Having a clear understanding of the role of MPLS and the makeup of the devices and components is important. This understanding will help you clearly differentiate between the roles of certain devices and understand how information is transferred across an MPLS domain.

To fully understand MPLS, you must have a clear understanding of the format of an MPLS label and the definition for each field in that label. You also need to know exactly how information is passed from node to node in the network.

This course describes some of the different types of services with which you can use MPLS. These services are discussed at a high level. Interaction among multiple services is also discussed because there are various methods for exchanging labels. Regardless of the differences in the control plane, all the services use a single label-forwarding engine in the data plane.

This course takes a detailed look at the LDP neighbor discovery process via hello messages, and at the type of information that is exchanged. The course also describes the events that occur during the negotiation phase of LDP session establishment and concludes with the nonadjacent neighbor discovery process. This course provides an understanding of how an LDP neighbor is discovered and which type of information is sent back and forth between two neighbors. The course also discusses situations in which the neighbor is not directly connected to a peer. This information will provide a further understanding of MPLS technology.