Part 2 of many articles explaining how to build out an internal MPLS network. This article starts off with basic MPLS specific configuration added to the network that was established in the first article.

In this article, which is part 1 of many, I would like to present how to build a basic MPLS network. Whether you just wondered how your service providers network was built or if your considering an internal MPLS network inside your company, this information should help out.

A list of commands for adding to your configuration template the next time you configure a Cisco device.

Cisco devices functioning as a gateway can have link redundancy without running routing protocols. Configuring Integrated Routing and Bridging allows two interfaces to be bridged together along with an associated virtual interface that serves as the routed interface.

Cisco IOS Software Modularity is available for the two newest Supervisor modules, the Sup720 and Sup32,  which go into the Cisco 6500 series platform.  Basically, by using the modular IOS, the switch runs more efficiently.  This is accomplished by splitting up major components inside the IOS into separate subsystems, which will run in different processes. [...]

Use plink to automate sending commands and receiving information from your telnet and ssh sessions. This article will show you how to use plink to gather the configuration from an IOS device.

This article explains how to use a router and USB flash drive instead of a PC in staging areas where you need to upgrade software on other network devices before deployment.

To increase bandwidth on a given Cisco network device, typically etherchannel technology is used to accomplish this task. In most scenarios, etherchannel is used between two switches to provide additional bandwidth to the uplink connections. In less common instances, Network cards in servers that have drivers supporting the proprietary technology will be configured for etherchannel. [...]

There are scenarios where it would be desirable for a host or group of hosts to take a different route through the network than what is considered the normal path.  Consider this as creating a detour of sorts, forcing an alternate route to the destination.  This can be accomplished on a selective basis, by picking [...]

The most important element to spanning tree is the root bridge placement. If no other element of spanning tree is manually configured on your network, the root bridge should definitely be set.