A Forwarding Equivalence Class (FEC) is a term used in Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) to describe a set of packets with similar and / or identical characteristics which may be forwarded the same way; that is, they may be bound to the same MPLS label.
Characteristics determining the FEC of a higher-layer packet depend on the configuration of the router, but typically this is at least the destination IP address. Quality of service class is also often used. Thus, a Forward Equivalence Class tends to correspond to a label switched path (LSP). The reverse is not true, however: an LSP may be (and usually is) used for multiple FECs.
- MPLS FAQ For Beginners: What is a Forwarding Equivalence Class (FEC)?
Famous quotes containing the words forwarding and/or class:
“I was duped ... by the Secretary of the treasury [Alexander Hamilton], and made a fool for forwarding his schemes, not then sufficiently understood by me; and of all the errors of my political life, this has occasioned the deepest regret.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“Why, since man and woman were created for each other, had He made their desires so dissimilar? Why should one class of women be able to dwell in luxurious seclusion from the trials of life, while another class performed their loathsome tasks? Surely His wisdom had not decreed that one set of women should live in degradation and in the end should perish that others might live in security, preserve their frappeed chastity, and in the end be saved.”
—Madeleine [Blair], U.S. prostitute and “madam.” Madeleine, ch. 10 (1919)