A VPN from the perspective of multiple protocol label

switching is the ability to connect 2 customer sites and have

them share networks and keep private from anybody else to
whom it wont share its networks.

In 80s we use lease lines to connect the customer network

to the head quarter network that is on the other side of the
network by laying the lease lines over the service provider
network.The traffic use to go through the provider network.
In 90s we remove the lease line and use frame relay
network with pvc.We have layer 2 over lay between the
sites.Over lay means overlay across the provider network.It
means there is no routing synchronization between service
provider routers and customer routers.Provider does not get
involved with the routing .
May be service provider has ip addresses and gives to the
customer and still the packets are packet-switched between
the network .For reachability between the ip addresses, we
have to use GRE or ipsec in 90s as it is layer 3 overlay.The
benefits of ipsec is that it uses encryption and provide
protection while GRE cant give although it is more
flexible.Both GRE and IPSEC are ip based overlays.The other
option is peer to peer where customer edge shares the
routing information with provider edge router.With the help
of VRF,we create different routing table for different
customers who dont want to share routing information in
the same provider edge router.
Overlay implementation:
Frame (physical).IPSec and GRE logical.
Hub and spoke,partial or full mesh

 Service provider doesnot know customer routes

Peer to Peer
Customer peers with service provider at the edge
Provider has separate router for each
customer ,or creates a VRF instance for each
customer.
Simpler,customer peers with provider.
Provider knows the customer routes.

MPLS Applications(Solutions)
Virtual Networks:
Using peer to peer ,we can privately share the
routes from a customers site A and B over the
provider network(VPNs).
Traffic Engineering:
Called TE allows traffic to flow over the lowest
cost that meets our requirements
QoS
Any Transport over MPLS(ATOM)