MPLS: Implementing the Technology [With CDROM]

Shame I'll never read it. Must have been good though, since he risked his job to get it. He's gone now and the book is just a faded memory. I'll miss it.

An excellent textbook on the development and underlying theory of MPLS. Eric Gray carefully educates the reader in the basic principles of MPLS. Additionally, some good material is included on appropriate uses of various parts of the MPLS standards. This attention to applications of the subject really make this book vital to the library of any network engineer. This book is highly recommended.

This book does a good job of explaining MPLS to general computer practitioners, as opposed to network experts. Then again, network experts will probably find it useful too.I like the fact that after reading the introductory material, I could flip to most anywhere in the book at find self-contained answers to various questions which arose as I explored various aspects of MPLS.I found the the history chapter particularly useful. It is comprehensible and offers the right level of detail to understand what problems MPLS has been developed to solve, what existing technologies it may displace, and conversely, what it will not do.The only real drawback of this book is I feel like I got gyped out of two chapter introduction quips. What happened to Chapters 3 & 6?

The author does a great job of explaining the principles behind MPLS and the evolution of the protocols from the competing proprietary methods up through the current standards before delving into the function and usage of MPLS. He does a fine job of comparing and contrasting the competing schemes for label distribution and explains how each is likely to be useful. Label merging, label stacking, the differences between labels on different physical media, preemption, dynamic rerouting of a Label Switched Path and many more topics are all explained in a clear and consistent manner. This is an excellent book for anyone new to MPLS or anyone whose eyes glaze over at the thought of reading another RFC, but it also fills in the holes for those of us who have been working with MPLS for a long time but never got the chance to see the whole picture before.