MPLS: Technology and Applications (Morgan Kaufmann Series in Networking)
A detailed analysis and practical guide to Multiprotocol Label  Switching,MPLS: Technology and Applicationsdoes a good job of  explaining why you'd want to deploy MPLS on your network, before it gives you the  details on how to go about the task. The authors, two senior Cisco Systems  engineers who are involved directly in the development of MPLS standards and  equipment, explain the problems that are inherent in providing IP routing  service over Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) links, and show how MPLS does its  job. Also, they helpfully discuss emerging ways of providing Virtual Private  Network (VPN) services with MPLS. Throughout, the focus is on minimizing network  traffic, optimizing routing, and generally using the MPLS toolkit to solve  otherwise difficult networking problems. This is a book as much about traffic  engineering as any specific technology.Coverage suffers a bit from a shortage of flow charts, state diagrams, and  conceptual drawings. Readers are expected to decode some very long, very dense  passages of text without assistance. On the other hand, they are assumed also to  know relatively little. MPLS concepts that are probably new to most readers are  explained carefully and connected to more familiar internetworking terms and  concepts. This book deals with MPLS comprehensively, adequately preparing the  network administrator to implement better traffic management.--David  WallTopics covered:Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), treated  comprehensively, both IP-switching and tag-switching approaches to label  switching, and the Label Distribution Protocol (LDP). Quality of Service (QoS)  and Virtual Private Network (VPN) coverage give the book some practical flavor.