Advanced MPLS Design and Implementation (CCIE Professional Development)

Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) works great for getting Internet Protocol (IP) traffic to move reliably over Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) links, particularly when there's a strict Quality of Service (QoS) requirement or a probable need to scale up. Vivek Alwayn, an experienced CCIE who helps service providers implement MPLS for a living, shares his considerable knowledge of MPLS in Advanced MPLS Design and Implementation. After a brief introduction to MPLS--it should be more of a refresher, really, for people who already know what the technology is about--Alwayn brings out scores of details that define how MPLS works, and how it can be made to work better. His best technique is to present a scenario, declare some design goals for it, and proceed to explain how to achieve those goals. Reading these case studies is really enjoyable from an engineering perspective (even if yours is not a Cisco shop), and they feature enough step-by-step instructions for the IOS command line to never leave you guessing about how to translate the approach to your own equipment.

In addition to solving model problems, Alwayn takes time to explain why MPLS works the way it does. In lots of cases, this means calculations. He shows how LCNs are allocated to port groups, how link metrics are evaluated to yield desirable and undesirable results, and how Permanent Virtual Circuits (PVCs) and Label Virtual Circuits (LVCs) are carved out of a port. He's also generous with configuration listings. In a typical exercise, he'll show complete configurations for all routers involved, even if there are eight or nine of them. --David Wall

Topics covered: Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) for people who already have a handle on what it's for and want to use it on their service provider networks and corporate backbones. With lots of command detail and configuration specifics (which are particular to Cisco Systems routers) and engineering discussions (which are not), the author explains how to implement MPLS for Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) over both Internet Protocol (IP) and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). Beyond that, there is coverage of traffic engineering, Quality of Service (QoS), and migration.