer Reachability Information) is propogated using IP routing protocol. The packet forwarding decision is based on destination address only. Therefor when a packet is received by the router , it determines the next hop address by using packets destination address along with its own information that is in forwarding/Routing table.
