MPLS Forwarding Equivalent Class (FEC)

A Forwarding Equivalent Class (FEC) in MPLS is a group of IP packets that share similar routing characteristics and are treated the same way by the network. Think of it as categorizing data streams that follow the same path and require similar handling. When data enters the MPLS network, it’s assigned to an FEC, which determines the label used for forwarding. This allows the network to efficiently route and manage traffic, ensuring reliable and predictable delivery, especially useful for quality of service, traffic engineering, and VPN services.