TABLE OF CONTENTS In this chapter, we re going beyond the basic features of MPLS to the future of networking. To have one automatic network control structure is the dream of every carrier. The ability to make this dream come true has appeared in the form of a new protocol set that comprises the framework of Generalized Multiprotocol Label Switching (GMPLS). Here, we discuss the composition and capabilities of GMPLS, and we support the chapter content with examples, applications, hands-on exercises, and resource links.
Do you remember the TV ads several years ago for a famous kitchen knife? It was not an ordinary knife no, sir. This knife could slice, dice, and julienne. It could saw through a tin can and afterward still cut a tomato into paper-thin slices.
Like that famous knife, GMPLS is not ordinary MPLS. GMPLS discovers its neighbors, distributes link information, provides topology management, and provides path management, link protection, and recovery. But that s not all! GMPLS packets fly through the network at nearly the speed of light.
In performing these functions, GMPLS can help us achieve the pinnacle of networking (see Figure 6.1). GMPLS allows for centralized control, automatic provisioning, load balancing, provisioned bandwidth service, bandwidth on demand, and the presence of an optical virtual private network (OVPN).
Let s look at what led up to the creation of this super MPLS protocol: GMPLS.
In the beginning, there was one network the telecom network. Much later, datacom and the Internet came along.
