New Training: MPLS: Design and Deploy Constrained Shortest Path First (CSPF)

In this 10-video skill, CBT Nuggets trainer Knox Hutchinson digs deeper into how to blend an IGP with RSVP MPLS deployments. Watch this new Juniper training.

Watch the full course: Service Provider Routing and Switching Specialist

This training includes:

• 10 videos
• 1 minutes of training

You’ll learn these topics in this skill:

• Introducing CSPF
• The Dynamic Traffic Engineering Solution
• Exploring TED Closer
• How CSPF Works
• Tie-Breaking Rules Explored and Configured
• Administrative Groups (Link Colors)
• Configuring Administrative Group Constraints
• Bidirectional LSPs
• Measuring Bidirectional LSP Performance
• Summarizing CSPF

What Layer is MPLS on the OSI Seven-Layer Hierarchy?

MPLS (or Multi-Protocol Label Switching) is a network routing protocol that enhances network packet transmission by establishing pre-determined high-efficiency routes and optimizing data packet transfer through these high-efficiency routes. This network enhancement is achieved by assigning data packets an FEC or Forwarding Equivalence Class which determines how a data packet traverses a network. Often, the question arises, 'what layer is MPLS on the OSI Seven-layer Hierarchy?'

Since this protocol utilizes data-forwarding, which is often associated with Layer-2 of the OSI model or the 'Data Link' layer, users often assume MPLS must reside at the second layer of the OSI model. Alternatively, users often assume MPLS belongs to Layer-3 of the OSI model or the Network layer; however, counterintuitively, MPLS actually doesn't officially sit in either. MPLS sits in between these two distinct layers as the data-link attributes of MPLS can be decoupled from the forwarding mechanism MPLS is built on.