[Chapter-delegates] Statement relating to today’s ITU-T SG15 MPLS development decision

[Marcin Cieslak]

(All: please fix bugs in my quick explanatory note if needed)

On Sat, 26 Feb 2011, Christopher Wilkinson wrote:

> Good evening:
>
> Before taking this matter up with relevant policy makers, could we please 
> have a definition and explanation of what is MPLS and OAM.

Folks on Wikipedia say:

Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a mechanism in high-performance
telecommunications networks which directs and carries data from one
network node to the next with the help of labels. MPLS makes it
easy to create "virtual links" between distant nodes. It can
encapsulate packets of various network protocols.

(continued on:)

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Multiprotocol_Label_Switching

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OAM - Operations, Administration, Maintenance

A collection of mechanisms and processes used
to monitor the health of the network and to
diagnose problems with occur within the network

http://www.mpls.jp/2006/presentations/061031_09.pdf

In plain speak: OAM is a way to talk to the networking equipment
to find out how it behaves and if everything is working okay.

Most pieces of the telecom infrastructure have their own OAM
protocols (the 2006 presentation cited above compares
those of SONET, ATM, MPLS and Carrier Ethernet).

So, MPLS-OAM is the way to find out whether MPLS network
behaves. It is not the MPLS itself, i.e. you can
in theory run the network without the OAM, but most
carriers are unwilling to do so.